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Facebook ads are PPC. BUT they require a very different approach from other PPC avenues like Google AdWords or MSN/Bing Advertising. This is often a hard lesson for many who want to just transfer their campaigns from the search engines over to Facebook. Even if the advertising was wildly successful in the AdWords system, that’s no guarantee of the same in Facebook. Here’s why. In advertising, context or environment is extremely important. It’s one of the most important factors you must consider for any and all your marketing. Let’s look at AdWords and MSN Advertising first. THE SEARCH ENGINE PPC ENVIRONMENT EXPLAINED In AdWords & MSN/Yahoo advertising you are targeting a customer who’s either actively searching for what you sell or at least has the subject on their mind. You’re meeting them on common ground. That commonality being the general product or need they want and you provide. This is a slightly idealized version of the reality of the system. However, provided that you’re running your search PPC campaign correctly, it’s a fitting description of the mental arena you’re competing within on Google. One drawback is that your targeting is almost completely done on a basis of keyphrases. In other words, what the searcher types into the search box. You don't necessarily know a lot about the searcher as an individual. You can probably bet that most people searching for ‘mortgage refinancing’ are over 18 and have a mortgage. Still, you don't know their age, gender, favorite magazines, political affiliation, etc. That, in a very small nutshell, is the advantages and disadvantages of search engine PPC. So how and why is the Facebook ad system different? And why should it matter to you? Read on. THE UNIQUE CHALLENGE OF FACEBOOK PPC ADVERTISING First, you MUST understand the unique challenge that Facebook PPC advertising throws at you. It’s simply this – the person seeing your ad is not actively looking for what you’re selling. They’re on Facebook to check in with friends, look around, maybe play some games. They’re not necessarily looking for someone to repair their television. That’s a very different prospect than the one on Google who is seeking help with their TV right now. You have to realize from the very beginning that this is the mindset of someone on Facebook when they see your ad. What is uppermost in their mind is not what you’re selling or even the general subject it falls under. Here’s what you need to do. You need to construct an ad that reaches out to the reader in such a way that it interrupts whatever they’re doing and gets them to detour into your ad. That will take some testing to find out exactly what that winning appeal will be. You also should prepare for a much smaller Click-Thru-Rate. That’s just how it is when you’re ‘Interrupting’ rather than ‘Fulfilling’ (like in search engines). Your big advantage is that you will have access to actual demographics for targeting your ads. That balances out at least some of the difficulties of ‘Interrupting’ that the Facebook PPC system requires. Because of this ‘Interrupt’, versus ‘Fulfill’, environment in Facebook advertising, it’s very likely that your Google AdWords ads won’t necessarily be your ultimate winners here. They might give you some direction as to what appeals to use, but then again, they might not. Just like any other PPC campaign you will have to Test, Test, Test. It might take longer to find that winning ad, but Facebook has proven very lucrative for many businesses. Keep at it, keep refining and you have an excellent shot at building a whole new profit stream that’s getting bigger every day. Author Jonathan Cook is a Pay Per Click (PPC) & Internet Marketing Expert living in Honolulu, Hawaii. Contact us today for a no-obligation consultation. Any use of this article must contain the above link and credit.
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