How do FACEBOOK ads work

Nowadays advertising on Facebook seems to be one of the most immediate ways to power the reach of our content.  As an ordinary social networker, we might think no one clicks on Facebook ads, but it’s a mistake because at present Facebook is on track to make 4  billion dollars in this year from advertising alone. Now there are many varieties of Facebook ads. The user can promote his page, post on his page or his website itself. (Stelzner 2010) Facebook advertisements are always targeted to users based on location, demographics and users profile details. All these options are available on Facebook ad manager. As soon as the ads are created user can set a budget and bid for each and every click or impressions that the ad will get. Other users see the ad on Facebook.com, i.e., on the sidebar. In my opinion, Facebook ads are more like display ads than search ads. In Facebook ads should be used to produce demand, not to achieve it. Facebook users are on the site to connect with their friends, not to shop or find products.

If a user visits the advertised website, he won’t be looking for a product, he might have clicked the ad on a whim.  The main mistake most advertisers would make with Facebook ads is not targeting the audience correctly. There are many target options namely location, age, gender, etc. There are also other broad categories including ‘Away from hometown’, ‘Has a birthday in one week.’etc. This kind of broad interests would be very efficient to reach a larger audience. (Chan 2011)  Facebook, the ad manager, has an interesting list of interests to target from Marvel comics to scuba diving. The most difficult part comes selecting the best target.

Social media knew a whole lot more things about us like whether we spent more time in Criminal Case or Super Mario.  Facebook probably knows everything about us like getting married soon, reading a detective novel, taking medication, etc. All these details give advertisers the power to reach us beyond the expectation. While deciding on an ad Facebook shows us the number of profiles we can target to each and every subcategory based on our interests and desires.

The most famous speciality of Facebook ads is the power to layer targeting options on one another, and gradually making users more and more accurate. One exciting example of the power of hyper-targeting which got from research is of was featured in AdWeek last year. In it, a marketing person targeted his roommate with ads so specific the poor guy thought he was cyber stalked.

Example to target a specific audience: If a car manufacturing company wants to put up a special discount offer for the aged people or senior citizens, he can layer particular detail, like finding people who is between the age of 60 and 65, and brought a house in the last few months. So, he might be needing a car soon. Realising whom to be targeted will help one to the most efficient ad targeting tool and easy routes to get to the target.

References:

1. Stelzner, Michael. “Facebook Ads Strategy: How Marketers Need To Alter Their Techniques: Social Media Examiner”. com. N.p., 2017. Web. 5 Apr. 2017. http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-ads-strategy-how-marketers-need-to-alter-their-techniques/
2. Chan, C., 2011. Using online advertising to increase the impact of a library Facebook page.Library Management, 32(4/5), pp.361-370.
3. Dehghani, M. and Tumer, M., 2015. A research on effectiveness of Facebook advertising on enhancing purchase intention of consumers.Computers in Human Behavior, 49, pp.597-600.
4. “Defining Your Facebook Advertising Strategy | Mailchimp”. MailChimp. N.p., 2017. Web. 5 Apr. 2017. : https://mailchimp.com/resources/guides/defining-your-facebook-advertising-strategy/html/