Sunday, October 5, 2008

Facebook Ads - A Marketer's Dream?

I mentioned in class this past Thursday that I've been using Facebook as a marketing tool for my dad's photography studio. It all started about two or three months ago when he mentioned he'd read an article that said, more or less, if you're in business and you want to continue to be successful, you need a Facebook page. So what did he do? He came to work the next day and has been on my case ever since about keeping his Facebook page (and Fan Page) up and running.

Its somewhat surprising just how easy Facebook makes it for companies to market and target users. One of the original complaints about new technologies such as Facebook was measuring usage (which Camella mentioned in class). However, the first thing I see when I open up the DNP fan page is this screen is this window:
I can easily see who's looking at the page and what they're looking at! It makes my life SO much easier because I don't bother updating features that no one looks at and can zone in on the wants and needs of our fans.

Another topic of Thursday's discussion was the use of Facebook Ads. After class I talked a little bit more with Professor Weisgerber about the use of the social ads. I'll admit its creepy that the ads that appear on my Facebook page are targeted specifically at me, but that's what I get for putting all my interests up online. From a marketing standpoint, though, the ads are AMAZING. For instance, when designing an ad you're prompted with options such as these:

I can zone in on my target market with just a few clicks!! I'm so torn because while I'm annoyed and feel a little intruded on with the social ads, I love being able to use them in the workplace. Has anyone else used Facebook for work purposes? If so, what were your experiences?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've never advertised on Facebook, but I found some interesting statistics while I was writing my piece for this week: out of the 39.3% of online retailers, 32% use Facebook ads. I would not have thought they were that powerful, but as you discussed and have even found, they really are useful!

Has using Facebook ads to advertise made you defend them more as a consumer?