Should You Advertise on Facebook?
By Vanessa Salvia, 6/20/11
There are millions of potential customers using Facebook everyday, so maybe advertising on Facebook would make sense for you. In order to help you make that decision, take a look at the Facebook ad platform. You don't have to actually launch an ad in order to take advantage of some of the features.
With more and more businesses funneling their advertising dollars into the Facebook platform, it could be worth your time to find our how it can benefit you. If a business owner decides to spend $100 or $200 a month on Facebook ads, what can they expect in return? Is the idea to just get more fans, or actually get a purchase? If Facebook advertisements generate more fans, that's great, but that might not make it worthwhile for a lot of businesses.
Let's look at the benefits of both traditional paid search advertisements and Facebook ads.
Benefits of PPC
1. Search-based advertising allows direct targeting.
Search (keyword) targeting allows you to direct your advertisements to the eyeballs of people who are specifically searching for what you have to offer.
2. Calculating Return on Investment is easier.
There is a lot of data and analytics available from Google, Bing, and other search engines that make calculating the ROI of a particular ad or keyword campaign easy. Actual revenue generated is trackable by specific keyword or advertisement, so determining if a campaign is working for you is straightforward. While Facebook does make some user data available, ROI from Facebook ads is much less easy to track.
3. PPC offers more financial control.
Search-based PPC advertising allows you to see what keywords are performing and how. Being able to analyze and tweak your messages based on which keywords are performing can make the difference between profit and loss. Google and Facebook both charge higher rates for ads that are deemed less "relevant." Google and Facebook determine relevancy on the basis of click-through-rate, keyword consistency, and other factors that are not disclosed. However, Google tells you what the relevancy of your ad is (on a scale of 1 to 10) so you can see which ads are costing you more and need revision. But Facebook does not give the advertiser this information, so it is very difficult to know if some ads are costing you much more per click than they should. Consequently, the cost of Facebook ad campaigns can spiral out of control very easily.
4. Reach more of the internet.
More and more people and businesses are using Facebook, but traditional PPC advertisements still allow business owners to reach more internet users.
5. Purchase motivation is higher.
When someone is using a social network site such as Facebook, they tend to stay on the site and engage with their friends-they're not bouncing back and forth from Facebook to online shopping sites and back again. So when they see an advertisement related to something they are searching for while they're already using a search engine such as Google, it is easier to motivate a shopper to leave the site they are on and make a purchase.
Benefits of Facebook ads
1. User segmentation based on likes and demographics.
You can segment your Facebook ads by age, gender, location, or other factors such as interest that the users themselves have specified (such as liking the TV show "Mad Men," a sports figure, or cooking).
2. Facebook is more personal.
Users of social networking sites like Facebook have chosen to engage in that platform, and they tend to trust and engage in the ads a bit more actively than random ads they see on whatever search engine they are using. Facebook often pulls from user data to show a photo and name of a friend who "likes" a certain thing and recommends that others use it. That type of relationship can work in your favor as it lowers the "trust" barrier for businesses who are advertising.
3. Calculate your ad's reach.
Facebook allows you to go through some steps to target your ad without actually having to pay and create an ad. Part of that targeting gives you a ballpark figure for the number of people who fit the demographic that you have selected, so it's a good way to find out if it would work for you.
4. Build awareness.
When users engage with you on Facebook, it is easier to direct them to your Pages and other Facebook-related motivations (such as surveys) that make your branding easier. On a search engine, unless your ad is especially compelling, it is hard to direct users to what you want them to see.
5. Creating engaging content is easier.
Creating engaging content on Facebook is key here-the higher your click-through rate the cheaper your ads are. It is easier to utilize all of the tools and toys that Facebook offers to create engaging content, such as videos, games, surveys, photos, etc., that can easily be shared or "liked." Facebook ads look like Google AdWords ad with the exception that they can be longer and you can include thumbnail photos. The sharing nature of a social site means that it is easier for people to spread your news.
What kind of businesses make good candidates for Facebook advertising?
Facebook users are image-driven, so good candidates to advertise on Facebook would seem to be businesses with some visual component to their products. Businesses with events to promote can definitely benefit from the viral sharing nature of Facebook.
Businesses with multiple locations would be served by creating a Facebook Place Page. Continue with your regular brand Page but create a Facebook Place Page for each of your locations. The goal is to provide a specific geo-location tied to that page. When someone "checks in" at your location you can give them a deal that is paid for in a similar way to an advertisement.
Conclusion
While the decision over where to funnel your limited advertising dollars is a tough one, there's no doubt that Facebook continues to grow and does have mass appeal. Take a minute to go through the process of creating an ad and view the segmenting and targeting data that Facebook provides. There are over 600 million Facebook users worldwide, so if your audience isn't on Facebook, that may be a bigger problem!
There are millions of potential customers using Facebook everyday, so maybe advertising on Facebook would make sense for you. In order to help you make that decision, take a look at the Facebook ad platform. You don't have to actually launch an ad in order to take advantage of some of the features.
With more and more businesses funneling their advertising dollars into the Facebook platform, it could be worth your time to find our how it can benefit you. If a business owner decides to spend $100 or $200 a month on Facebook ads, what can they expect in return? Is the idea to just get more fans, or actually get a purchase? If Facebook advertisements generate more fans, that's great, but that might not make it worthwhile for a lot of businesses.
Let's look at the benefits of both traditional paid search advertisements and Facebook ads.
Benefits of PPC
1. Search-based advertising allows direct targeting.
Search (keyword) targeting allows you to direct your advertisements to the eyeballs of people who are specifically searching for what you have to offer.
2. Calculating Return on Investment is easier.
There is a lot of data and analytics available from Google, Bing, and other search engines that make calculating the ROI of a particular ad or keyword campaign easy. Actual revenue generated is trackable by specific keyword or advertisement, so determining if a campaign is working for you is straightforward. While Facebook does make some user data available, ROI from Facebook ads is much less easy to track.
3. PPC offers more financial control.
Search-based PPC advertising allows you to see what keywords are performing and how. Being able to analyze and tweak your messages based on which keywords are performing can make the difference between profit and loss. Google and Facebook both charge higher rates for ads that are deemed less "relevant." Google and Facebook determine relevancy on the basis of click-through-rate, keyword consistency, and other factors that are not disclosed. However, Google tells you what the relevancy of your ad is (on a scale of 1 to 10) so you can see which ads are costing you more and need revision. But Facebook does not give the advertiser this information, so it is very difficult to know if some ads are costing you much more per click than they should. Consequently, the cost of Facebook ad campaigns can spiral out of control very easily.
4. Reach more of the internet.
More and more people and businesses are using Facebook, but traditional PPC advertisements still allow business owners to reach more internet users.
5. Purchase motivation is higher.
When someone is using a social network site such as Facebook, they tend to stay on the site and engage with their friends-they're not bouncing back and forth from Facebook to online shopping sites and back again. So when they see an advertisement related to something they are searching for while they're already using a search engine such as Google, it is easier to motivate a shopper to leave the site they are on and make a purchase.
Benefits of Facebook ads
1. User segmentation based on likes and demographics.
You can segment your Facebook ads by age, gender, location, or other factors such as interest that the users themselves have specified (such as liking the TV show "Mad Men," a sports figure, or cooking).
2. Facebook is more personal.
Users of social networking sites like Facebook have chosen to engage in that platform, and they tend to trust and engage in the ads a bit more actively than random ads they see on whatever search engine they are using. Facebook often pulls from user data to show a photo and name of a friend who "likes" a certain thing and recommends that others use it. That type of relationship can work in your favor as it lowers the "trust" barrier for businesses who are advertising.
3. Calculate your ad's reach.
Facebook allows you to go through some steps to target your ad without actually having to pay and create an ad. Part of that targeting gives you a ballpark figure for the number of people who fit the demographic that you have selected, so it's a good way to find out if it would work for you.
4. Build awareness.
When users engage with you on Facebook, it is easier to direct them to your Pages and other Facebook-related motivations (such as surveys) that make your branding easier. On a search engine, unless your ad is especially compelling, it is hard to direct users to what you want them to see.
5. Creating engaging content is easier.
Creating engaging content on Facebook is key here-the higher your click-through rate the cheaper your ads are. It is easier to utilize all of the tools and toys that Facebook offers to create engaging content, such as videos, games, surveys, photos, etc., that can easily be shared or "liked." Facebook ads look like Google AdWords ad with the exception that they can be longer and you can include thumbnail photos. The sharing nature of a social site means that it is easier for people to spread your news.
What kind of businesses make good candidates for Facebook advertising?
Facebook users are image-driven, so good candidates to advertise on Facebook would seem to be businesses with some visual component to their products. Businesses with events to promote can definitely benefit from the viral sharing nature of Facebook.
Businesses with multiple locations would be served by creating a Facebook Place Page. Continue with your regular brand Page but create a Facebook Place Page for each of your locations. The goal is to provide a specific geo-location tied to that page. When someone "checks in" at your location you can give them a deal that is paid for in a similar way to an advertisement.
Conclusion
While the decision over where to funnel your limited advertising dollars is a tough one, there's no doubt that Facebook continues to grow and does have mass appeal. Take a minute to go through the process of creating an ad and view the segmenting and targeting data that Facebook provides. There are over 600 million Facebook users worldwide, so if your audience isn't on Facebook, that may be a bigger problem!
