News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results by whywhywhydude on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @05:14PM (#34618716)
Yeah, great lesson that unless you are a billionaire who is ready to spend millions on superbowl ads, you have no business starting a new brand.
Re:Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results by rightbyte on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @06:22PM (#34619613)
How about, unless you can pay someone to spy on prospective customers, you have no business starting a new brand?
Re:Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results by ericmay on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @06:23PM (#34619629)
I’m not sure where that tangent came from but that certainly wouldn’t be the lesson learned.

The lesson learned is that these small “brands” that can only exist due to adware (fake demand) will eventually be culled by increases in prices or de-amplification of their products.

If your “brand” is one of these then you should be learning that you need to actually make a good product at a good price that doesn’t rely on advertising to succeed in your marketplace. Otherwise you are always at risk of being squeezed and potentially shut down.

Many (certainly not all) of these companies are parasites in that the rely on Meta to utilize algorithms to get you addicted and alter your purchasing habits. They don’t actually offer a good product at a good price, they offer copies of other products with different labels, or in some cases outright, disposable junk.

Re:Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results by wtetzner on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @07:43PM (#34620422)
> you need to actually make a good product at a good price that doesn’t rely on advertising to succeed in your marketplace.

How do you create a product that doesn’t need advertising? People need to find out about it somehow.

Re:Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results by ericmay on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @07:50PM (#34620495)
Get creative I guess
Re:Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results by mensetmanusman on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @08:57PM (#34621036)
Too risky unless you are rich.
Re:Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results by hyuuu on Thursday February 02, 2023 @12:49AM (#34622613)
not sure if you are being serious or sarcastic, but ads are pretty much essential, especially in this extremely competitive attention span of a market
Re:Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results by ericmay on Thursday February 02, 2023 @09:23AM (#34626846)
I'm being serious. The competitive nature that you mention proves the point. Don't compete.

Are you a local coffee shop or clothing designer? Why would you be advertising on Facebook when you should be partnering with a local news site or city/town interest site, or going to meetups, or sponsoring local events?

Relying on Facebook ads builds artificial demand, subjects you to extreme competition, and ultimately either you have to spend too much to maintain or you eventually lose customers because the only reason they were interested in your product was the ads in the first place. Live by the ad, die by the ad.

Re:Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results by wtetzner on Thursday February 02, 2023 @11:29PM (#34637155)
> you should be partnering with a local news site or city/town interest site, or going to meetups, or sponsoring local events?

All of that is advertising.

I was replying to this:

> If your “brand” is one of these then you should be learning that you need to actually make a good product at a good price that doesn’t rely on advertising to succeed in your marketplace.

Maybe I misinterpreted the meaning.

Re:Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results by ericmay on Friday February 03, 2023 @04:06PM (#34647700)
Yea I was talking about advertising via Facebook and social media but obviosuly see how that could be misread. cheers
Re:Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results by juve1996 on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @09:08PM (#34621142)
Millions of small businesses started just fine before Facebook existed.
Re:Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results by anaganisk on Thursday February 02, 2023 @12:26AM (#34622467)
Niche and local Business didn't exists before facebook?
Re:Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results by disgruntledphd2 on Thursday February 02, 2023 @05:06AM (#34624518)
They did, but the explosion of very specific businesses is almost entirely down to Google and Facebook changing the cost structure for these businesses by providing global advertising reach for companies that are small but have products that can be purchased anywhere.