Should You Be Advertising on Facebook?

Are you one of the two million advertisers on Facebook? If not, why not? Should you be?

The short answer is maybe. Insightful I know! The long answer and the truth of the matter is it all depends on what your business is and ultimately what your marketing goals are. What works for some, won’t for others and just like with Google Adwords, there is no secret recipe for success. Don’t be put off though, Facebook Advertising can be amazingly successful, here’s how.

Reach out to the right people

One key area where Facebook holds an advantage over other web marketing platforms is the sheer amount of data it has on its 1.31 billion monthly users. Being able to present your content to exactly the right people is a luxury that can’t be matched by Google Adwords. Beyond broad areas like age and gender, Facebook lets you refine your target audience right down to targeting individual interests and online habits. This (in theory) all but eliminates irrelevant traffic to your website which in turn should see the value of each click skyrocket.

Push your budget further

From our experience, the average cost per click on Google Adwords is somewhere around £1-2. Obviously this depends on a number of factors and the keywords you’re targeting so take that number with a pinch of salt. Facebook ads however have an average CPC of just £0.17! If you’re campaign is limited by a modest budget, being able to bring five or six times as many visitors to your site could have a massive influence on the success of your digital marketing efforts.

In 2013, the average return on investment for retailers using Facebook advertising was 152%, with numbers like that it’s easy to see why 75% of brands now promote their content on Facebook. Couple this with an average e-commerce order value of just over £50 and you’re starting to paint a pretty irresistible picture.

Unleash the power of pictures

Other common digital marketing techniques like PPC and SEO are great for capturing people already interested in your product or service, but what about grabbing people who didn’t even know what you have to offer? Being able to present compelling images to potential customers gives Facebook advertising a powerful edge. Show off what you’re offering and play with people’s impulsivity and curiosity.

Facebook provides an amazing tool to assist your marketing efforts, through a partnership with Shuttershock, advertisers have access to millions of high quality stock photos to accompany their ads. Posts with images have a far greater chance of engaging with your audience, with the massive library of stock images available, there’s really no excuse for a text only post!

Try it!

As much research as you do online, the only way to know if Facebook advertising will be successful for you is to try it. This needn’t be an expensive exercise, spending thirty or fifty pounds on an experiment over a couple of weeks could be the most valuable thing you ever do.

If you don’t know if Facebook advertising is right for your business or you’re not sure where to start, contact us and see what we can do for you. Make sure to keep an eye out for our in depth guide to Facebook advertising over the next couple of months.