Facebook Ads for Small Businesses
The price of ads on Facebook increased as the number of ad impressions (number of ads displayed) decreased, leading to Facebook ad revenue increase. Facebook argues that the price that is paid for the ad slot correlates to the value it generates for the company. However, small businesses have experienced a greater increase in ad price with respect to the generated clicks and sales. One small business has stopped buying Facebook ad slots and continued with Google because of the greater sales generated from there. This is due to the decreased ad space where fewer ads reach the user and therefore fewer clicks are generated; yet the price has increased. The change in Facebook design layout in April that allows fewer ads on the page has led Facebook to announce that some advertisers may see higher prices at auctions.
This is relevant to the topic we covered in class, where the price matching for ads are now limited to those companies with higher values for each ad. Small businesses in this case, are disadvantaged as the price of each ad increases at the auction for fewer available ads. The value that small businesses hold for the ads is less than larger businesses who are also looking at the same ad slot. Although a still a huge social platform, Facebook has become less of a marketing tool for businesses as decreased ad impressions force smaller businesses to find alternatives.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/facebook-ads-become-costlier-choice-for-small-businesses-1407341983