With approximately 900 million users, Facebook is one of the favorite social media websites used by many people across the world. For the companies, it is a premier social networking platform. Most of the social networks are focused on individual communication, whereas Facebook provides a way for the companies to engage their customers effectively. Every start-up should be using Facebook from the initial days itself. Even the traditional businesses that specialize in the production and distribution of tangible goods should be using Facebook for drawing attention of people towards their products and creating a brand presence. Facebook is a frequently used platform for promoting products and ideas of a business; however, along with the social presence, it also has a sophisticated and effective online marketing factor to it.
This marketing factor is now a big thing in terms of the enterprise Facebook usage that constitutes the companies putting their ads on Facebook. The Facebook ads platform is an excellent way to generate business through the potential customers who browse Facebook. The Facebook ad program is extremely intuitive and flexible in comparison to Google Adwords. You can utilize the pay-per-click (PPC) model that works like Google Adwords or you can also use a cost per impression model (CPI).
Advertisers pay Facebook for publishing ads on various areas of social networks including the user profile or the homepage. They are displayed on the areas of social network along with relevant information for targeting audience or keywords in the description of ads. Facebook ads create a platform for new audience that might be hard to reach through ad services like Amazon Product Ads, Google Adsence, Microsoft AdCenter or Yahoo Search Marketing. Facebook offers with many ad slots where the ads can be spotted. Facebook has mentioned that the ads are eligible to be displayed on many types of pages including apps, groups, pages, photos, profiles and home page.
The below mentioned information is focused on Facebook’s model for advertisers and distributors and we are not considering the model focused on publishers wanting to generate revenue through ads that were created by the other parties.
Advantages
One of the greatest things about Facebook ads is that it provides you with a lot of freedom about who you want to target through ads and what you would like to promote. You don’t just have to sell an individual product for every ad click, you can also promote the entire event. Facebook has listed websites, pages, events and apps as the services that can be promoted by the people.
Another crucial advantage is how you can target your consumers through the Facebook ad platform. There are various targeting options available for the advertisers. For example, you can select the preferred language, location, work, age, education and relationship status as well. With specific ads relating to the perfect target audience, there are greater possibilities for you to gain new customers.
Other advantages of using Facebook ads include the customization options you get for creating your ads and also the way in which you can monitor your budget. You can design multiple ads through scratch in Facebook that can be used in this program and you can monitor the amount of money that you would like to spend in running the ads per day. Your way of creating the ad will also determine your success rate. Along with designing an ad, it is also important to use an eye-catching image for getting a better response. Facebook also allows you to use your page name, a question or any other important information in the title of the ad. The ease of use and quick setup offered by the Facebook program are great features that make the road easy for the advertisers.
Facebook defines the process in five steps for getting success with the ad platform. The steps include the following:
Step 1 : Identify your goals
Step 2 : Target the right audience
Step 3 : Design an engaging ad
Step 4 : Plan and manage your budget
Step 5 : Review and improvise
The flexibility provided by Facebook to choose between CPC or CPM model also cannot be underestimated. The competing ad platforms either offer a CPC or a CPM model, Google Adwords is an exception to this.
Lastly, it is crucial to mention here that the Facebook ad service is relatively less expensive as compared to the competition and it is growing rapidly. The Wall Street Journal stated that, Facebook ranked higher than Yahoo for display ads during 2011.
Things You Need To Be Careful About:
The Facebook ads platform is relatively new as compared to the rivals therefore; uncertainties are involved in it. Basically, this is an ad platform that only targets the Facebook users and not all the web users. There can be many of your potential customers who use Facebook sparingly only for checking the messages and they are not so active when it comes to social networking. Moreover Facebook is more focused on the B2C advertising. The business owners can secure the B2B profitability through Pinterest.
A limitation of investing in Facebook ads is that you can only target 25 countries whereas the other ad platforms automatically target a worldwide audience. This might be a drawback for the people who sell their products overseas.
Conclusion
It is a fact that Facebook offers an alternative way for the businesses to find clients and generate revenue through by placing ads for their products. It is not just a social network created for individuals; it is an excellent platform for the business owners as well. Many opportunities are provided by Facebook that should be explored by the eCommerce outlets as the ad cost is till comparatively inexpensive.
