Monday, October 28, 2013

Facebook Ads are delivering results (finally)

When Facebook began to monetize their platform with advertising, skeptics expressed concerns with mixing “business with pleasure.” The millions of avid Facebook users were spending their time communicating with their social groups, in a personalized platform that was free of commercial influence. Years later, Facebook has made some smart changes to their news feed and profiles to integrate brands and products effectively and more importantly, in a disruptive way that consumers are responding to.
According to the first annual Social Media Intelligence report released on Monday, “which took into account more than 131 billion Facebook ad impressions and 4.3 billion social engagements, Facebook ads were clicked 29% more often in 2013, and the return to investors was 58% higher than last year.” Other metrics are also more favorable, like cost-per-click, which has proven that Facebook ads are becoming cheaper and more effective.

Brands are responding in a huge way. More and more companies are utilizing the platform to reach a dedicated segment of consumers, however, this adoption curve comes with a double-edged sword. If the social network saturates with branded content more than user-generated original communications, the cachet and utility of the network will be jeopardized. Facebook will have to continue to evolve and build their advertising business while staying true to their core competencies of being a social network.

No comments: