More than 30 million UK users. One in every seven minutes of average online time. Facebook’s compelling share of online audience time is something small businesses must now address proactively if they want to grow and communicate effectively with their customers.
For small businesses in particular, there is an opportunity to integrate your products or experiences onto Facebook. Doing this will ensure your brand gains its share of this populous and cost-effective channel and allows you to engage customers in a manner that fits with their underlying usage habits.
Many businesses already understand that the best form of advertising is through word of mouth among friends and peers. Facebook facilitates this viral method of sharing information by enabling businesses to broaden their exposure to and share experiences with their target audiences in a more relevant way – via Sponsored Stories for example.
Through Sponsored Stories fans not only endorse and engage with a brand by ‘liking’ or ‘checking in’, but they also actively participate in real time activities and promotions taking place. A good example is Sprinkles Cupcakes, which ran a campaign at the beginning of the year through which the first 50 people to whisper “2012” at any Sprinkles Cupcakes store received a free chocolate marshmallow. By targeting a more specific group, Sprinkles was able to engage in a personal way, both face-to-face in-store and online, where their promotional offer was initially passed on to 79 people, who all hit ‘like’ on the post, instantly sharing it with their own connections.
Many sceptics see social media campaigns on networks such as Facebook as interrupting users with large volumes of irrelevant material. However, if campaigns are deployed properly, results show that social media presents an opportunity for brands to initiate the conversation when their audiences are relaxed and receptive. The old days of mass targeting are gone. For businesses, Facebook, (unlike other advertising channels) is more about building relationships rather than getting new customers.
This is best shown through Sponsored Stories. Since their introduction in 2011, brands have been able to create adverts that include a social context i.e. John Smith likes Sprinkles Cupcakes, while also targeting customers according to their age, gender and interests. This approach and the effective use of Sponsored Stories have seen a measurable global trend, which we at TBG Digital have actively tracked as part of our quarterly Global Facebook Advertising Report.
In our report for the fourth quarter of 2011, which launched earlier this year, we stated that click-through rates had increased by 18% through 2011. But, what does this mean? Essentially, it means that adverts are becoming more relevant to the users who are being shown them. So advertisers are making the most of the targeting options available and improving their creative messages. Plus these new adverts are more engaging than the classic Facebook adverts. It seems that social is here to stay.
So, if you want your brand to seize the opportunities Facebook can offer, and connect with your target audience among Facebook’s 800 million active users, it is crucial that you not only have something relevant to say but that you really harness this new digital word of mouth route to market. With more than seven million apps and websites currently integrated with Facebook, now is the time to ensure you are one of them in order to have a valuable place in the online conversation.