Facebook Business Suite Is Beyond Awful
Ever since Meta launched, advertising on Facebook is a real mess. I don’t know why this product needs to be the convoluted horror show that it is, but it will definitely make you want to re-think running agency-level ads through the platform. I also don’t know anyone who would purposefully put themselves through the pain and agony of having to use this product, were they not being paid to do so.
I was on Reddit, reading a thread “Does Anyone Hate FB Business Suite” and could not help but grin at one of the first comments which begged the question, “Does anyone NOT hate FB Business Suite?”. Clearly, I’m not alone in how I feel.
It wasn’t always this bad mind you. At one point the platform was decent and showed promise. Facebook was rapidly absorbing market share. They had put together a solid product that could take the Pepsi challenge and hold up in a taste test for ROI against traditional ad channels.
However, as time progressed, every development cycle to improve the product brought a laundry list of bugs with it that prompted one to think that their entire QA team consisted of 3 blind mice. Point of fact, Facebook has no independent testing team which explains a lot. Namely, how you can fix 1 thing and break 10 other things at the same time.
Ahh for the good old days, prior to the contrived innovation of Meta; the new and improved product that no one needs or wants has advertisers longing for the landmine-strewn nightmare that was the old platform.
This brings us to the current day. Just to be honest, I’ve calculated I’ve lost collectively speaking, around 300 hours of my life stuck in a quagmire of neverending support chats and forums. It feels as if at least 1 hour a day of my life is dedicated to trying to solve the ever-changing landscape of issues that arise from running an agency that utilizes Facebook Business Suite.
Over the past 10 years in an effort to make the advertising platform better they’ve made it 100 times worse. And God only help you if you’re developing for the platform. Really, I wish you good luck. What little documentation that is available is outdated and antiquated. The same API that was horrible a decade ago, has not improved one iota.
Now to the issues related to Customer Service. You’d figure an outfit that last year hauled in close to $118 billion could afford at least a few warm bodies to man the phones right? Wrong.
While you used to be able to get a representative on live chat or on the phone to provide support, those days are long gone. These days you’re either speaking to an A.I.-driven chatbot or lodging a customer service ticket that will immediately fall into a black hole. It’s disheartening to see how bad this platform has gotten and incredible how little they seem to care that advertisers are leaving in droves.
I like to think that I have my finger on the pulse of what is emerging, but also that I have a good read on when it’s time to sunset a product. I would do so with the entire Facebook / Meta Business Suite. It is about as frustrating to navigate as a back-country road with no GPS in the dark.
You may wonder why I’m throwing in the towel on Facebook advertising when I’ve spent the better part of a decade using it for lead generation. Given, that our marketing agency spends an average of a quarter of a million dollars each year advertising our pool news site, pool directory, and various advertisers on the platform — you’d think I’d be a champion for Facebook but you’d be wrong. I’ve slowly been steering folks away from FB advertising this year and I’ll explain why in 3 simple points.
- Diminishing return on investment — Facebook was hot 10 years ago when nobody knew about it. Early adopters saw fantastic ROI. A glutted advertising marketplace has dropped ROI on ad spend to the point where other digital advertising options are suddenly much more appealing.
- Cambridge Analytica, Apple’s new privacy policy, and a host of other targeting issues have really hampered advertisers' abilities to effectively target the right people. Five years ago people thought social media quality leads were poor, but now it’s getting ridiculous. For every 10 leads, you’re bound to get 8 tire kickers.
- Many feel that Facebook has run its course and is losing market share day by day to emerging platforms like Tik Tok. The Metaverse may one day become the next evolution of the Internet you didn’t need or want, but as an advertising platform, Facebook Business Suite really sucks to use. If it’s a precursor of what awaits us in the Metaverse, let me off at the next stop.
