I have always been curious about advertising on Facebook. I see lots of ads while wasting away the hours, but do they work? Because it is a relatively new option, there really isn’t much information on how effective it can be. Recently I was given a a $50 Facebook Ad credit ,so I placed my own ad to get a feel for the system. (I won’t go into the details of setting up an ad, but if you are interested this article does a great job of explaining it: 5 Steps to Successful Facebook Advertising)
I only ran my ad for a couple of weeks, which is not even close to enough time to decide if an advertising method works. But from this initial test, I can say one thing for sure. Like Facebook itself, Facebook advertising is all about relationship building. You are not going to get a lot of direct sales. But with a little testing, you will get more traffic to your site, more fans for your Facebook business page and your brand will become more visible. This last item may be the most significant thing that a Facebook page or advertisement can do for your business. It may not directly sell your product or service, but it will reinforce all of your other online and offline marketing efforts by making you (your business, event, product, etc…) recognizable.
Is it worth the money it costs to advertise? This answer will be different for every business depending on their budget and goals. Will I start advertising Belladia on Facebook? I don’t think so but I would have to test the ad over a longer period of time to really find out if it would be worth it.
I am interested to find out other people’s experiences. Have you advertised on Facebook? What results did you get?