Facebook’s ‘Meta’ Rebranding May Change Marketing in a Significant Way
Facebook Inc. announced their rebrand to Meta, or Meta Platforms, Inc. late last year. While it seems to be something everyone is talking about, many marketers are wondering what this means for their initiatives and social media algorithms in the short and long term.
What we do know is that Meta will focus on highly interactive platforms for online interaction. This offers businesses many new and unique opportunities to connect with customers.
Nevertheless, the Meta rebrand changes how platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, and a few others operate, and how marketers can look at social media insights. It remains only logical that any marketing approaches might also need to change. Here’s how!
What is the Meta Rebrand Changing with Advertising?
Although Mark Zuckerberg noted that the change would not apply to individual platforms specifically, preparing for the marketing future with a team ready to jump into Meta upon release is a great idea for advertising.
Brands already modifying their attention to AR and virtual reality (VR) technology could find themselves in a better position to evolve into the “Metaverse” than those yet to start.
With the significant investment made into training the next generation of platform creators and learning content, Meta additionally plans to disperse immersive learning content, in addition to a certification process to make Meta platforms easier to monetize.
Marketers should take heed of this move, ensuring their team has the knowledge and skills to stay on the cutting edge with training resources already available to take advantage of the company’s new efforts.
Meta is additionally removing options for targeted ads based on sensitive information. The company will no longer allow advertisers to purchase targeted ads for users based on certain sensitive information like race, political affiliation, sexual orientation, religion, or health. These changes go into effect this month, January 19th, 2022, rolling out across every Meta platform, including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The new social media algorithm will focus on specific user interactions on the Meta platform and associated websites or networks. This means a shift from utilizing acquired data regarding users and user groups specifically to how users interact with content.
The Future of Meta, Facebook, and Social Media
For now, no major changes are taking place for Meta’s social platforms. These will remain mostly unaffected by any social media algorithm changes or the rebrand. The websites and apps will still function and look the same.
Nevertheless, it seems as though Meta plans to integrate Facebook and potentially Instagram into their metaverse while phasing out the need for Facebook user accounts to access metaverse products.
Meta could profoundly alter social media in the sense that users enter the metaverse to connect with others as opposed to scrolling through posts. Marketers may need to alter approaches and divert attention and resources to where client audiences reside.
The traditional methods of social media advertising may not work in a metaverse. The introduction of “next level” technology and further alterations to social media algorithms may appear slowly, but marketers should focus on using technology and platforms to test new strategies for engaging customers using things like VR, AR, and 3D ads.
How is ‘Meta’ Changing Social Media Marketing? | Social Media Insights | GOA-TECH
No one knows for sure just yet what Facebook’s rebrand and algorithm shift mean for social media marketing’s future. However, the idea of interconnecting a metaverse is something that digital marketers and company proprietors should take seriously.
Those prepared for the virtual world will remain ahead of the competition, seamlessly moving into creating a new metaverse marketing campaign once we know and understand more about the new changes.
Taken at face value, Meta is an ambitious dream aiming to blur lines between physical and virtual interaction. Consequently, this rebrand is far more than just another Facebook update. Meta represents a fundamental change with potentially widespread effects. Marketing may even look completely different should Meta’s products become the norm.
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