Abstract Despite the privacy and uncertainty concerns associated with it, internet advertising continues to be a fundamental marketing strategy for businesses today. This is because its benefits; wider coverage, economies of scale, ad customization, to name but a few, outweigh the costs and associated risks. This text outlines the procedure of putting up an ad on Facebook, and the risk, as well as beneficial elements associated with it.
Media Advertising: Posting an Ad on Facebook
Social media advertising provides a great platform for enhancing a brand message's reach and influencing prospects at the buying cycle's middle-of-the-funnel or evaluation stage. Facebook presents a unique marketing plan for advertisers; one that entirely focuses on middle-of-the-funnel offers as a way of influencing buyer decisions. This is quite logical since it is at the evaluation stage that a buyer i) clarifies exactly what they need, and then embarks on the search for a satisfying provider, and ii) is most likely to share information through their established network though a 'like' (Social Media Today, 2013).
In order to take advantage of this aspect, Sushi Fashions, a dealer in ladies wear, handbags and accessories intends to put up an ad regarding its Super Bowl sale, in which buyers could get up to 50% off on the conventional prices - over the entire product range. Having used Facebook as an advertising platform several times in the past, Sushi Fashions has an established business page by the name 'Sushi Fashions,' whose fan base currently stands at 289.
Part Two
Facebook would require an advertiser to have an active Facebook account, a valid email address, and a business fan page (Catholic Democrats, 2008). Sushi Fashions already has these, and the step-by-step process below will be used to deploy the ad.
Step 1: Click on the advertising link at the bottom of the Sushi Fashion fan page, and select 'create Facebook ad' (Catholic Democrats, 2008).
Step 2: Ad creation
Screen 1: Key in "the web link associated with the ad," which will lead viewers first to the Sushi Fashions website, and then to the ad (Catholic Democrats, 2008).
Screen 2: Create the ad's body and headline, and input these into the 'body' and 'title' dialog boxes respectively (Catholic Democrats, 2008). The headline for this ad reads 'Super bowl sale'; and the body 'Get up to 50% off on ladies shoes, handbags and accessories this Super bowl'.
From the drop-down menu labeled 'photo', choose the 'upload photo' option, select the 'browse' button and then the file in which the ad's preferable image, as downloaded to the computer from the Sushi Fashion web site, appears. Otherwise, select the 'downloads' tab, and then download the image directly from the Sushi Fashion website (Catholic Democrats, 2008).
Uncheck the social actions box.
Screen 3: reach the exact audience for which the audience is meant by choosing the audience's age, gender, location, and the ad's keywords (Catholic Democrats, 2008). The details for this ad are as follows:
Location: the U.S. (from the drop-down list)
Sex: uncheck both boxes, to enable the ad reach both genders
Age: Any to Any
Selection of keywords determines the number of people the ad is targeted to reach (Catholic Democrats, 2008).
I want to reach people who value style, are passionate about fashion, value class, live for comfort, and know just where to get the best value for their money.
Screen 4: Name the campaign; 'cheap yet classy' in this case, and then choose the preferable payment option (Catholic Democrats, 2008). The 'pay for clicks' option best suits this ad; choose this option and then input figures for the ad's daily budget (for this ad, retain the $25.00 and the $0.98 for max bid suggested by Facebook). Finally, specify the amount of time for which the ad should run.
Step 4: Ad Review
The ad, as it will appear once posted, is displayed, incorporating the information input in all the previous sections. Changes can still be made at this stage (Catholics Democrats, 2008).
Step 5: Order Placement
Facebook already has, in its possession, Sushi Fashion's credit card details; hence there is no need to provide such again when placing the order (Catholic Democrats, 2008). One may be required to wait a few hours before the ad begins running, since Facebook does "reserve the right to approve the ads" (Catholic Democrats, 2008).
The ad's performance can be checked by comparing the number of times it has run, against the number of clicks it has received through the Ads Manager application (Catholic Democrats, 2008).
Part Three
Through the Facebook page post ads advertising option, the ad, once posted on the Sushi Fashions Fan Page, will "get additional paid distribution among fans, friends of fans, or even non-fans within the sidebar or newsfeed" (Social Media Today, 2013).
Despite the wide coverage, advertising through Facebook does not lack its share of risks. The most significant ones are;
Losses -- there is a significant risk of incurring losses, especially because past campaigns have shown that the CTR (click-through rate) for Facebook ads by users is extremely low, and is not reflective of the advertising costs (VanHoose, 2011). In 2010, for instance, the ad CTR was only 0.051%, almost half the standard CTR (VanHoose, 2011).
Cybercrime -- unscrupulous imposters masquerading as Sushi Fashion officials could develop their own page in the business' name, and use it to conduct illegal or redundant activities; a factor that could impact negatively on the business' reputation and profitability (VanHoose, 2011).
You’re 81% through this paper. Sign up to read the full paper.
Sign Up Now — Instant Access Already a member? Log inAlways verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.