How to Utilize Facebook for Online Advertising

With over one billion active users, Facebook is easily the most popular social media platform available on the Internet, and it is growing. People spend hours a day either on their smart phone or on a computer scrolling through their newsfeed and communicating with friends. This gives businesses and advertising committees a great space to advertise their company. Facebook offers many tools that assist companies in their advertising campaigns. We will discuss a few of these tools and how they will benefit your company.

Sponsored Ads

“Sponsored Ads” is an enormous help to companies and is relatively cheap. A company can pay as little as $5 to promote their ads on Facebook. Sponsored Ads will take the ad and display it on the newsfeed of those who are interested in that subject or who live near the company. For example, if a company wants to advertise to people in Salt Lake City, they can modify their ad to show on the newsfeed of everyone who lives in that city. “Sponsored Ads” will usually show up close to the beginning of someone’s newsfeed; therefore, they are bound to see it.  These ads will help your company because more people will see the advertisement and be more inclined to respond to it, whether that be sharing the ad with their friends, going to the company’s website, etc.

Ads on the Right Side of the Screen

Even if a company does not wish to sponsor their ads, they can still advertise to a large amount of consumers. When a person registers for Facebook, they fill out a few personal questions about where they live, what they are interested in, etc. When a company publishes an advertisement to Facebook, it will take that ad and display it on the right-hand side of a person’s screen if they are interested in that subject.  This tool insures that people who are interested in the topic you are advertising about will view the ad.

Facebook Insights

Facebook Insights is a free tool available to companies that tells them information about their fan group and how active the users are. This allows a company to determine the dominant demographic that is following them. It also gives the company an opportunity to personalize their advertisements toward that group. For more information on Facebook Insights, refer to the book Marketing with Social Media 10 Easy Steps to Success for Business by Linda Coles.

Conclusion

In summary, Facebook is a powerful tool for companies to use when advertising to their consumer base. It offers many tools that allow your company to effectively advertise for cheap. If you are interested in learning more about how to market on Facebook, visit Facebook.com for full details.

Four Don'ts When Advertising on Social Media

With the increase in technology over the course of the last decade, the use of digital devices (i.e. smartphones, computers, etc.) has escalated dramatically. According to Jim Edwards from businessinsider.com, within the last three years, the average consumer’s use of media has shifted from watching television to using digital devices. With this shift comes the demand for advertising online. Companies are slowly transitioning their focus from circulating advertisements on television to posting them on social media. We have seen good and bad examples of advertising on social media. Here are four things not to do when you or your company post ads online.

1. Overload on Advertisements

Do not post more than two ads/statuses a day on social media. Followers will start to lose interest if their entire newsfeed is filled with advertisements. If it gets really extreme, they will un-follow the company all together. Keep it simple and post only a few times a day.

2. Post Text Only Updates

This is a huge no-no. If you post a long paragraph talking about your company’s latest achievement, maybe 10% of your viewers will read it. If viewers cannot wrap their head around the message you are trying to deliver in ten seconds, they will move on. Make advertisements that are eye-catching and/or humorous with visuals, videos, etc.

3. Publish Advertisements Without Proofreading

This one might seem like a no-brainer, but it is critical. Mistakes can be devastating to organizations and business professionals. Before posting, double-check what you have written, run it through spell check, make sure there are no grammatical errors, and then have one of your colleagues proofread it as well.

4. Leave Unhappy Customers Unhappy

Do not ignore your followers. Instead of deleting or ignoring feedback from unhappy customers, address and try to resolve their problems. This will help with customer retention. 

Utah Transit Authority (UTA) is a good example of this. On Twitter, UTA receives quite a bit of unpleasant feedback from their customers because of late trains, buses, etc. Utah Transit Authority answers every single one of these posts in a timely manner. UTA respond’s to their concerns and leaves the customer happier than before.

 In conclusion, there is no perfect way to advertise on social media. By advertising and posting a few times a day, making ads exciting, double-checking statuses before you post and resolving customers’ concerns, you and your organization will see more success while advertising online.