Advertising on Facebook is similar to negotiating a minefield. Dare we say that most people do not want to spend any of their precious time looking at advertisements on a social media platform? If that is true - and on some level, it is - then why are social media marketers so successful using platforms such as Facebook? The amazing dynamic is that advertising on Facebook does work in spite of the fact that most of the 4 billion people who regularly use the social media giant use it to connect socially with their friends. Like it or not the challenge for you is how do you politely (or maybe not so politely) wedge your way in with the good news your brand brings to the masses?
Can Digital Marketers Leverage Facebook TV?
Because the demand for digital video advertising has increased, Facebook is ramping up to provide original video content. “CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he sees video as a mega trend on the company’s latest earnings call.” However, Facebook confronts an uphill climb with already well-established competitors like Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu already spending billions on content. Netflix promises to spend 6 billion in 2017 while Amazon tripled its spending in 2016.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau notes that advertisers are spending more than 10 million a year on digital marketing, an 85% increase in 2016. While television advertising budgets expect to remain the same, the optimism for digital advertising remains high and budgets promise to soar in 2017.
Facebook seeks to present original content for topics such as sports, pop culture, science, lifestyle, gaming, and teen content. The social media giant is staying away from any hard news content.
How Chatbots are Changing the Rules of Engagement
With over a billion monthly users, Facebook Messenger continues to evolve its functionality. It is no surprise that small business has been trying to find new ways to use Messenger. Shopify, the online guru e-commerce visionary, allows their stores to sell directly on Messenger.
On Thursday, March 2, 2017, Facebook Messenger added an option for bot makers to prevent users from typing normal text messages. Instead, a persistent menu, with customized messages, offer several choices that continue to lead users along a path to the next page where more choices are offered. Interaction with a Messenger bot will be similar when purchasing apparel, a bicycle from REI, or the type of pizza you’re ordering for tonight’s supper. The persistent menu of a Messenger bot enables digital marketers to direct users along a succession of steps leading them to where there is a call to action.
How is this going to help optimize your social media marketing plan? By efficiently positioning your information highway in a persistent menu you leverage what you want to share and the journey your prospects take. Brand awareness increases, transactions occur in unexpected ways, and customer service issues are resolved.
Facebook Ads Increase Brick and Mortar Sales
We acknowledge that not everyone conducts business outside the realm of an online store. Nor has the budget for television or radio advertising. But everyone should be promoting their business by using social media on some level. With little more than word-of-mouth prompting by marketers who, in the beginning, possessed the inner creativeness and a certain wiliness to see things a bit differently, Facebook has become one of the most effective platforms to directly reach your target market. Seriously, whether you target pet owners, married couples, sports enthusiasts, or business owners, you can find a way to specifically target them using the Facebook Ads platform. To not use Facebook Ads as a way to attract and grow your base is a crippling oversight leaving your brand in the shadows. Facebook has the ability to reach every demographic in a targeted way. Let's examine a couple of businesses that have had recent successful campaigns with Facebook Ads.
Veet – The hair removing company divided their television advertisements into smaller segments. Shorter videos and photos were produced. In turn, the new media was optimized for desktop and mobile. The results were surprisingly successful. Veet garnered 18 million people in less than four months which contributed to an 11% increase in in-store sales where Facebook ads were used versus a market where no ads were used.
Garniers – In a campaign to promote its men’s face wash, Garnier’s experienced a 26% increase in sales where Facebook ads ran along side television ads compared to a market where there were no Facebook ads.
Tanishq – With 160 outlets in 80 different cities, Tanishq is one of India’s largest jewelry brands and recently formed a campaign designed to compel their target market to visit their brick and mortar stores. Tanishq experienced a 3-time higher return on ad spending and a 30% increase in brick and mortar sales among millennials.
Fake Advertising – Finally, we would like to leave you with a few words regarding the danger of fake advertising. With Facebook ad revenue up another 50% and continuing to grow, Facebook is finally taking steps to purge fake news and fake advertising from its platform. It's a bit unclear at this time as to how they are going to accomplish this but it is something they are working on.
Domain spoofing, is a bait and switch method that displays a recognizable URL that when connected, instead of taking you to the website you wanted to see, you are now in a sea of infectious malware. Hopefully, your system is backed up in the event it’s a serious problem. Many times, it’s not malware but merely a deceptive rerouting of your journey with the purpose of enticing you to buy a product or service. Can anyone believe there is any success in that type of fraudulent marketing? Sometimes, even landing pages serve as channels to disperse malware disguised as a legitimate brand.
Sometimes spoofers create URL’s that are purposely designed to be copied and pasted into a new browser. This makes it extremely difficult for Facebook to track counterfeit websites. Facebook should take a few tips from Google Ads which began four years prior to the Facebook launch. Google set up strict parameters that when violated trigger an automatic human review. Google keeps watch over such things as when there is any modification to the ad text or to the display URL. Google claimed to remove 1.7 billion ads in 2016. According to Forbes, it is unclear if Facebook is tracking removals.
The social media marketing universe is continuing to expand in ways that many did not predict. Don't be left behind in a cloud of space dust.
