Advertisements prove to be a crucial part of social networking by targeting diverse audiences
Deanna Caruso
Equinox Staff
Advertisements are no longer just for billboards and magazine pages–rather, the way companies choose to advertise is changing to keep up with technology.
Advertisements have become a crucial part of social networking, and Facebook is at the forefront of it.
Now, Facebook ads are being used as a way to entice clients.
Jill Tague / Equinox Staff
There are roughly one billion users on this social networking site–giving companies a large target audience to advertise to.
However, when informally surveyed, Keene State College students had mixed reviews about the usage of ads on Facebook.
Junior Ben Tirlia said, “I don’t really notice ads on Facebook,” while Natasha Kodiak said, “I do see a lot of ads for all different types of things; some interest me and some I just scroll right over.”
But do advertisements really lure Facebook users to click onto their web page?
Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s global marketing head, said, “The biggest myth is that Facebook ads don’t work,” when interviewed by news.cnet.com.
Every time a user logs into Facebook, a number of advertisements appear on the side of the homepage.
These ads can appeal to any age, gender or type of interest for the person to click on.
“One secret to Facebook’s higher-than-average ad[vertising] yields is audience filtering. Instead of broadcasting your message to the general public [and paying for it], you can specifically target the demographics your business is best geared toward,” Everson said.
Placing advertisements onto social networking sites such as Facebook costs a fraction of what it would cost to advertise on television.
Paul Sakuma / AP Photo
This Feb. 8, 2012, photo shows a mural at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Now, advertisements have become a crucial part of social networking sites.
Advertising on television can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars while on Facebook, “When you run your ad or sponsored story on Facebook, you will only be charged for the number of impressions [CPM] or clicks it receives.
The amount that you pay will never be more than your daily or lifetime budget and there are no additional fees associated with running ads or sponsored stories on Facebook. The larger the budget, the more people a campaign is likely to reach lifetime budget and there are no additional fees associated with running ads or sponsored stories on Facebook.
The larger the budget, the more people a campaign is likely to reach,” Facebook’s website stated.
This allows companies to advertise their products in a more cost effective manner.
“The ads that I usually click on are of clothing or jewelry, that is what appeals to me the most,” Facebook user and KSC junior Katelyn Root said.
“If something attracts my eye I’ll click on it and see where it’ll bring me,” Root added. The advertisement all depends on the apearance of the ad, which is what helps lure clients in and to have them come back for more.
A tip from frugalmarketing.com states ways to attract clients are to offer a reduced price, a special service and to stand far out from the competition.
Business-opportunities.biz website said, “Choose something like a coupon or a two day sale, this will get the customers rolling in the door specifically for the sale but then once they see all the products offered and the prices that are available every day and the excellent customer service that they will receive, it is almost a sure bet that everyone will be coming back over and over whether there is a sale or not.”
A number of KSC students reportedly all commonly drew most of their attention towards clothing advertisements.
Lauren Dougherty said, “The only ad that I actually find interesting is if there are clothes that are cute. I’ll click onto it and then I find myself looking at the clothing website for 15 minutes,” she said.
Junior Julie Trombetta said she also likes to explore clothing advertisements. ”It brings me to new clothing lines that I’ve never heard of before,” she said.
However, even though the advertisements attract recruiters, they do not necessarily lead any student interviewed into a purchase.
Though according to businessnewsdaily.com, “A comScore report, which was co-sponsored by Facebook, however, showed a different result, saying that Facebook ads did help purchases, sometimes as much as 38 percent over those not exposed to Facebook ads.”
Freshman Hanna DeSouza said,“I think it all depends on the person, if he or she would want to buy something off of Facebook. Personally, I think ads are a virus and I get too scared to click on them.”
Advertising is a form of persuading the audience, and by advertising on Facebook, it will attract a large audience with different interests. Bagwell.com gives interesting advice when it comes to targeting audience; identity your audience, use advertising media that will reach your audience, design and write copy to relate to your audience.
By following these rules, a company can succeed in attracting a larger crowd.
However, advertising on Facebook not only reaches a larger targeted audience, but it ensures that Facebook users can access these advertisements anywhere, whether it is at home using the computer or on the go with their smartphone, which makes Facebook society’s largest billboard for advertising.
Deanna Caruso can be contacted at
dcaruso@keene-equinox.com
