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In October 2010, Facebook attracted more than 620 million unique visitors, according to ComScore. Thats six times the number of users who visited MySpace and Twitter combined.
And that’s 620 million reasons why companies should be advertising on Facebook.
There’s a reason why Wall Street investment firm Goldenman Sachs is pumping more than $450 million into Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s social networking behemoth – access to a database of consumer preferences geared toward generating a continuous flow of ad revenue.
Never before in the history of marketing have consumers been more willing to divulge their personal preferences regarding a product than on Facebook. And it’s all thanks, in larger part, to one little four letter word.
Like Coke. Like Pepsi. Like Reebok. Like Nike. Like Gucci. Like Dolce & Gabbana. Oh, that irresistible word that beckons users to click on it and share with the world – and marketers – the comments and products they “Like.”
The information users post – from comments to photos – also is being used by Facebook for marketing purposes.
One of the problems with marketing and advertising for most of the 20th century is that marketers couldn’t really tell which half of their advertising was working. Savvy marketers of the past used surveys, focus groups and studies to drive their marketing plans.
Today, marketing plans are driven by statistical data generated by analytic code and software.
It’s a win, win for both marketers and consumers.
With more data at their finger tips, markerters are eliminating waste and streamlining their advertising budgets using targeting tools. With these tools, they can advertise and market to consumers who care about their products and services. Conversely, consumers aren’t bombarded by ads for products they don’t use and, instead, receive ads for products they find valuable.
Facebook’s self-service tool is making it possible for marketers to reach as little as 10 and as many as a million people with specific marketing and advertising campaigns.
In August 2010, eMarketer estimated Facebook’s targeting tool generate about half, or $1.3 billion, of the social network’s ad revenue.
It’s been rumored that Facebook is laying the ground work for a web-wide ad network. In the future, with a bit of code websites may enable users to log in using Facebook, mounting a challenge to Google.
Companies are using data collected from users by Facebook to advertise in the column on the right side
of the page.
