In 2012, Facebook went past the 1 billion mark for active users in the world. A tremendous achievement within only 8 years of existence. Some will argue that Facebook’s definition of an active user is misleading but even so the numbers are still colossal.
With over $5 billion revenue in 2012 mainly from advertising they have managed to become an essential force for all marketers. However questions are constantly being raised regarding the profitability of those ad campaigns to businesses.
That’s why if you decide to start advertising on Facebook there are a few things to keep in mind:
- First of all the platform is probably best adapted to businesses selling consumer goods.
- Second of all you will always notice very low click through rates (CTR) for your ads especially compared to Google ads for example. This is absolutely normal since most of the users are not on this platform to buy anything. It can in fact be compared to the CTR you would get from display network advertising.
- Finally, if you decide to start an advertising campaign on Facebook, it’s probably better to set up a ‘like’ campaign than one that would take them straight to your website. Once you’ve collected those likes you will have plenty of time to turn them into customers.
Alternatively Facebook is a great platform to advertise your business for free. Creating a business page on Facebook does not cost anything and is pretty quick and straightforward. You will then be able to be found for your activity through the Facebook search engine. Your page may also appear in Google’s natural listings which will help you increase your ‘likes’ for free.
When setting up your business page, try to include all keywords relevant to your activity in the company description. Also select the relevant category for your page. And lastly, upload a great cover and profile picture. The more engaging to users the better.
