May 17, 2011
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Roger Ach
I meet a lot of fellow CEOs who say, “I don't get this Facebook thing. I don't care about the mundane happenings of someone's life.” True, some people use Facebook to broadcast the routine events in their lives. But the reality is that Facebook has become a gathering place where people can socialize and interact in ways never before possible. Event planning, gaming, chatting, organizing, showing off photos, conducting business and market research and so much more now happens on Facebook.
Facebook is becoming the Web inside the Web. Think about that statement. People used to spend most of their time on the Internet moving from site to site. Now many people spend most of their time inside Facebook, since much of what they need can be found there. The bottom line for businesses: 600 million users is an organized market that cannot be ignored.
I have taught many companies how to effectively advertise on Google, and I still believe in that medium for targeted advertising. But I encourage just as many to take a close look at Facebook. It can be an effective way to advertise B2C (business to consumer) or B2B (business to business).
Targeting to a market is the key to most successful marketing campaigns. Facebook provides unparalleled targeting opportunities. For example, we have a retail store that sells "the world's largest greeting cards." Over Valentine's Day, we were able to target ads for giant Valentine cards to all Facebook users who currently list "engaged" as their relationship status. Where else can you laser target an ad to millions of Americans who are engaged to be married?
Want to read more on Facebook? Check these out:
Let's say you own a restaurant. You can now create an ad–including an image of your tastiest food–and target it only to people who live in your local community. If you want to build a lunch crowd as well, Facebook gives you the ability to create a lunch special and target it only to people who work at businesses located near your restaurant.
Perhaps you own a manufacturing company and have struggled to get your products into a targeted company, despite the best efforts of your sales force. In some cases, it's one gatekeeper who is preventing you from succeeding even though there may be many in that target company who would love to have access to your products. Facebook has introduced a new targeting tool that lets you target the employees of that company and reach out directly to them. In fact, the headline of your ad can be as specific as “Look, Acme Corp.” There may be 600 million Facebook users, but the only ones who will see the ad for your widget are those who work at the companies you select.
This is the cool part: You are not charged when people see your ad, only when they click through to your website and view the special offer. In other words, thousands of Facebook users may view the ad you made especially for them, but you are only paying for the one in a thousand times they click through. Your total cost for 10,000 ad views and 10 click-throughs: about $5.
Online advertising is changing quickly. Millions of people now spend more time on Facebook than they do watching television, reading the newspaper or reading their mail. Learning how to master this new tool is a critical part of succeeding in business in the new age.
OPEN Cardmember Steve Grubbs is an entrepreneur who owns Victory Enterprises, a consulting company that works with other businesses, as well as www.VictoryStore.com. He may be reached at Steve@VictoryEnterprises.com
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Roger Ach 1 year 0 months and 12 days ago
Good post ! @Facebook will continue to improve this targeting tool....as it works on its own eCommerce model, which I predict will have larger revenues than eBay by 2014. Mobile will be very important.Don't forget to use #Social_VideoCommerce in conjuction with @AdWords Facebook, @Twitter and other social media. #VideoAds & #VideoCoupons enable the advertisers to "actively demonstrate products and services, offer a Coupon or other incentive and execute the customers' orders" without having to depend on static Text and Display.Video increases engagement by 2X to 3X and click-throughs by 41%. See also these stats on @MobileCommerce: http://bit.ly/kJHBun @vADz makes this easy, economical and effective. Video Sells ! #LI