Facebook Ads: To Spend or Not to Spend?
Diving into the world of social media marketing can be scary. With the ever-changing digital landscape it’s hard to keep up with the latest industry trends.
One of the biggest conversations around the topic currently revolves around Facebook Advertising and whether to invest in it or not.
Numbers Talk
First and foremost, let’s take a look at the stats:
- There are 393 billion monthly active users on Facebook – That’s almost 20% of the world’s population[1]
- 1 million small or medium businesses are already advertising on Facebook[2]
- The ROI for retail Facebook advertisers was just recently 152%[3]
Defining Reach
To understand why it’s important we must first take a look at what it means. Facebook reach refers to the number of people who saw your post at any given time.
There are three different kinds of reach: organic, viral, and paid:
- Organic reach is the number of people who saw your post without the help of paid advertising.
- Paid reach is the number of people who saw your paid advertisements and sponsored posts.
- Viral reach is the number of people who saw content because one of their friends Liked, commented, or shared your post.
Why Invest in Facebook Ads?
The Death of Organic Reach
Recent changes to Facebook’s algorithm have caused a dramatic decrease in organic reach for Facebook Fan Pages. According to Facebook, only 16% of your Fans will see your posts organically[4].
Moreover, that percentage isn’t calculated based on your total number of fans. It’s only the percentage of fans who are online at the time your post was published. For example, if you have 1,000 Fans and you post at 6:00 PM when 400 of those Fans are online, then only 64 people will see your post organically.
Reach Relevant Audiences
Furthermore, Facebook’s unique and powerful targeting options allow you to reach the most relevant audiences who would be most interested in your products or services. You can target ads by a large variety of different demographics such as age, gender, interests, hobbies, shopping habits, relationship status, and many more.
By doing so, you will increase the likelihood of achieving your goals and attaining a higher conversion rate. Paid advertising allows you to get your messages out to those who are most likely to complete a desired action.
After all, what’s the point of running a special promotion or contest if nobody knows about it? You must ensure that your important messages are being seen by as many people as possible.
Grow Your Community
Another great thing about Facebook advertising is that it allows you to quickly grow the number of “Likes” on your page. Having a larger Fan base has a number of benefits:
- It legitimizes your company and entices more people to “Like” your page.
- A higher number of people will see your messages virally.
- It gives you more leverage to create partnerships with other businesses.
Cut Your Costs
One of the greatest benefits of using Facebook’s advertising platform is the low cost and high return on investment. For as low as $5 you can reach a much larger and more relevant audience.
For example, one of our clients’ current Fan Page has 1,240 Likes. The most recent post reached 135 people organically – only 9.5% of their audience. However, with a $5 Post Boost 3,345 people were reached! That’s even greater than the number of Fans they have because of the ability to reach users who aren’t already following their page.
Start Advertising on Facebook Today!
One thing to watch out for, is that ads can get expensive if they aren’t set up effectively. Schedule a free consultation with one of our Digital Media Strategists today to learn how to put Facebook Ads to work for your business.
RTOWN does it FOR YOU.
[1] http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/by-the-numbers-17-amazing-facebook-stats/
[2] http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/facebook-advertising-statistics
[3] http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/facebook-advertising-statistics/3/
[4] https://www.facebook.com/marketing/posts/10150839503836337
