The growing popularity of social networks, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, has given companies, especially small businesses, an amazing opportunity to expand via affordable advertising.
Business owners have seen the value of services like Facebook. But, what a lot of them don't realize is that Facebook is quickly evolving from a mere social media site to a very efficient advertising tool. Large companies like Ford, Samsung, Nike, and McDonald's have invested heavily in promoting their products/brands on Facebook and the social media site actually earns $1 billion per quarter from these.
But, even if you don't have mounds of cash allotted for advertising you can still take advantage of Facebook's services. You can refer to Facebook’s guide to using its advertising tool. There, you can see the powerful targeting options that lead to a greater ROI.
So why should YOU advertise on Facebook? Here are 5 good reasons:
1. Efficient and Targeted Advertising
Facebook knows that different businesses need to target different kinds of audiences. Using Facebook’s built-in tool will allow you to target exactly the right kind of people that you want to reach. Selling wedding rings? You can target engaged couples. You have a promo for college students? You can reach them with ease. With Facebook's system you can target as broad (sample1: entire USA, sample2: all people aged 18 and up) or as narrow (sample1: males aged 18-24 who live in NYC, who use a smartphone, who are college students) an audience as you want. Proper targeting means that your ads will be shown to the audience most interested in your products/services.
2. Cost-Effective Promotion
Ads on Facebook may cost around $1-$2 per click, which is quite expensive. But, if you specify your targeting, the cost goes down substantially. Some ads that are highly optimized can get to as low as $0.10 per click. Each click you get is as good as a lead, and your cost per lead becomes very affordable compared to other advertising mediums.
3. Facebook Lets You Experiment
Large companies have the budget for large-scale experiments. They can advertise commercials on TV all they want and if that doesn't work, they just create new commercials. Small businesses do not have this kind of luxury. With Facebook you can create multiple ads with low budgets. Even a $1 investment is allowed. You can then run analytics to know which ones are performing and which ones are not. You can also allot more for the ads that perform well.
4. Simple and Easy Advertising
Setting up ads in other media is very tedious. It’s the opposite with Facebook. Facebook has a built-in tool that allows you to create ads in minutes. It lets you manage your ads once they’re up and running. Creating ads using this tool is a very straightforward process:
5. Free advertisers
When a Facebook user clicks on one of your ads and "Likes" your Page, the action he did will show up as a "story" on his timeline and friends' newsfeeds. This user now acts as your advertiser and will have an effect depending on his number of friends. When friends of this user click on his "story" they will be redirected to your Page. The good news is that these clicks are free since only clicks on ads are charged.
Another tool that marketers can use are Facebook hashtags. They give context to a user’s status post. These hashtags are clickable and will open up a feed about that topic.
With these reasons mentioned, you should also bear in mind that the greatest thing about the Facebook system is the Potential for Virality. Virality is really a mixture of luck and great content. Funny videos, touching stories, and inspirational acts, with "Likes" and "Shares" and comments -- these things dominate newsfeeds because people can relate to them. The key to virality, then, is to keep generating content that people will find surprising or intense, actionable and useful.
Facebook advertising doesn't come without a downside. Companies complain of the hassles of running Facebook ads. A quick look at the ads flashed on your personal Facebook account shows their relevance isn't 100%. This isn't a problem of the tool as much as the fact that a brand's relevance to a certain person can change. To address this, you will need to oversee where the advertisements are shown. Also, while Facebook provides analytics about ad reach, you still need to interpret and think of a plan of action in response to these numbers. Finally, designing Facebook ads requires expertise: you only have an ad space of 154px by 154px to work with and that’s not easy!
If you are interested in advertising through Facebook without the hassles, outsource! Let us help you explore your Facebook advertising options.
About the Author
Cezar Camba is a Social Media Analyst for StraightArrow Corporation supporting one of Facebook‘s biggest ad resellers. He is a mobile tech news aficionado and a seasonal blogger.
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