As many of us spend time of Facebook, what is the return of all those ads you see in the sidebar? Do we all ignore them? Are they working on us? I must admit, I ignore most of those ads as many seem so untargeted and uninteresting. But, here’s a confession (shhhh, don’t tell anyone!), the other day I actually clicked on one, and shock horror, I actually purchased something that was advertised using Facebook ads! And I’m glad I did. I would never have known about that product, had I not seen it in the Facebook ad.
According to recent research by comScore, it seems that I’m not the only one responding to Facebook ads. At a recent webinar comScore reported that Facebook and Twitter users spend more money online than non-socialites. In addition, they reported that some 23 percent of Twitter users follow businesses, buy goods online, and look for product reviews. In the case of Facebook, the graph above shows that the more time users spend on Facebook, the more they spent online. Makes sense right? People who spend more of their time online, do more shopping online. People who are savvy enough to know how to use a Facebook account or Twitter are more likely to be confident enough to navigate e-commerce websites and enter their credit cards on what they recognise as secure online stores.
If you’re not familiar with Facebook ads from an advertiser’s point of view, here’s a quick primer.
A different kind of pay-per-click
Like Google Adwords, Facebook ads work on the pay-per-click model (PPC). Well, you can also use a per impression model but why pay for all those impressions that get ignored! A couple of differences between Facebook ads and other PPC models though:
1. Facebook generally has a much lower cost per click.
2. You can include an image. This is great for catching the attention of the Facebooker and promotes brand recognition.
Get your brand in front of millions
You can get your ad and your brand in front of potentially millions of Facebook users. Facebook can deliver a huge number of impressions very quickly. The service has more than 400 million members worldwide, many of whom spend an hour or more on Facebook every single day. As a result, don’t be surprised if Facebook produces millions of ad impressions in no time at all.
Focused Targeting
Unlike search based PPC advertising such as Google Adwords, which bases its targeting on keywords typed in by users, using Facebook you can target your customers very precisely. The Facebook PPC program is built around the data of its members so you can select a target audience based on sex, age, location, interests, groups and more.
Maybe it’s time to try out a Facebook Ads campaign. With me? Let me know how it goes.