DTC and Social Media: Snap back or flame out?

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) and performance marketers have been steadily shifting budgets away from Direct Response Television (DRTV) to social media such as Facebook, Tiktok, and Snapchat to create awareness and grow their customer base. These platforms have been effective for DTC brands because of their consumer scale and focused reach via targeting and measurement.  However, just like the DRTV landscape shifts, so does the social media landscape causing DTC companies to diversify among them. 

Social media giants Facebook and Tiktok continue to lead the digital advertising world while others like Instagram and Snapchat have fallen behind.  

Facebook (Meta) the largest platform has proven successful through several rebranding efforts, including the recent “Meta” shift, however, they have faced backlash from DTC companies on the rising cost of their ad prices.  The rising cost of Facebook advertising has opened the door for TikTok.  The platform has paved the way for many DTC brands with its massive reach and engagement. They continue to stay on top of innovation and attract advertising dollars. In fact, TikTok is on track to surpass the advertising revenue of  Twitter and Snapchat combined this year.  Move over…. Facebook!

Snapchat, despite its initial success, has similar audiences, and better retargeting abilities than Tiktok has fallen behind. This year, Snapchat’s CEO warned employees that the company would underperform in targets for revenue and adjusted earnings in this current quarter. So why is Snapchat failing while other companies succeed?

Aside from recent macroeconomic issues plaguing the industry, Snapchat’s primary focus through the years has been on changes to the interface and making the app more user-friendly. These changes reverberated negatively and prompted outrage at the app’s creators as well. Snapchat has also failed to attract older users. 

Video content has maintained its position as the top-performing ad content of late, and yet Snapchat continues to be unappealing to advertisers.  We will see what the future has in store for Snapchat and other social media platforms, but it’s easy to see how fast-paced and ever-changing the digital advertising landscape can be.

DTC and performance marketers need to be ahead of the curve on these trends to reach out to consumers at the right time on the right platform with the right offer and the right content.