Social media is about conversations. That's the line we've been fed time and time again. There's nothing wrong with it. It's the truth. For marketers and businesses looking to utilize the tools and social networks out there, it will probably serve them well to remember that, but it has often been suggested that directly marketing and trying to sell your product through social networks is in bad taste. That is a topic that probably isn't so cut and dry.
It's going to largely depend on not only your goals, but your audience. It's a different thing altogether when you talk about simply purchasing ads with social networks.
Michael Kahn, SVP, Marketing at Performics says one of the biggest misconceptions people have about social media is that you can't use it to market or sell.
Facebook has offered advertising for quite some time, and it has over 400 million users. Twitter is expected to launch an ad platform of its own at the upcoming SXSW (from which WebProNews will be providing live coverage), and Twitter has grown greatly over the last couple years.
Kahn says social is better for selling than many people think. He says Facebook CPC buys can perform really well, at the same ROI as search. Its just that the way Facebook delivers its ads is different than the way Google does. With Google, ads are delivered based on search behavior. With Facebook, ads are delivered based on information that users have chosen to share with Facebook.
Facebook recently began testing a new "promote your post" feature with Facebook Pages. This presents page admins with the option to turn any status update into an ad to run across the social network, as the update is created. If this gets a full roll-out, it could go a long way in boosting advertiser enthusiasm for advertising with Facebook.
We don't know yet how Twitter's ads are going to be delivered, but hopefully we will soon. There are other networks that sell advertising on Twitter, however.
Do you advertise on social networks? How is the ROI?
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Comments
Social Ads definitely helps
SMO vs. SEM
Not sure I believe that Facebook (or other social networks) ads perform as well as a properly managed SEM campaign. Search advertising is a space that has thrived because it's built around the demand for information. Social network ads (as they current exist) are targeted--sure-- but they are not based on any sort of request from the user. Twitter/Facebook/etc. search may yield similar results-- but anything else is just another form of a content network (a la adsense)-- yielding respectable (but not mind-blowing) results.
Advertising On Social Networks
The click through rates on social media site like Facebook are significantly lower than on, say Google or Yahoo, but there are other benefits. Used well and you can drive traffic and business to your website/business. Certainly Google is concerned about the rising star of Facebook because it sees it as a future threat to its own Adwords income - they take it seriously.
As I say, use social media well and you can see tangible effects on your business - but it needs integrating with your overall marketing and you need a strategy.
Facebook
Hi, I don't advertise on Facebook ppc but I do have a business profile and each month I already see an increase in traffic from this page. So maybe paying for Facebook ads will bring more. I may try this in the near future.
Killerwebs Web Design Studio
Recommend It To Clients
I recommend it to my clients, but so far, none of them have taken my advice. I personally, see it as a good possibility as it can be very directed, even more so than Google AdWords. Small businesses should try it, at least once, especially if they are using other forms of PPC advertising.
Re
In summary, online social networks are here to stay and will continue to gain traction and offer users more interactivity than other media.
Facebook Traffic
Facebook Ads
Yes
It pays to be across all networks. Outsourcing to small independent workers to create copy etc is also a good tip
Depends...
I'm not sure... I mean is advertising in Bus Shelters as effective for a Motor Oil company as it is a Breakfast Shake company?
Is advertising a Night Club as effective on Google as it within Facebook?
Is advertising Womens fashions as effective on Bing as it is on Yahoo?
I don't really know the answers to any of these...
I think the problem is that there are so many new tools out there, nobody has really learned to differentiate the different uses for each.
Everybody is fixated on Analytics as if they were a secret code to increasing the value of your business, when in reality they do exactlty the opposite.
Creative advertising is largely intuition based, I think it always will be...
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