Looks like the online market takes the same view; you may pay $2 per click on Google Adwords but the same keywords on Facebook are 10c. That tells you that people on social networks simply aren’t interested in advertising – if they were, then the bid values would be much closer to one another – these ads just aren’t delivering any revenue.
However, just like any marketing campaign we usually start with objectives - so taking a step back what can we expect a Facebook ad to actually achieve
1. Awareness
We all know about awareness; its been the lifeblood of the broadcast media market for 50 years. However in the online world, where everything is trackable and accountable the awareness card just doesn’t play strong.
2. Website traffic and revenues
Direct revenue from a social network also doesn’t feel right. This is probably why sites like Facebook don’t have an e-commerce capability (but they are no doubt working on it). I read an article last week that stated people hitting websites coming from social networks have the highest bounce rate and lowest time on your website than from any marketing channel.
Ultimately when I go to social networks its for 2-way communication but advertising is still being advertised to…so for me its wallpaper and ugly wallpaper at that.
3. Targeting and better customer understanding
This is where it gets interesting.
Talking to a colleague last week I was informed that P&G were moving swathes of marketing dollars online, including social networks. Get this; Ted McConnell, Manager of Interactive Marketing and Innovation at P&G set up an ad to target all Facebook members who were female, 22-27 year old, worked for P&G, lived in Cincinnati, liked sex and General Mills brand Cocoa Puffs (although he didn’t specify if the sex and the Cocoa Puffs were at the same time). Facebook identified and accurately targeted one person.
Maybe online marketers have been looking at social networks in the wrong way, when people go to Facebook they aren’t really looking for a content experience, they are looking to connect with friends and store personal data (photos, likes and dislikes, where they are and how they feel). So forget the user interface of social networks and treat it like a giant database. That’s a database that marketers will pay though the nose to penetrate.
Pyramid selling…that works!
Finally, exploiting the database further. Facebook Connect allows users to connect to websites, find their friends who connect to websites and share information about their experience of websites. Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a benefit to consumers? How about if they could be rewarded for the degree of influence they have over their network of friends? Almost like an advanced store loyalty card where you could generate points for online purchases but importantly points for those you’ve influenced in your network
There’s the Value Exchange right there!
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