Is Facebook Advertising Worth The Investment For Businesses?

When Facebook introduced paid advertising on the platform, a lot of back lashing erupted from the users. Many hate the fact that these ads are creeping up on their newsfeed, and they don’t like looking at the right side of the platform.

But for a selected few (Big brands, medium and small scale businesses, etc), this integration has been a huge boost for them, because they can easily target their audience using the effective targeting system within the Facebook advertising back end. Not all the businesses that have used Facebook advertising have really made head way, and based on this experience, most of them have withdrawn their advertising funds from the platform.

Business has always been about results (A sale, a new client/customer, income, cashflow, etc), and investing in something that is not guaranteed to bring in the results needed is a big NO NO.

How is Facebook advertising helping Businesses?

Facebook has ensured that what you spend on advertising is small compared to Google PPC. With this lowered cost, the advertiser is now left with the decision to set up either a daily amount to spend on advertising or to run it for a lifetime* (Lifetime meaning you run the Ad continuously until your budget runs out or you decide to pull the plug early).

You are also given 3 options to choose from when it comes to spending your Ad budget.

• Let Facebook do it for you: Facebook has now set up an option that allows them to control what you are spending, that way, you don’t have to set the bid amount yourself. But how effective is this for the person advertising? In my opinion, it’s not the best option to go for, because Facebook might end up spending your budget and not give you the ROI you were looking for.
• Cost per click (CPC): Now you can optimise your Ad for clicks by choosing this option. Most marketers out there recommend you start with this (I have also done this). You only pay Facebook when someone clicks on your Ad. If you end up running an Ad and get no clicks, that means you don’t pay Facebook a dime. Sounds safe doesn’t it? Well, the whole idea of placing an Ad was to get clicks to your landing page(s). If you do not get any clicks, then you need to restructure your Ad. If you do get clicks, but they are less than expected, then you need to pause the Ad and review your content.
• Cost per impression (CPM): This had never been a go-factor for me until recently. The idea behind CPM is that you pay Facebook for every 1000 impressions (Facebook will show your Ad 1000 times), regardless if someone clicks the Ad or not. So I’ve always seen this as a very risky deal, but recently on a training, I was enlightened about CPM. What you pay is far lower than CPC (You can pay as little as $0.01/1000 impressions). The idea behind this is that your Ad will appear 1000 times, and within that period of showing up, if it gets clicked on, you will only pay Facebook when it shows up a 1000 times.

Why then are there so many failing Ads on Facebook?

Facebook is a Social Network, unlike Google, so advertising on the platform means your approach will be completely different from a Google Adwords campaign. You have to understand how Facebook users behave, what they like, and what get’s them interacting. People do not get on Facebook to buy stuff, they have Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, etc, for that. They get on Facebook to interact. So your Ad should to be setup to align with that. Make it interactive (with clear calls to action).

How do I get started properly?

There are many ways you can go about advertising on Facebook, and when you find a system that works, then you need to stick with it. But if you are looking for one-on-one help (coaching/training) on how to get started with Facebook Ads, then send your request to support@www.bygfutsocialmedia.com and I will arrange a free skype call session with you to understand your business needs.

To your success!