DOES FACEBOOK ADVERTISING
WORK?
Is Facebook Advertising Helping Your Business... or Are You Throwing Away Your Valuable Time and Money?
Presently, over 72% of Americans have Facebook, many of whom use it daily. Over 7 million active Facebook advertisements (or ads) are running among these members. However, today, business owners question whether their advertisement dollars are a good investment. Not only do advertisers on Facebook often feel confused with the over 1300 different targeting options, 15 objectives, and 6 main formats to choose from, but they are also concerned about whether Facebook ads are worth it.
Of course, advertising your product in any form will have benefits, but smart business owners should consider if those advantages outweigh the disadvantages. So the question is...
Is Spending Hard Earned Cash on Facebook Ads Worth the Investment?
Facebook Advertising ADVANTAGES
• There are nearly 3 Billion active Facebook users monthly, providing access to your business or personal products.
• Audience Transparency allows you to see, in real-time, how many viewers and interactions each of your advertisements receives.
• Drive traffic to your website or Facebook page by adding a button link to your advertisement.
• Target the audience that you are looking to sell.
• Target users who have researched similar brands or products.
• Easy enough to create yourself and design without hiring a company for social marketing.
Facebook Advertising DISADVANTAGES
As all these things sound great, understanding why these key points will not benefit you is pivotal to your company's financial growth or demise. Financial gains may sometimes be "too good to be true" and spending money to Advertise on Facebook is absolutely one of those times when you are going to want to dig a little deeper into its "benefits".
We’ll start by breaking these points down.
1. 3 Billion Active Facebook Users
Facebook and its marketing team love this as a selling point, but in reality, this is a huge downfall of Facebook advertising. Advertising on Facebook does not mean your AD will be in front of the eyes of 3 Billion people. It’s actually a very minimal number. Yes, the more money you spend on your Facebook ad, the more people will see it. However, ads are typically scrolled past on social media as people don’t like to be sold and their main objective for getting on Facebook is for social reasons. As an advertiser, you’ve just turned someone away from your promotion rather than to it because they feel an “ad bombardment”
2. Audience Transparency
Facebook does a pretty good job of providing information to see how well your ads are doing. But what does this information really mean? When you advertise on Facebook, your numbers can look really high until you realize that the interactions with your posts (likes, comments, messages to your Facebook page, or even clicks on your website) are very small. Once again, Facebook loves for you to think that your ads are getting in front of more people than they actually are. They also count “scroll by’s” into your analytics. Just because the numbers may look nice doesn’t mean that the actual interest in your post is.
3. Drive Traffic to Your Website
Of course, you want to drive more people to your company; that’s what advertising is all about. However, you need to remember that people are on Facebook to get a social break from the rest of the world. If a consumer wants to find a product or service, they will do a Google search for it and not scroll Facebook, hoping that it will show up on their timeline. That's why hiring the right marketing and web development company like ZZZippy is important so that when people are online searching for a product or service you provide, your business shows up at the top of their chosen search engine.
4. Audience Targeting
If you own a company, it’s fair to say that you have a certain demographic that your business caters to. Maybe you’re a lingerie store and you want your Targeted Audience to be females between the ages of 21 and 25. Facebook makes this easy to input these demographics as your Targeted Audience. However, in doing so, you've just lost out on the possibility of males who would have otherwise potentially bought your product for their significant others. Once again, this is where putting your money into a great marketing and web development company is your best bet at success. Now you have reached 100% of the demographics that are searching for your products and services.
5. Targeting Related Searches
Advertising with Facebook is ineffective in Targeting Related Searches for two reasons. One, people become uncomfortable when they feel as if their devices are listening to what they say and to what they search. This is a major turnoff to consumers. Two, if the consumer has already searched for a product and chosen your competitor because they’re coming up on Google searches and you’re not due to the fact that you’ve put your money into Facebook ads and not an SEO-optimized website, you’ve already lost that customer and maybe even for good.
6. Doing Your Advertising Yourself...
As this may seem like it will benefit you now, cutting corners on certain aspects of advertising is a huge no-no. Your advertising reflects the kind of company you are; regardless if you think you are a designer guru, professionals are professionals for a reason. You may save a few dollars now by designing an ad yourself, but this can lose you a lot of customers and, in turn, money in the long run.
Eventually, It Doesn't Get Done, Or Done Right
That’s not all, folks; there are actually even more downsides to Facebook Advertising than just these. Ask yourself a few questions before giving a multi-billion dollar company your hard-earned cash.
Are these analytics true?
Are there professionals who can make my Social Advertising work for me and get great results for a fair price?
Am I reaching new people rather than those already on my page?
Am I getting a Return On my Investment?
Are there professionals who can make my Social Advertising work for me and get great results for a fair price?
Always keep an open mind when considering any type of advertising. If possible, consult a professional. That might save you time and money... and get you better results!
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
As a business owner, you should constantly and consciously ask yourself if you are getting a Return on your Investment. If you put money into something to better your business, you want to make more money than you initially put in. Advertising is wonderful and can open the door to more opportunities than some people could ever imagine. However, getting yourself into a position where you are putting money into an advertisement that isn't reliable is not a good business move.
Remember this: Facebook is one of the world's largest corporations and will continue to grow regardless of whether they have your business or not. They do not know who you are, so they do not specifically care about you, your company, or your return on investment. The best thing that you can do for yourself when it comes to your business (and, in turn, your quality of life) is to hire an Advertising Agency that knows exactly what they’re doing, knows exactly what your objective is, and truly cares about the growth of your company and your happiness along the way. ZZZippy is always your first choice in Marketing Specialization.