Facebook: Marketing Powerhouse
Facebook has become more than just a social networking site. It has opened up opportunities for advertisers to reach and build their audience in a relatively cheap, fast spreading, and easily accessible way. However, Facebook does not provide a completely new approach. Like email and google ads, Facebook allows advertisers to groom their target lists, see who they’re reaching, and track the engagement of their viewers. As O’Shaughnessy states, Facebook gives advertisers access to information about its user with regards to “[…] not only general demographics, but what other brands they like, how they behave, what their interests are, what they read, how they live”. This information is extremely valuable because advertisers are now able to learn even more about their target list. Also, through news feed statistics and profiling, advertisers can gain additional information about who is actually viewing their ads. Thy can “analyze who is not seeing their messages and work to improve those exposure rates” in order to make sure they are reaching not only as many people as possible but also the type of people they want to. It’s also possible for advertisers to keep a close eye on how their message is being spread. “[…] after a brand’s message has gone out advertisers track its performance with likes, shares, sponsored stories and so forth”. Although these features are very similar to how email ads work, Facebook has other aspects that make it even more popular.
Major components that make Facebook advertising more valuable than other platforms are price, earned media, and easy entry. Other means of gathering information for contact lists are a lot more expensive than Facebook. This is because Facebook users pretty much do the work for the advertisers by liking the company’s page. O’Shaughnessy says, “All brands need is a Facebook click or ‘like’ and they’ve acquired a new contact for their list for a fraction of the price—or free!”. This increases Facebook’s desirability as advertisers try to find the cheapest way to spread their messages. A huge aspect of Facebook’s capabilities that adds to its value is the media component. Unlike in the email market, a Facebook message will most likely “be spread virally by fans, and friends of fans, garnering it even more attention”. This is also very valuable because it gives users the opportunity to interact with the ads as well as contribute to its spread without much extra effort from the advertisers. Another important feature is that there is basically no barrier impeding the advertisers’ connection with their viewers. Because “Fans are instantly exposed to a page post ad without having to click ‘open’ first”, there is a much higher possibility for the users to actually see the content since they don’t have to commit any additional action.
As we’ve discussed in class, an ads’ click through rate is extremely important for advertisers. With Facebook’s custom audience targeting, advertisers can create specific messages that are made for certain parts of their Facebook network. According to tests done, “this targeting capability has shown exponentially higher click-through and engagement rates”. By using Facebook, advertisers can increase their click through rate while targeting their messages and all for a relatively cheaper price. Therefore, Facebook not only helps advertiser build their contact list but also increases the advertisers’ payouts overall.
Source:
http://www.insidefacebook.com/2012/11/05/facebook-ads-improved-e-mail-marketing/