Advertising on Facebook
Facebook’s engagement ads actually makes really good sense to me and is a great way of driving cost-efficient traffic to your profile page or generate fans…
I have always had this viewpoint on social media, that people don’t go there to see/click on ads but to interact with their friends/family etc. That has also affected how I would advise my clients to use the social media platforms in their media mix – for interaction/engagement through applications. I have seen too many advertisers setting up profile pages, leaning back and thinking that now they are on the social media trend train…
Don’t get me wrong, the Facebook profile pages is great for allowing brands to interact with Facebook users, the pages offer the brands the opportunity for publishing great up-to-date content on the page’s wall and allows brands to have a two-way dialog with their fans. However most advertisers just set up a page and don’t really have a strategy for how to get the fans to interact with and the purpose of having the profile page in first place.
Here is where the engagement ads come into play. They typically appear on the right-hand side of the user’s Facebook dashboard, prompting them to take some sort of action: comment on a movie trailer, become a fan or RSVP for the season finale of a TV show etc. If a person takes action (writes a comment, RSVPs, becomes a “fan” of the sponsor), their response — and the accompanying ad message — is broadcast to everyone connected to that user. The ad model revolves around a single premise: that marketing messages are more effective when they come from friends – and that makes sense to me.
So in an ever growing social media world there is indeed a place for social media advertising for many clients – but there is also a need to have a concept and a strategy before you go there (like 1-800-flower).
So if you are a advertiser a good starting point could be to head over to InsideFacebook to get some more info on how to use Facebook in a smart way – first stop could be: 10 Powerful Ways to Target Facebook Ads Every Performance Advertiser Should Know.
