I was interested by your question, because I don’t believe that’s the main way in which Facebook is used by advertisers today. Thinking back to when I’ve used Facebook recently, the type of ads I’ve noticed have not been for a “burst” campaign, rather more continuous methods of demand generation for mass market products rather like the sort of sponsored ads you see through Google AdWords. For example, a mobile phone company offering a SIM card deal or a credit card company offering to transfer your balance. These type of ad placements are popular with advertisers since costs can be controlled through using a cost-per-click deal (CPC) although CPM (“cost-per-mille” or cost-per-thousand) is an option. This means that value for the advertiser can be achieved even if click through rates are low, which they tend to be for display ads on social networks.
However, there is no reason why the ad slots to the right of a user’s profile page shouldn’t be used to reinforce a brand message which is also being aired through other media. I probably just don’t see them much since I don’t use Facebook much – I’m more of a Twitter person. I’m sure there are plenty of ads used as part of integrated campaigns. Indeed I read recently that Facebook is the top publisher of display ads in the UK with a 21 per cent market share.
Of course there are also opportunities to use Facebook to engage audiences with a brand through company Facebook Pages. I have written about different examples of how businesses use Facebook pages for marketing and PR
Facebook pages tend to be a continuous presence rather than set up as a microsite for an individual campaign, but they can be updated to feature current campaigns. Many of the offers to engage fans of brands are specials specific to Facebook though.
Dr Dave Chaffey is director and lead consultant at Market Insights Limited, an independent digital marketing consultancy, and author of internet marketing books including eMarketing eXcellence: Planning and Optimising Your Digital Marketing, co-written with PR Smith.
You can read more of Dave's Insights on digital marketing on his Right Touching Digital Marketing blog
E-mail your digital marketing questions and problems to Dave at digital@themarketer.co.uk
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