Facebook advertising offers plenty of options
The clamour regarding Facebook’s meteoric growth has calmed somewhat since it floated on the stock market; with that in mind, we take a level-headed look at what opportunities Facebook advertising presents to ecommerce businesses.
Facebook advertising revenues rose 36 per cent to $1.9 billion in Q3 of 2012 giving its shares a much needed boost following their disastrous decline post IPO.
Providing an ever-growing list of ways for businesses to advertise, Facebook has become an important part of many businesses marketing spend.
When you are approaching advertising on the social network there are a number of different choices. It’s important to chose an option that best suits your marketing goal.
1. Standard ads
This was the first advertising model released by Facebook and refers to the ads you generally see on the right hand side of the page. They drive traffic to your external site rather than directing people to your Facebook page.
2. Object ads
These ads are served in a similar way to standard ads, on the right hand side but feature one particular product and offer a “like” button. They will drive traffic to your Facebook page, increasing engagement with it and fans rather than an external site.
3. Sponsored stories
Actions taken by fans or the administrator of your Facebook page are turned into ads and appear on your fans’ feeds. They are a good way to reach out to your fans as it could involve an action taken by them and encourages communication. Sponsored stories can be made up of comments left on your page, likes, check-ins, events joined etc. The hope is that it will encourage other to take the same action as their friend.
You can also chose where you serve the ads – at the side of a page, mobile only, desktop only or news feeds only.
4. Promoted posts
These allow a page administrator to turn an action into an ad that will be served at the top of your fans’ and if you chose, friends of fans’ news feeds.
Facebook has also introduced a targeting element which allows you to promote your post to fans based on age, gender, relationship status, workplace, location, language etc.
Unlike other ad option which are priced per impression or per click, promoted posts cost a flat rate to reach a certain amount of users. They are ideal for mobile impressions because they appear in feeds rather than the sidebar.
5. Offers
This allows merchants to share discounts and promotions with their fans. If a friend has redeemed the deal, that news will be served along with the offer to other fans. Offers were launched on Facebook in April 2012 and were originally free but now require a fee depending on the size of your Facebook page.
6. Facebook Exchange
The latest addition to Facebook’s advertising revenue stream and a big one according to reports. FBX is a retargeting function which allows sites to drop cookies on users’ browsers as they surf the web and then retarget those users when they enter Facebook. It is a new way of purchasing ads through real-time bidding, targeting through Demand-Side Platforms.
Figures have shown that Facebook Exchange is 36% better than Google at converting re-targeted users.
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