In the last few years, there has been plenty of conflicting information surrounding Facebook online and offline.
On the one hand, this social networking site remains to be the number one social media platform in the world. Every month, more than 2 billion users frequent the website. As a business, the opportunity to market your product or service to billions of people is remarkable.
That said, more and more people are deactivating their Facebook accounts. Some argue that the platform has become toxic and it has bred a lot of disinformation that the general public doesn’t support. With all the bad press Facebook has been getting, it’s easy to assume that it has become outdated.
For brand owners, the question lies – is advertising on Facebook worth it? The answer still remains a strong YES!
Pros and Cons of Running Facebook Ads
As with most things in running a business, there will always be two sides to the coin. Running Facebook ads can be incredibly beneficial if used effectively.
Benefits of Running Facebook Ads
Facebook ads have become a powerful tool for brands and businesses. There are plenty of benefits to using it as part of your marketing strategy:
- Huge Audience Reach
One of the biggest draws of using Facebook ads is the sheer scale of the social media platform. As mentioned earlier, the website gets over 2 billion users MONTHLY. For reference, that is more than the population of China and Russia combined. It is very rare, if not impossible, to find this kind of opportunity to reach audiences elsewhere – be it online or offline.
Facebook transcends international boundaries. It enables brands to market their products and services to customers abroad without too much of a brick-and-mortar investment. It has made the world smaller and at least for businesses, this is a good thing.
- Targeting Features
Knowing your audience is at the heart of any effective marketing campaign. The same statement rings true for digital marketing platforms as in social media.
Facebook targeting options are unparalleled. Aside from the website’s massive reach, it also allows brands to target their potential customers in an incredibly detailed way. Businesses can craft campaigns that narrow down audiences based on multiple factors including age, location, and interests. You can set parameters as to the demographic you want to show your ads to and the demographic you’d like the ad to skip. This function is unheard of especially for above-the-line marketing strategies like television commercials and billboards.
- Analytics and Measurement
There are plenty of variables that affect the success of a Facebook ad campaign. To develop a strong overarching strategy, it is crucial to analyze ad results and improve upon the next campaign using data.
Facebook makes access to data relatively easy. It tracks plenty of metrics and brands can pick and choose which ones are relevant to them. Despite recent IOS changes and less reliability with their in-platform tracking, Facebook still has powerful data that allows businesses to keep succeeding with their marketing campaigns.
Drawbacks of Running Facebook Ads
Facebook isn’t for everyone. While the platform has a lot to offer businesses, there are drawbacks that you should consider before creating your first campaign:
- Overall Cost
Marketing costs money. Whether you choose to run commercials or hire influencers on Tiktok to do your bidding, it comes at a price. Facebook remains to be relatively more affordable than most above-the-line marketing tactics. However, the cost has increased in the last few years. With competition increasing the more expensive things get, hence why the quality of your creatives and ad copy have become more important than ever before!Â
- Tech Updates
Consumers have become more protective of the data they surrender online. As such, several companies have responded to the demand for data privacy. The effects of this update aren’t necessarily damning. But it can affect the accuracy and reach of campaigns and ads. These recent IOS updates have made it harder to target and deliver personalized ads to users. It has also affected Facebook’s ability to properly and accurately track actions and conversions – in turn making it harder for advertisers to properly track and have a clear picture of the ROI campaigns are producing.
- There is a learning curve
With constant algorithm updates, policy changes, and overall platform updates it is needless to say that it is harder to start from scratch in this day and age. Understanding and knowing what metrics matter, what changes to make, and how to properly optimize campaigns, who to target, and everything else in between definitely requires a lot of time, testing, and effort.
Facebook has become without a doubt invaluable in marketing and entrepreneurship. Through the platform, businesses are able to reach far corners of the world they were never able to tap before. It has livened industry and it has made it possible for small and medium businesses to compete with the big boys.
That said, it is important to remember that not all brands are created equal. What works for one business might not be effective for another. It is crucial to assess the goals, needs, and current status of your brand before taking the plunge.
The reality is that most businesses don’t have the time to learn this themselves. To solve this they can hire an expert advertising agency to do this for them, and, in turn, save a lot of time and potentially wasted ad spend by trying to do it themselves.
If you need a helping hand and looking for a done-with-you program make sure to check out our Facebook coaching program here. If you are a business already using Facebook ads to grow and you are looking for a done-for-you solution to scale your ads check out The Agency here!