I recently wrote a Letter to the Editor on nola.com about the importance of targeted digital advertising for small businesses in Louisiana. In the letter, I explain how the American Privacy Rights Act could affect the cost-effectiveness of social media advertising for local businesses. You can read the full letter below.

As I work with other small business owners to help them grow their businesses, targeted advertising on social media is the one tool that has helped effectively reach the local community at a low cost.

However, Congress is working to make it less effective through legislation like the American Privacy Rights Act. This legislation will diminish the effectiveness of social media ads for thousands of other small businesses that use this tool to find and grow their customer base in Louisiana.

The status quo for advertising 15 years ago was billboards, magazine inserts or TV ads, which were costly without actually reaching target customers. Social media advertising changed that with accessible, inexpensive ads with the ability to reach specific customers. One of my clients saw an increase of 14,000 impressions a month after converting their radio advertising to Facebook ads at the same cost.

I recently had the opportunity to meet with the offices of U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy and U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise about this issue. Joined by fellow business owners, we shared how detrimental APRA will be for small business growth. If Louisiana’s legislators in Congress do not protect targeted digital advertising for small businesses, we may lose the small businesses that provide unparalleled value to our state.