Using Facebook Targeted Ads to Better Market Your Business
November 11, 2008 by Scott
Filed under Marketing, Technology
Facebook’s ad targeting system is among the best targeting system out there in terms of deliverability and cost effectiveness. Through Facebook Pages, Real Estate professionals can directly market to their target demographic by placing ads within their prospective client’s Facebook interface. With 80% of home buying interest today starting online, it would seem reasonable to make an effort to get to the word out on your property through a platform that has become respected among all social circles and walks of life. It is for this reason that Facebook is the reasonable choice above other social networks.
Though Facebook is technically the second largest social networking site with 100 million active users (News Corporation’s MySpace still holds the first place title), it has become the cleaner alternative to the corporate-backed, ad-ridden, unprofessional landscape of MySpace. This puts Facebook in a position to learn from MySpace’s mistakes – let everyone market on the platform instead of just larger companies.
Everyone from photographers to real estate professionals to vendors have started to use Facebook’s easy-to-use ad developer to place ads directly into a desired user’s homepage.
The site allows for advance targeting – target by age, gender, location, interests, whatever you want. It also allows for you to attach friend-to-friend interactions about your ads; friends of the target will show up as referring your business to them through your ad, which helps attract attention and credibility.
Facebook is also flexible on how your purchase ads. Their system allows for both CPC (purchase clicks) or CPM (purchase impressions) styles of payment. Their CPC method allows you to bid on a cost-per-click, with the higher the bid equaling more impressions on the site. They also let you set a limit per day on each ad, allowing you to increase and decrease the ad rate according to your budget.
A great feature of this ad system is Facebook’s “trusted referral” option.
From Facebook.com: “The ads can also be shown to users whose friends have recently engaged with your Facebook Page or engaged with your application. Facebook Ads are more likely to influence users when they appear next to a story about a friend’s interaction with your business.”
This is great if you want to start building within a network of friends who have shared interests. So say you’re a photographer and you have a business selling real estate photography. If you tell your clients to become fans of your business on Facebook, you can advertise directly to their associates, using your clients as referrals.
The end result of these targeted ads is delivering your message directly onto a prospect’s facebook homepage, which means (depending on your bidding settings) that your prospects can see your ad every time they refresh their homepage. This is a great way to advertise yourself as a professional in your field.