Back in the good old days when Google announced AdWords and companies started advertising on search engines the marketing effort was focused very much on Intent. If I searched for Volkswagen on Google then serving up ads in the results for car dealerships and car insurance companies was a very cool idea at the time. It was relatively inexpensive and it allowed for rapid testing of alternative ads initially as a simple comparison but then using multi variate analysis to test a number of features.
Now as companies start to advertise on Facebook they are following Interest rather than buying Intent and there is an opportunity to offer highly selected groups variations of advertisements and optimize or fine tune what works over time. And big companies are taking to Facebook advertising at quite a pace. In February of 2011 more than one third of all online display advertising in the USA appeared in Facebook. Now just to be clear this is one third of all online display advertising, more traditional advertising on TV and in print is expensive to produce and place so still accounts for the lions share of big company advertising dollars.
In order to accelerate the use of Facebook for adverting a number of specialist agencies have emerged to hold corporate hands and guide the powers that be into this new realm. Names such as Blinq Media, Kenshoo and Webtrends are leading the way and making it possible for larger less nimble players to enter this space with effective campaigns.
Facebook like these new agencies as they attract new customers and can manage large complex campaigns on behalf of their clients and add value through the use of metrics that measure performance.
Who is talking about their Facebook results? Well Buffalo Wild Wings claim that they were able to triple the effectiveness of their social campaign by working with Blinq who were brought in by 22squared the agency that handles most Buffalo Wild Wings digital and social strategy.
Groupon Inc have been using the services of AdParlor to greatly increase the volume of ads that they can pump out at highly focussed niches such as 27 year old woman who enjoy yoga in southern California.
Facebook certainly has something to offer and you probably wont be able to discover what the full potential is for your organisation without the advice and guidance of a specialist agency.
