There is all kind of misinformation circulating around on the net. Fake news is a good example. After all, how many people actually read legitimate news sites these days? Most of us just check the feed on our Facebook or Twitter pages instead to see what’s happening in the world. Given that ‘fake news’ is so common, have you read any headlines lately telling you that Facebook advertising is dead? I bet you have, so let’s take a look at Facebook advertising and assess whether it is still a useful platform for individuals and SMEs.
Facebook advertising has been around for awhile now. There are more than 1.7 billion active users on Facebook. There are many people who log into Facebook almost every day. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that at least some of those people will see your Facebook ads.
A Facebook presence is important, but having a Facebook page is not enough if you want to grow your business. When Facebook first became popular, it was easy to reach a wide audience simply by posting content. Unfortunately, once Facebook began to look at ways of monetizing the site, organic reach dropped and businesses were pushed into paying for advertising.
These days, it’s great if your Facebook fans “like” a post, but changes to the way Facebook shows content mean that only a very small number of people will actually see what you post. For a small business, this won’t get you terribly far.
Advertising is an effective way of reaching a target audience. Traditional advertising has considerable reach in the real world, with magazine and newspaper ads, flyers and brochures a useful way of marketing your business in the local area. However, if you want to expand your reach into a wider area, online advertising is the only way.
Online Facebook advertising is highly visual. You only have a few seconds at most to attract someone’s attention, so every second counts. Text-based ads tend to be less effective; online, images count for a lot more.
Search engine marketing is effective, but it can be expensive if you are targeting popular keywords. Facebook advertising is a cheaper and an effective way to garner customer engagement. Facebook conversions are better, but only if you tell Facebook who your ideal audience is so they can show your ads to the right people.
The great thing about Facebook is that it lets you define your audience parameters very precisely. You can even give Facebook data on existing customers, which further refines the profile of your ideal customer.
In terms of user engagement, Facebook dominates all other social networks and this state of affairs is unlikely to change any time soon. The cool kids that we’re using Facebook almost a decade ago may find it surprising that it’s still growing, and it has the 18-29 demographic in the bag, so if this is your target market, you are foolish to dismiss Facebook as a waste of space. Facebook advertising needn’t kill your marketing budget, so at least give it a try as part of your wider marketing strategy.
