Buckle up digiteers, Q4 is around the corner and if you thought Q1-3 was rough, wait till you see what’s in store for Q4!

In a typical year, we’re used to bracing for the ‘usual’ Q4 impact on digital ads, costs are high as people rush to spend their remaining budget to reach those ambitious goals. But this is no ordinary year...in so many ways.

You’ve probably already noticed that your CPMs are going up, thus affecting your costs for every KPI. This happens every year as Q4 approaches, back to school, labor day, preparations for more holidays all have an effect. This year though you also have to contend with election day, this presents its own set of challenges.  Even though officially your ads are not competing directly with political ads,  (ads only compete in auction within their own category), the engagement rate and attention span of people does get divided and diluted due to an increase spend in this category. Expect to see some of your biggest costs of the year in Q4.

Hands up who’s happy with Facebook these days? At the start of Q3 the ‘Stop Hate for Profit’ Campaign gathered considerable momentum and scale, many believe that Facebook is responsible for helping sow division and discord in the world. With a nation so divided, the period before and after the election is likely to be even more toxic on Facebook.  The controversy sounding Facebook policies and it’s political ads will continue, Zuckerberg himself even declared yesterday that “This election is not going to be business as usual”.   You can surely expect to see more animosity towards Facebook policies and more companies reluctant to be associated with Facebook during this time.  Will organizations decide to abandon Facebook to avoid the controversy? We’ll have to wait and see.

There are blue skies ahead though as some of the usual Q4 issues correct themselves as soon as Christmas is over. Traditionally Q1 is by far the best time to advertise as inventory is cheaper and newsfeeds are not as crowded. Our advice for Q4, be ready to work harder on your content as you will need all the help you can get to maintain momentum and results. Also put in place a contingency plan, should there be a lot more backlash with Facebook then perhaps it’s time to consider less controversial platforms to advertise on...but maybe stay away from TikTok for the time being.   It’s due to be banned in the US from Sept. 20th and with the Chinese government throwing up an export roadblock, there is great uncertainty over it’s sale and it’s future.

If you are thinking about advertising on social media and don’t know where to start we offer a free campaign checklist to help you get started. https://www.springhilldigital.com/ihaveaplan