Today we’re continuing our five-part series on the five new trends that every single small business owner, solopreneur, or entrepreneur needs to know as we head into 2022. Having the first-mover advantage – knowing what’s coming before anyone else does – allows you to mitigate some of the disruptions that could affect your business and allow you to move proactively ahead of the pack. In our last installment, we talked about how crowded the online business space is going to become, and that leads to this trend: we are going to see a massive move away from Facebook and Instagram ads. I’m going to share with you why, and, most importantly, what comes next.

So why would we see people stop using Instagram and Facebook ads after years of being told it was the move to make? In part, it’s because many recent privacy updates (specifically on Apple platforms) have made it more difficult to track your prospects. The less precise you can be with your ads, the more money you’re going to have to spend to see any results. The second problem is that it’s nearly impossible to track attribution now: where your customer is from and what marketing methods work best. If you don’t know where your leads come from, you can’t know where to focus your spending.

The playing field for ads has not been fair for a long time. For those who could afford it, it was easy to outspend the competition and scoop up customers, but now the playing field is becoming even. No longer is outspending going to give an unfair advantage. This is going to be a massive opportunity.

Now that you know that people are going to be moving away from Facebook, you’re going to have to make a couple of new moves to replace it. First, you’re going to need to shift into alternative marketing, including going on podcast tours. You can also pay for or trade podcast bumpers to advertise your podcast on other similar podcasts. Another form of marketing is collaboration. When you share audiences with someone else – and get in front of theirs – you both see the benefit.

If you’ve been depending on Facebook ads, this is a wake-up call. It’s time to do something about it. And if you’ve never depended on them, this just means you’re going to see even more results from the marketing efforts you’re already doing. This will be your year to shine.