Advertising with Facebook

by Felice Gerwitz
http://www.InformationInANutshell.com

Test the Market
As with any platform and marketing it takes testing and retesting to see what really works. We know about the social uses for Facebook... sharing pictures, what you are doing, upcoming events and linking your blog to your friends. But, Facebook is becoming very competitive with ad words. You are familiar, I am sure with Google ad words, among others. Facebook ads can be very effective for specific types of ads and it is worth taking a look.

Target Audience
As with any marketing campaign, reaching your target audience is the key. With Facebook ad words you can reach a particular demographic group down to specific ages, whether or not they are male or female and even with keywords. A case in point is looking at my husband's facebook page and the ads that appear on his versus the ads that appear on mine. His ads are targeted for men, mine are for women with families. In the past if I disliked an ad I clicked the x and a screen popped up asking me why and if it was offensive. I "trained" the ads and now the ads target my likes more than my dislikes.

Images and Photos

You can use images or photos with your ads and that makes them eye-catching. You can use a company logo, a picture of yourself or anything that labels your brand. You will find the ads are cheaper than click ads and the results are better. I have used both and found that it takes a small learning curve to get the ads launched. Google ads took many classes and studying time to figure out how to use key words effectively.

Ease of Set Up 
Ad campaigns on Google took much effort and time to set up, launch and monitor. I spent thousands of dollars testing the market and while my results were fairly good, they were not nearly the results I had hoped to attain. Campaigns on Facebook are incredibly easy by comparison and you can use more words to describe your product.

Nothing is Perfect
There is a downside. You can't really track the results for click through like you can with Google adwords. You could even graph the results and check the time of day you wanted your ad to appear. Right now those features are not enabled or created for Facebook. You also have the downside of the type of users on Facebook. These are people who like communities, interactions and dialogue. If you are a service oriented business this may work for you. Product sales might be a harder sale.

With so many places vying for your advertising dollar if you are a Facebook user you may consider trying an ad for your niche market. If you find success, share your results with us!