Man ditches dating apps to find love using Facebook Ads

A digital marketing entrepreneur has revealed how swiping online for love like he was buying clothes didn’t feel right — so he spent $1500 on a personal ad instead.

A digital marketing entrepreneur has revealed how swiping online for love like he was buying clothes didn’t feel right — so he spent $1500 on a person ad instead.

Jack Liu, 40, said his ad got “straight to the point” after he launched the campaign in 2020 via Facebook Ads.

“Women had to click on it, then fill out a form,” he told the New York Post.

“I’d read through the responses each day, reach out to the ones who I found interesting and then set up the first Zoom date.

“From there, if it went well, we would do an in-person date.”

Self-promoting on cyberspace, although outré, was the singleton’s best defence against online dating fatigue.

It’s an exhaustion that’s swipe-worn plaguing millennials and Gen Zs on the prowl.

Researchers have found that a staggering 78 per cent of daters across the US feel “burnt out” by the underwhelming and unavailing apps, per a June 2024 survey from Forbes Health.

Jack Liu posted a Facebook Ad looking for love. Picture: Supplied

Another recent report via DatingAdvice.com saw that a majority of young men and women — 93 per cent and 88 per cent, respectively — seek unconventional meet-cutes as opposed to matches on apps.

Mr Liu’s apathy toward the platforms bubbled amid the COVID-19 lockdown.

“During the pandemic, it was all online and Zoom speed dating,” he said. “There was just something missing from those approaches.“

“I never felt I’d found the woman I was looking for,” continued the promo pro. “Using the apps, I never felt I was able to convey the best parts of who I am as a person.”

So, Mr Liu did it himself.

His cyber flyers, which popped up on Facebook and Instagram timelines for about a year, touted the wannabe boyfriend as a creative, faith-driven entrepreneur who enjoyed travelling. The cutesy description aided Facebook’s algorithms in garnering interest from potential paramours with similar values and weeding out incompatible prospects.

Mr Liu tells The Post he couldn't imagine a better match than Bethany. Picture: Supplied

“I thought my ads would yield results,” said Mr Liu, who founded ZipMatches.com to help other singles advertise themselves online. “But couldn’t have imagined how well it would work in finding Bethany.”

The lucky lover boy’s bulletin caught the eye of now-girlfriend Bethany Landby, 36, from Boston, in August 2021.

“When I saw his ad what stood out to me was his tango dancing and other shared interests,” Landby, owner of Allumette Candle Company, a brand aimed at ending human trafficking and domestic abuse, told The Post.

“For men, it seems like they have to swipe endlessly just to get a match, and even then, it might not be a great fit,” she added. “Running an ad can cut through all that and save a lot of time since it’s targeted and done for you.”

And while it’s said that only fools rush in, ultra-modern guys and gals looking for love widely prefer taking the least time-consuming, most straightforward path towards happily ever after.

After a year of spotlighting himself on Facebook ads, Liu's posts caught the attention of his now girlfriend. Picture: Supplied

Like Mr Liu, a fellow New Yorker seeking “the one” — who chose to remain anonymous — launched a series of Instagram ads at the top of the year. The millennial also created a Google Forms doc to share his height, likes and background, before presenting a short list of questions to contenders for his heart.

But the avant-garde approach isn’t limited to people looking for love in the concrete jungle.

Tiffany Wong, 28, from Sydney, Australia, tells The Post that Google Forms helped speed up her search for a suitable suitor in the scummy dating pool.

“Being a single woman in Sydney on the apps is a minefield,” said the down-under darling, a theatre and screen actor.

Owing to her hectic schedule, which often sees Ms Wong working 55-hour weeks, she reluctantly turned to Hinge and Tinder for romance assistance in July — but created the personalised survey to streamline the hunt.

Australia Tiffany Wong, says using Google Forms has helped her save time while wading through a sea of online and in-person dates. Picture: Tiffany Wong

The doc, titled “So … you want to go on a date?” asks daters about themselves, their relationship standards and views on social issues. It’s aided Ms Wong in distinguishing the studs from the duds.

“If they answered the form in a way that showed they were intellectual, funny and considerate,” she said. “Usually the dates would be exactly the same.”

The brunette garnered over 25 requests for dates in a month. However, she only agreed to going out with three guys per their gripping responses to her queries.

But rather than finding Mr. Right on an app, Ms Wong randomly landed a man at a ramen shop in Edinburgh last month. The twosome are now in a long-distance relationship.

“He filled out a Google Form, too,” said Ms Wong. “It intrigued me.”

This story originally appeared on the New York Post and reproduced with permission

Originally published as Man ditches dating apps to find love using Facebook Ads