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Ok, we've tried to keep it quite to all those other than our clients, but the cat is now well and truly out of the bag.
Facebook is more powerful than Google Ad words. There, I've said it.
Now that's quite a brave thing to say considering that, according to Google Analytics, the vast majority of you have arrived at our site via Google (I hope you can still read this).
The long and short of it is that Facebook advertising is ultimately targeted. The 20,864,060 people aged 18 and over that have Facebook accounts in the UK are encouraged to add information about themselves freely so that their friends, past, present and future, get a snapshot of their life. The beauty is that advertisers can utilise this freely submitted information to target their campaigns.
For example, did you know that there are 334,600 Manchester United fans aged 18 or over that live in the UK on Facebook? And that, should you be interested in running a campaign targeted toward Manchester United fans, Facebook suggests that you bid around 32 pence per click on a budget of £35 per day.
But Facebook allows you to target much deeper than that. Let's take another target at random. How about people that work for British Airways? Well, there are 6760 British Airways employees on Facebook. 3200 of them are female. And only 940 of the female British Airways employees on Facebook are married. One more thing, 60 British Airways employees on Facebook admit to being Manchester United fans compared to fewer than 20 Virgin Atlantic employees. I'll let you interpret that any way you wish.
This is why Facebook Advertising is so useful a part of a larger campaign. Although, I feel that I must reiterate at this point that Facebook Advertising in not a panacea. It is very good, very good indeed, but it still works best as part of a considered, multi dimensional campaign.
It is however, inexpensive.
On behalf of our clients we're currently averaging a 0.12p cost per thousand with Facebook Advertising at the moment. When you compare this to what a local/regional radio station would charge, anywhere between £1.25 and £3.00 cost per thousand, you can begin to see the value. And that's without factoring in the increase in radio cost per thousand when you begin narrowing down and audience beyond ‘adults 15+'.
But does it work?
Well, as I said before, it's always going to work better as part of a larger campaign, but let's look at some figures for Facebook alone.
One of our clients, tool-net.co.uk, wanted to explore alternatives to Google Ad Words. So we began a social networking and Facebook Advertising campaign for them in November 2009. In the first 3 months the campaign had generated 26,938,529 impacts to their target market, 7238 clicks to their website and delivered 1042 fans for their Facebook fansite.
Now, let's not underestimate the power of the aforementioned fansite. For this is basically a tool-net.co.uk media outlet which, within reason, we have full editorial control of on behalf of the client. In addition, whatever content we decide to publish on the fansite wall is immediately syndicated to the home pages of all tool-net.co.uk fans. And, as the fans were generated by Facebook advertising targeted to UK residents who are carpenters, builders, electricians, plumbers, engineers and the like, they are all still very much target market.
It's no secret that tool-net.co.uk's USP is its competitive price point. With very low overheads and high turnover, tool-net.co.uk is able to offer exceptional deals on power tools and fixings. With over 6500 products available on-line DIYers and professionals alike can find what they want at an excellent price. The fansite enables us to keep tool-net.co.uk's valuable Facebook fans up to date on a weekly basis with current offers with no media costs at all!
Now clearly, as with any media campaign, Facebook advertising relies on content and careful management, but once you get it right, the benefits are there for all.
So, in conclusion, Facebook Advertising and subsequent social networking represents a well rounded, highly targeted opportunity for sophisticated marketers who wish to maximise their return on investment by boosting their digital presence. But this only works with well structured content that is renewed regularly so as to not get tired and out dated.
FrogBox Marketing is currently managing Facebook Advertising campaigns as part of a larger Marketing communications strategy for several retail clients. If you would like to discuss social networking and on-line advertising in more detail, then please do not hesitate to contact us.