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How to advertise on Facebook

01/06/2010

Social networking site Facebook has more than 400 million active users. As a result, advertising on Facebook represents a great opportunity to connect with a huge community of consumers with a wide range of interests from across the social spectrum. And advertising on Facebook doesn't necessarily mean purchasing paid-for ads. It's also possible to promote your business on Facebook through social networking by creating pages or groups, and through word of mouth.

Paid-for advertising

Facebook allows businesses to purchase image and text-based ads that can be targeted to a specific demographic based on factors such as age, location, gender and interests.

Ads are charged on a cost per click (CPC) or cost per mille or 1,000 impressions (CPM) basis, with the advertiser setting a daily budget and a bid per click or impressions. The minimum daily budget is $1.00, and higher bids will reach more people in your chosen demographic. Facebook will show a suggested bid range displaying what other advertisers targeting your demographic are paying. To get good results you'll need to bid at least as much as the minimum suggested bid.

Tips for success with ads include:

• Use an eye-catching and relevant image, as ads with images tend to attract more attention and receive more clicks.

• Considering whether the ad will link to your business website or to a page, group or event on Facebook. Research has shown that users are less likely to click ads that take them away from Facebook.

• Keeping your ad content concise. Ads are restricted to 25 characters for the title and 135 characters for the body.

Creating Facebook groups

You can create Facebook groups and pages, which users can then join or become a fan of. Use the 'invite' feature to spread the word about your group or page - eventually word of mouth will spread throughout the community.

Tips for creating a successful Facebook group include:

• Selecting a relevant title, category and description when creating your group to entice your target audience.

• Keeping the content fresh, adding content such as news, images and videos on a regular basis.

• Invite existing Facebook friends and e-mail contacts to attract an initial membership base.

For more information on integrating Social Media into your online marketing plan, please call one of our web experts on: 0800 668 1899

Source: better-business.co.uk