Facebook Advertising has a Long Way to Go

One of the major new areas of marketing and advertising opportunities on the Internet is the realm of Facebook advertising. Facebook now has a massive program based around PPC, or pay-per-click advertising. The basic principles are the same as you would find in any other major PPC program.

In traditional PPC, you begin by selecting a keyword or phrase that you would like to target. You write your ad copy including a subject line and body text and you make a bid that determines where and how your ad ends up being displayed. You only pay money when someone actually clicks on your ad, as opposed to every time your ad is displayed.

The Good
Starting with a few positive aspects of Facebook advertising, you can include images with your ads. This is a very powerful way to make your ads more visually appealing and enticing while standing out from the crowd. And of course, you can experiment with different images to find out which draws the most clicks.

Another benefit is that given the detailed demographic information available on Facebook, you can target your users to a very narrow degree. So, for example, if you run a sports apparel shop in New York,  you can do more than just target a keyword like "football"; you can target college aged males living in or near New York City, that have indicated that they like "football" or "hockey", or even "fire juggling" if you wish.

The Bad
Despite the good aspects, the Facebook advertising program is far from perfect. To begin with, there is a very limited range of reporting and tracking features available. The true power of PPC derives from the fact that you can understand every single detail about every ad and click, but the Facebook program is somewhat limited in this respect. For example, there is little understanding of what increasing/decreasing clicks bids actually does, as positioning data isn't available. And perhaps the single most obviously missing piece of reporting is conversion tracking - it simply isn't provided.

Additionally, navigating the complex requirements for market definition and ad writing can be a major hassle, ultimately restricting your ads to a large degree.

Finally, PPC thrives from being able to make instant changes to capitalize on sudden trends and new data developments. However the long review time with the Facebook program prohibits this to some extent. And there is no API or external management tool, all maintenance must be done from within the cumbersome interface.

One inherent problem in the system has nothing to do with the interface but rather the audience that Facebook reaches. With classic PPC, you're not just providing highly targeted ads, but you're doing so in an environment where the product/service is being actively sought! However, on a social networking platform where people feel comfortable and open with their friends, they may not be open to, or likely to click on,  advertisements as much as they would be when conducting a search through a search engine. Trying to break through with advertisements when people aren't receptive to them can result in very low CTR's.

The Reality
The bottom line is that Facebook advertising opens the doors to a potentially huge market that could drive a great amount of targeted traffic to your website. However, the somewhat clunky system, the unexpected bombardment of advertisements in the eyes of the users of the website itself and several other factors make it a bumpy road. With a professional agency managing the campaign you will certainly be able to see results; but if you're looking for more of a sure thing and have less experience with PPC, sticking with Google Adwords or a similar program might be a better option.