Determining the true efficacy of advertising can be a challenge, and Facebook advertising is no exception. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll may shed some light on how Facebook users make purchasing decisions based on what they see on the site. For example? Four out of five Facebook users have never bought a product or service as a result of advertising or comments on the site.
After scanning through the results, here’s the bottom line: Facebook users mostly aren’t looking at ads—at least according to this poll. They’re not there to buy or be sold to; they’re on Facebook to interact, and to us, that’s not surprising. One thing we would like to know, however, is the sample size of the group that produced these poll results—that sort of information is always important, especially if you want to make a correlation between the activities of a select group and that of a larger, more global population.
We’re genuinely interested in seeing how Facebook continues to morph the experience for its mobile user base, which continues to grow. Ads aren’t visible (today) on the mobile interface (which we like), and as more people access Facebook from mobile, that likely impacts their potential revenue. This? It’ll change.
A word of caution: this post doesn’t suggest that Facebook advertising isn’t something to consider. Rather, the results from this poll show that Facebook advertising isn’t always effective, so being aware of that fact before you launch a Facebook advertising campaign is important. As is working with the right people and/or products to make sure your Facebook advertising campaign is created and managed to deliver maximum opportunities for success. And just because you can DIY, that doesn’t mean that you should.
Facebook advertising can be effective. But it probably shouldn’t be the only kind of online advertising you experiment with.
Has your brand or business found success with Facebook advertising? We’d love to hear your experiences.
Image by Feral78 via Creative Commons
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”