If you're like most people these days, you probably have a Facebook account. Perhaps you've even set up a Facebook account for your small business that's a part of your marketing mix.
What you probably have not done with Facebook yet, however, is tried out paid advertising on Facebook.
Perhaps you know about Google AdWords - Google's pay per click (PPC) advertising program. In AdWords, you target people by keywords. When someone sees your ad it's because they've typed in a search term related to your product or service. If they click on your ad, you then have a very motivated and highly targeted prospect coming to your website.
However, AdWords has grown has become a complex and competitive beast. While AdWords is still very much a excellent marketing tool for small businesses, it's not as easy or as relatively inexpensive as it used to be to run an AdWords campaign.
What you may not know is that Facebook has its own paid advertising program. The program got a bad rap early on, but advertisers are starting to find it to be a very attractive option to drive prospects to their websites or Facebook Fan Pages. Here are 3 reasons that make Facebook PPC an attractive option, especially for small business owners:
1. Users and Traffic Numbers. There are over 400 million people on Facebook now. And, according to some recent data, each month the site generates around 260 billion page views. What's may be even more impressive is that Facebook users spend over 7 hours per month on the site. Online that's pretty much unheard of. As you can see, with so many people spending so much time on the site it's a good place for small businesses to advertise. It doesn't take a large percentage of 400 million to generate some decent traffic and sales!
2. (Relatively) Low Competition. Not many advertisers, especially small businesses, pay much attention to Facebook's PPC advertising program. What that means is competition isn't nearly as great as it is with AdWords and costs per click aren't as high. This presents a good opportunity for small businesses to take advantage of relatively cheap clicks before their competitors catch on.
3. Unparalleled Demographic Targeting. This is the one that keeps me up at night thinking about the possibilities. Facebook has an incredible collection of demographic information about its users (think about the information you entered in your profile when you registered - college, martial status, employer, hobbies, etc.). Well all this information can be used by marketers to precisely target their ideal prospects.
Here are a few of the criteria you can use to target people: age, gender, marital status, relationship status (single, in a relationship, engaged, married), high school, in college, college grad, workplace, and more. Plus you can enter keywords which enable you to target people by hobby, favorite movie/book/music, etc.
The possibilities are seemingly endless. You can target the solar panels you're selling to people who are fans of "The Inconvenient Truth." Are you a wedding planner? How'd you like to target all the women within 50 miles of your city who have a relationship status of "engaged." Own a pizza restaurant near a large employer in town? Target people who indicate they work for that employer and like pizza.
Between the huge numbers, the relatively low levels of competition and the unparalleled demographic targeting capabilities, you can see why Facebook PPC is such an intriguing advertising option. If you're looking for new avenues to generate more traffic to your website and sales for your small business, now's the time to check out Facebook's PPC before your competitors beat you to it.
Adam Kreitman owns Words That Click, a Saint Louis web marketing firm that specializes in working with small businesses. At his website you can download a copy of his free report "11 Simple Things You Absolutely, Positively Must Understand Before Marketing Your Small Business Online." You can also check out his blog for more information about Facebook advertising.
Orignal From: 3 Reasons Small Business Owners Should Be Flocking To Paid Facebook Ads
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