Facebook advertising is very similar to Google  AdWords content advertising in that it is display advertising with targeting related to keywords that you select.   And just like Google AdWords, Facebook allows you to select specific geographic regions for ad targeting. 

 

Facebook allows you to select some basic demographic targets as well….such as age, gender, education, etc. Facebook also makes it easy to include an image with your ad. It’s a nice feature and dresses up the ad and makes it stand out. (For the record, you can do similar targeting with Google content advertising, but it is a bit more complicated to accomplish.)

 

Here is a screen shot of the setup page for demographics:

As you can, setting up a Facebook ad  is very easy and straightforward.   In this example we were doing some advertising for a golf management college and were targeting the Eastern US for adults 18-35 with Golf or Golfing keywords in their profile.

 

In addition, Facebook gives you ‘reach’ estimates based on the demographic values you have selected and they match up to their membership profiles

Finally, determining and setting your bid price is very straightforward. If you are just starting out, I strongly recommend you only bid on a per click basis until you see what your CPM costs turn out to be.   As you can see below, Facebook recommends a bid price range and this is generally a good place to start.

 OK, so all that info is all well and good, but how does Facebook perform vs. Google content advertising?

 

If you read my blog about Google AdWords content advertising you will know that I think that content advertising can be very effective. It is often as effective as search in cost per conversion rates. 

 

In the Google vs. Facebook debate, it really depends on your product, your client demographics, and how well you manage each campaign.  

 

In my experience, if you are trying to reach a broad, but still targeted audience (say like folks shopping for auto financing) Facebook and Google both do a good job. but Facebook is usually less expensive than Google.

 

Conversely, if you are trying to reach a more niche audience, say upscale real estate in South Dakota, Google content ads will probably return the best performance in terms of cost/conversion or cost/lead.

 

Where Facebook really shines is in the ability to target the Facebook membership based on their apparent roles or interests. For example, if you are selling a promotional item, you can specify keywords like Marketing Manager, Advertising Manager, etc.

 

If you are considering content advertising, give Facebook a try. You may be pleasantly surprised by the results.

In Part 1 we talked about the forgotten area in the great PPC vs. Organic leads debate….content advertising. 

 

At this point, you may be thinking, "well if hardly anyone is using it, then it must not work". And actually you would be right for a great number of advertisers. Many advertisers do not use it properly and it can turn into a money pit when it is not working correctly.

 

But let’s look at what Google has to has about content advertising on its network.

 

 

The first bullet is an eye opener. CPA (or cost per conversion) is essentially the same or a bit higher than search CPA.   Considering that Content campaigns are typically an afterthought for many advertisers, that is a surprisingly good number. And CPA is the number that counts. Content ads may run more impressions and have much lower click thru rates, but if they convert just as well who cares?

 

The second bullet highlights the primary point I’d like to make. Even if you have a very successful SEO project going and you have replaced all of your paid search traffic with organic traffic, why would you want to abandon the other 20%? Especially in this economy.   And some companies can do far better than 20%.

 

I n the next post I will talk about my experiences with Content advertising and some basic do and don’ts!