In 2010, if you told a brand to “focus on Facebook,” they’d likely smile and nod—it was the Wild West of social media marketing, full of promise and cheap reach. In 2025, say the same thing, and you might get a skeptical glance or a polite brush-off.
Facebook—once the crown jewel of social marketing—has become, in many circles, a punchline. Critics label it a “boomer platform,” cluttered with ads, misinformation, and declining organic engagement. Brands increasingly shift dollars to TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and influencers on Instagram and Threads. So the big question remains: is Facebook still a viable place for digital marketing in 2025?
The answer, like most things in marketing, depends on who you are, who you’re targeting, and how strategic you are. But here’s the unvarnished truth: Facebook is still extremely relevant—just not in the way it used to be.
This op-ed unpacks the myths, the data, the evolving opportunities, and the mistakes marketers continue to make on the world’s largest social network.
1. The Decline of Organic Reach (And Why That’s OK)
Let’s start with the most cited complaint: “Organic reach is dead.”
They’re not wrong—on average, a Facebook Page post reaches around 2–5% of its followers, depending on content type and engagement history. That’s abysmal compared to early 2010s numbers.
But this isn’t a glitch. It’s the business model.
Facebook deliberately deprioritized brand content in favor of meaningful user interactions (apolicy shift publicly declared in 2018). The strategy was partly to improve user retention and partly to push businesses toward paid media.
The good news? If you approach Facebook as a paid platform rather than a free broadcast channel, you can still win.
Marketers who cling to the “old Facebook” are stuck. Those who treat it like a high-performing, data-rich advertising network are thriving. Which leads us to the real story…
2. Facebook Is the World’s Most Sophisticated Paid Ads Platform
With over 3 billion monthly active users across its ecosystem (including Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp), Meta still owns the largest, most behaviorally rich social graph inthe world. Facebook Ads remains the most powerful advertising tool ever built formicrotargeting at scale.
Key strengths:
- Unmatched audience segmentation: Interest, demographic, behavioral, lookalike, custom, retargeting—Meta’s targeting capabilities are still best-in-class.
- Cross-platform placements: Your Facebook campaign doesn’t just hit Facebook—it’s served across Instagram, Stories, Reels, Messenger, and Audience Network.
- Full-funnel options: From awareness videos to lead forms to dynamic product retargeting, Facebook supports every buyer stage.
- Machine learning optimization: Meta’s algorithm has grown smarter with conversions and signal-based bidding, making even smaller budgets viable.
Translation: If you know what you’re doing, Facebook Ads is still one of the most cost-effective and scalable platforms for customer acquisition.
But—and this is a big but—it requires strategic sophistication.
3. The Age of Lazy Facebook Ads Is Over
Gone are the days when you could slap together a generic video, boost a post for $20, and watch the leads pour in. In 2025, Facebook marketing success demands real effort.
Common Facebook advertising failures:
- Over-segmentation: Too many marketers split their audiences into micro-groups, starving Meta’s algorithm of data. Broad targeting often works better.
- Low-quality creative: Static images with bad stock photos don’t work anymore. You need mobile-first video, compelling UGC, and thumb-stopping visuals.
- No clear offer: “Learn more” isn’t a CTA—it’s a shrug. If your value prop isn’t obvious inthe first 3 seconds, you’ve lost.
- Poor landing pages: Facebook can bring the traffic, but if your page is slow, confusing, or unclear, your money burns.
Facebook doesn’t fail marketers. Marketers fail Facebook.
4. Facebook Groups: The Unsung Goldmine
One of the most overlooked assets on the platform today is Facebook Groups.
While Facebook Pages have waned in reach, Groups have grown into thriving micro-communities. From skincare junkies to SaaS founders, every niche imaginable has a group.
For brands, Groups can serve as:
- Community hubs: Think private customer communities, feedback loops, early access programs.
- Organic content testing grounds: See what resonates before turning content into paid campaigns.
- Authority-building platforms: Engage as a human, not just a logo. Share insights, not sales pitches.
Smart brands like Peloton and Canva use Groups not just for engagement but for retention, loyalty, and qualitative research. Facebook Groups may not scale like ads, but they build depth—and that’s priceless.
5. The Rise (and Risk) of Facebook Marketplace
Marketplace has exploded in popularity in recent years—not just for used goods, but for local services, product discovery, and lead generation.
For certain industries—automotive, real estate, furniture, home improvement—Marketplace functions as a quasi-search engine and ecommerce channel. It’s also one of the few places where Facebook still drives significant organic discovery.
But the experience is mixed:
- High buyer intent: Shoppers are motivated and browsing by category.
- Low friction: Native messaging makes it easy to start conversations.
- Spam & scams: Poor moderation still plagues the platform.
Some brands use Marketplace ads in combination with Messenger bots for local lead capture. It’s not for everyone, but for local businesses or high-ticket goods, Marketplace remains agrowth frontier.
6. Generational Shifts: Who’s Still on Facebook?
The narrative that “young people don’t use Facebook” is only half true.
Yes, Gen Z prefers TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram for entertainment and identity. But Facebook is still a daily utility for a wide range of people:
- Millennials (now 30s–40s) use it for parenting groups, marketplace, and life events.
- Gen X and Boomers use it for news, family photos, and community updates.
- Small businesses use it for local reach, reviews, and leads.
If your product targets anyone over 30, Facebook is still the best game in town.
Moreover, Gen Z is starting to age into Facebook—not necessarily as primary creators, but as passive consumers, job seekers, or researchers. Ignoring Facebook entirely cuts off a wide and diverse demographic that still makes buying decisions.
7. The Power of Facebook Video (Yes, Still)
In the TikTok age, Facebook video seems passé. But guess what? It still works—especially fortop-of-funnel awareness.
Key reasons:
- Autoplay and silent-scroll: Native Facebook video grabs attention in feeds, especially with captions.
- Inexpensive reach: CPMs for video views remain relatively low compared to YouTube orLinkedIn.
- Smart retargeting: You can build audiences from video watchers (3s, 10s, 95% completion) and move them down the funnel.
Use cases:
- Explainer videos
- Founder-driven story pieces
- Customer testimonials
- Animated product teasers
The trick? Design for the feed. Don’t repurpose YouTube content—build short, snappy, native-first videos with emotion or value in the first 2–3 seconds.
8. Why Facebook Is Still Crucial for Full-Funnel Campaigns
Most marketers today run fragmented campaigns. TikTok for awareness, email for nurturing, Google for capture. But Facebook remains one of the few platforms that supports full-funnel orchestration within one ecosystem.
You can:
- Serve a video ad to cold audiences
- Retarget viewers with lead gen forms or gated content
- Move those leads into Messenger sequences
- Follow up with dynamic product ads
And all of this is trackable within the Meta ad ecosystem, even post-Apple iOS privacy updates—if your pixel and API setup is strong.
If you care about lifecycle marketing, Facebook is still foundational.
9. The iOS 14 Fallout Is Real—but Navigable
No discussion of Facebook marketing is complete without acknowledging the damage done by Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policies.
iOS 14 severely limited Facebook’s ability to track user behavior across apps and websites, making attribution murkier and targeting weaker.
But smart marketers adapted:
- Meta’s Conversions API: Allows server-side event tracking to restore data flow.
- Aggregated Event Measurement: Enables prioritized event tracking for better performance.
- Offline Conversions: Useful for service businesses tracking calls, visits, and offline sales.
Is it as easy as it was in 2019? No. But it’s not broken either. Those who’ve invested in datahygiene and first-party signals are still seeing strong ROAS (return on ad spend).
10. Biggest Mistake: Treating Facebook Like a Static Channel
If there’s one recurring sin in Facebook marketing, it’s complacency.
Many brands still:
- Use outdated audiences
- Rely on stale creative
- Run evergreen campaigns with no testing
- Ignore signals from comments or shares
Facebook is not a billboard. It’s an algorithmic, responsive platform. You have to feed it fresh content, monitor your data, test variations, and iterate fast.
If your Facebook results are declining, it’s likely because you haven’t changed. The platform has.
Final Thoughts: Not Dead, Just Different
So, is Facebook marketing dead?
Absolutely not.
It’s changed. It’s matured. And in some ways, it’s gotten harder. But it’s also more precise, scalable, and essential than many marketers give it credit for.
What Facebook is not in 2025:
- A place for cheap organic reach
- A Gen Z playground
- A one-size-fits-all channel
What it is:
- The world’s most powerful digital ad engine
- A top-tier B2C acquisition tool
- A viable B2B lead gen channel (especially for SMBs)
- A platform where brand and performance can finally coexist—if you’re strategic
The truth is, Facebook is no longer the easiest platform. But it’s still one of the best.
The marketers who win in 2025 will stop asking if Facebook is worth it—and start asking how to make it work with their goals, not against them.