Facebook has grown into the largest social media network and has more than 2 billion profiles. With 1 billion plus active monthly users, Facebook provides a lot of opportunity to social media marketers. Companies and organizations are using Facebook to promote their products and services and have extensively used Facebook Pages to promote their brand.
Brand pages provide an excellent platform for promoting but it has its own set of pros and cons. In this article we will look into some of the pros and cons of Facebook advertising. It has been observed that thoughtfully crafted ad campaigns may deliver excellent results in driving traffic compared to ads which are aimed at increasing page likes and reach.
Also for a marketer it is important to understand that Facebook marketing is not for everyone. A B2B business may not benefit as much as compared to a B2C brand. For example a company into IT based services may not get the best out of Facebook advertising but a salon, restaurant, or a FMCG company will get the expected results.
Here are some pros & cons of Facebook advertising.
Pro: It’s not expensive
Facebook offers one of the lowest advertising fee for 1000 impressions. For a small time business Facebook is an affordable medium to promote. For less than $50 you can get the desired reach within your targeted audience. For small B2C organizations, setting aside a small budget for Facebook ads is easily possible.
Con: Pay per View
Facebook has been promoting Facebook ads and it has been observed that paid content gets more views. Over years pages have created followers who are now not able to see their content even after liking pages. This is frustrating for marketers who have to pay for getting viewed even after posting quality content.
Pro: Specific Targeting
Facebook allows marketers to micro target among the audience. Marketers can micro target based on parameters such as demographics, marital status, location, and more. This helps marketers to reach the specific audience that they want to target. This method is economical for the marketer and he saves by not advertising to an audience which is not specific.
Con: Reduced Organic Reach
As people like more pages and befriend more people on Facebook, the organic content that reaches the user’s page reduces. But if the content goes viral then it still gets good visibility. However, quality content is not just one criteria for good reach and view. The algorithm plays a very important part in deciding on what content gets and does not get views. The trick is to keep posting quality content over the platform and the approach should be content driven.
The bottom line is a marketer should know the audience and the results they are expecting from a campaign. If the results align with the goal of the brand then they should opt for Facebook marketing or else seek other options.
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