Do Facebook ads work?
Ad spending on Facebook to top $1.2 billion this year “Brand advertisers are making Facebook a core buy,” said eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson. “Ad spending is building quickly and the mass audience is one that marketers cannot ignore any longer.” The ad dollars flowing to Facebook show that it is asserting itself not only as a social networking giant but also as a real rival to major portals. US ad spending on Facebook is estimated to be $835 million this year, within shouting distance of eMarketer’s forecast of $890 million in net US ad revenues for AOL. I'm wondering, do Facebook ads (really) work better than ads on news sites? Meanwhile, here are some helpful tips for creating ads.
emarketer - Advertisers will spend $1.28 billion worldwide this year to reach Facebook’s more than 500 million users, according to new research by eMarketer.
Nothing against Facebook or the power of the social graph for driving word-of-mouth. And I think the self service ad system Facebook offers is quite innovative. I just haven't heard anyone singing the praises of display ads inside Facebook. There must be success stories out there. Please share 'em if you've got 'em.
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Pat, we have used facebook ads very successfully to help build a community for Rugby World Cup. we have experimented with both reach blocks and targeted ads. targeted ads in particular have proved very cost effective in acquiring fans to our /rugbyworldcup page. The great thing about facebook ads is their “stickiness”; i.e. just takes one click on ‘like’ to gain a fan and to start engaging. relative to say, using other display ads to generate an action. Surely there can’t be an easier action than to ‘like’ a page. The relative passion that fans have for sports brands ensures higher CTR than corporate brands on facebook too.
We’ve incorporated Facebook ads for several acquisition campaigns and they’ve worked well. They may not be the most inexpensive ads, but the CTRs were high and the targeted options are far better than you find with other programs.
We have used Facebook ads to drive action to the USOlympicTeam page on FB. Because it is so targeted, the ad buy is efficient and effective. AND, because it is so track-able in real time, we have also been able to test different creatives and make adjustments quickly. As Shane Harmon says above, the ease of the fan decision (one click to “like”) starts the engagement, and they we hold ourselves accountable to retain (i.e. “entertain”) them.