Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is all the rage right now. It allows anyone with a any size budget to get their ads in front of people searching for what they sell. It’s a great way to market and it’s the primary driver of Google’s growth. Many look to PPC as the Holy Grail of advertising because it can be super targeted. But is it the best way to get to your target market?
PPC advertising is built on the premise that you can reach a targeted audience at the exact time that they’re searching for your product or service. How much of your target audience is searching for your product or service right now? There’s a strong chance that the majority of your market is not currently searching. They may not even know they need what you sell. Or simply, it’s just not the right time yet.
So, how do you reach those people? Facebook!
Facebook is no longer a platform for college students looking to connect. Everyone (and their mother) is on Facebook these days. No matter what you sell, chances are your target market is on Facebook, too. So, why look to Facebook to reach them?
Facebook has a very powerful PPC advertising platform. It’s completely different than PPC for search engines. When you bid on search terms through Google or Yahoo!, you bid on the “What.” You’re bidding on keywords that people are searching for. The problem is you don’t know “Who” those people are. And what about all the people who aren’t searching right now? That’s where Facebook comes in. Facebook allows you to bid on keywords built from interests in their Facebook profiles, not keywords people have searched.
For example, if I want to reach professional photographers through search marketing, I’d have to bid on professional photography equipment, professional photography software, etc. Instead, through Facebook, I can bid on terms such as “Professional Photographer”, “Portrait Photographer”, “Nature Photographer”, “Commercial Photographer”. You can see that the approach is entirely different.
Our Lead Gen Manager at Infusionsoft, Jordan Hall, revealed several key tactics in using Facebook advertising effectively. He’s able to target our email marketing app to small businesses and entrepreneurs on Facebook and have it outperform Google dollar-for-dollar. If you’re looking for advice on how to advertise on Facebook the right way, read his post.
You’ll realize when you begin to advertise on Facebook, your click rates will be extremely low. Don’t worry. Your customers aren’t on Facebook looking for what you sell. They’re communicating with friends. And don’t stress; you only pay when they click on your ad. Click-through rates have been marginally low — Facebook has served up 1.1 Trillion ad impressions in Q1 this year alone — you can get your brand in front of millions for only a few bucks. The bright side is if you can get them to click and convert, they’ll likely to be a good customer because they responded to your ad while engaged in something entirely different.
Now, I’m not claiming Facebook is the Holy Grail, either. For now, Facebook has less advertiser competition than Google and probably will for another year until the rest of the online world catches on. Now’s the time to capitalize on this inexpensive way to reach your target market. Try it out and let me know your results.
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