I spent $1,000 on Facebook ads to market myself in search of love

For Jack Liu, swiping right on a potential sweetheart like he was shopping online didn’t feel right — but paying $1,000 to post a personal ad was well worth it.

“My ads get straight to the point,” Mr. Liu, 40, a digital marketing entrepreneur from Queens, told The Washington Post, detailing his virtual love campaign, which he launched via Facebook ads in 2020. “Women have to click on it and then fill out a form.”

“I read the responses every day, contact the ones I find interesting, and schedule a first Zoom date,” Liu said. “Then, if it goes well, we go on an in-person date.”

Although self-promotion in cyberspace may seem unfashionable, it is the best way for singles to combat internet dating fatigue.

It’s a feeling of exhaustion that plagues millennials and Gen Z alike.

According to a June 2024 survey by Forbes Health, researchers found that 78% of daters across the U.S. feel “burned out” by dating apps because they are unsatisfying and ineffective.

Another recent report from DatingAdvice.com shows that the majority of young men and women (93% and 88% respectively) are seeking non-traditional encounters rather than finding a partner through apps.

Mr Liu’s apathy towards these platforms became more apparent during the coronavirus lockdown.

“During the pandemic, everything was online and Zoom speed dating,” he said. “There was always something missing.”

“I never felt like I found the woman I was looking for,” the publicity expert continued. “I never felt like I was able to convey the best of who I am as a person using these apps.”

So Liu Qiangdong took action advertise Himself.

His online flyers, which appeared on Facebook and Instagram timelines for about a year, promoted the would-be boyfriend as a creative, faith-driven entrepreneur who loved to travel. These cute descriptions helped Facebook’s algorithms draw interest from potential lovers with similar values ​​and weed out incompatible prospects.

“I thought my ad would work,” said Liu, who founded ZipMatches.com to help other singles promote themselves online. “But I didn’t expect it to work so well in finding Bethany.”

In August 2021, the lucky beau’s brief caught the attention of his current girlfriend, Bethany Landby, 36, of Boston.

“When I saw his ad, what caught my attention was his tango dancing and other shared interests,” Landerby, owner of Allumette Candles, a brand dedicated to ending human trafficking and domestic violence, told The Washington Post.

“For men, it seems like they have to scroll endlessly to find a match, and even then, the match may not be particularly suitable,” she added. “Advertising takes away all that hassle and saves you a ton of time because it’s tailored to you.”

Although people say that only fools act rashly, modern men and women generally tend to choose the most time-saving and direct path to happiness when looking for love.

Like Liu, a New Yorker who is also looking for Mr. Right — who chose to remain anonymous — posted a series of Instagram ads earlier this year. The millennial also created a Google Forms document, where he shared his height, preferences and background, and then posed a short list of questions to those who wanted to win his heart.

But the avant-garde approach isn’t limited to honey seekers in the concrete jungle.

Tiffany Wong, 28, of Sydney, Australia, told The Washington Post that Google Forms helped her speed up her search for suitable suitors in the murky dating pool.

“As a single woman in Sydney, using these apps is like being in a minefield,” says the theatre and film actor from Australia.

Huang, whose busy schedule often saw her working 55 hours a week, reluctantly turned to Hinge and Tinder for relationship help in July, but she created a personalized survey to simplify the search process.

Titled “So… Do You Want to Date?”, the documentary asks daters about themselves, their relationship standards and their views on social issues. It helped Huang distinguish between the handsome guys and the ugly girls.

“If they answer the form in a way that shows they’re smart, funny and thoughtful,” she said. “Usually the dates will be exactly the same.”