Let’s face it, whether you’re a big fan of Facebook and have maximized its social networking potential to add value to your life or you’ve begrudgingly accepted it as fact of life and try to hold it at arms-length, Facebook and other social media platforms have become a force to be reckoned with both in life and in business. The truth of the matter is that Facebook is “free” because Facebook users are the product being sold. Not literally, of course. Facebook users’ eyes and their attention is what’s being sold. Setting up an account is free. Connecting with your family, friends, and co-workers is free. Liking your favorite band and sharing pictures of your vacation to Yellowstone are free. What’s not free is making a post, getting to decide who sees it, when they see it, how often, and for how long they see it.
It might not make sense for a user to pay to make sure their vacation photos get seen by ALL their friends, but IT DOES make sense for a contractor specializing in bathroom renovations to pay to get photos of their latest project, an advertisement for 15% off initial estimate, and a link to their website in front of all the homeowners within 50 miles of their service area. Think commercials from public broadcast TV. Whether commercials are a mild annoyance to you, you hate them, or you appreciate the marketing acumen and awareness you gain of things you’d like to buy, that interruption is the price we pay for free airwaves. And, the information Meta and Facebook has from user accounts is A LOT more than the simple fact that you’re sitting down to enjoy Law & Order on Thursday evenings. You might see where I’m going with this…
Facebook’s ad revenue in 2023 was just shy of $132,000,000,000. Yes, that’s the correct number of zeros. Rounded up, Facebook’s ad revenue was over ONE HUNDRED THIRTY BILLION DOLLARS. For users, the network is free because businesses are investing their money in getting a small slice of users’ attention because they are likely to become paying customers. And, IT WORKS. Regardless of whether you think it’s a fair trade-off, as a business owner, this is part of making sure you’re reaching all of the people who are ready to become your customers. If you don’t, you’re missing out on engaging with a significant swath of the population that, for better or worse, lives and interacts with their network through Facebook.
At Weathered Bell, we can devise a social media ad campaign that puts you in the news feed of people who are likely to appreciate discovering your product or the services you offer and follow links back to your website (which is hopefully a finely tuned lead-to-sales conversion machine by now). This is how we take your financial investment and get a financial return in the form of increased sales.
Facebook ads are so effective because Meta provides the tools and information needed to reach the right people at the right time to drive traffic back to your website. Part of the process of running a good Facebook ad campaign is the research that goes into deciding who your audience is. Over time, with Meta’s data, we hone in on those target demographics more precisely so you are getting more bang for your ad-spend-buck. These promotions will bring in an audience that needs your services and provide us with more information on how to better reach that audience going forward.
Of course, while Facebook is the big player here, other platforms are still around, including Meta’s Instagram and Threads and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. For some businesses, marketing through Pinterest might be a perfect fit. For others, increasing their reach across LinkedIn, run by Microsoft, might be a good strategy. It remains to be seen what will come of TikTok after recent legislation forcing the sale of the company, but at the moment, it can still be a key player in an effective social media strategy. Whatever your goals may be, we can help you devise and execute a plan for increasing your following, engagement, and sales.
If you’ve ever tried managing a social media campaign on your own or paid an agency for what turned out to be an ineffective social media ad campaign, you may have realized it can be quite a challenge. While you can definitely increase your online presence and get a brand awareness boost from any old Facebook ad that’s not directed appropriately, chances are, your dollars are not reaching the appropriate audience, nor are they having the impact you hoped for. We’re here to help and guide you through the process.
If all of this sounds overwhelming and you’re not sure you have the stomach to navigate the vast world of social media marketing, you’re not alone! Let Weathered Bell Digital help! We offer comprehensive social media marketing services that help you find your target audience, engage, and convert that audience into leads and sales. Whether the scope is big or small, we help you by giving you what you need. No more, no less. We’ll draft a social media strategy that can include everything from establishing and managing your accounts, running targeted ad campaigns, analyzing results, and continually revising that campaign to simply running a short term campaign to help get prospects in the door while you you invest in the long game of Search Engine Optimization. Whatever you need, we’ve got you covered. We’re here to serve you. Contact us today!