Some ideas from 10 years ago are better left behind, like keyboards on a cell phone. Other ideas from 10 years ago are worth keeping around, like online advertising. Consider this: ten years ago in the mid-2000s, it was a big question mark to advertise on Google. Advertisers wondered if it was cost effective, if there were buyers there, and if people used Google to make buying decisions. Now, there’s no longer a question: advertising on Google is highly effective.
All About Buyer’s Intent
Since then, Google has become a multi-hundred-billion dollar company because they put themselves in the middle of buyer’s’ intent. Here’s how they’ve made it work. If you go to Google and you look up the definition of a word, ads don’t show up because you’re not trying to buy something. However, if you search something like “best ceiling fan,” ads will show up because you’re likely trying to buy something. Google provides a way for the seller to entice buyers to click on their website and hopefully sell the product the customer was originally searching for. It’s an effective strategy because of buyer’s intent – the customer wanted to buy something!
What About Facebook Advertising?
The way Facebook operates is fundamentally different than Google. People aren’t typically looking to buy when they’re on Facebook, but that doesn’t mean that people there don’t have money and aren’t potential buyers. The key to successful advertising on Facebook is crafting the image and the headline so it looks like a regular social media post. Combine that with a call to action and follow through with a landing page that’s consistent with the advertising offer, and you have a winning combination. An effective Facebook advertising strategy means you’ll generate leads of people who are interested in purchasing your product.
Success on Facebook
As a business owner, you have to believe and understand that there are buyers on Facebook. If you reject that notion, you’re doing your business a huge disservice. Currently, Facebook is in the same place Google was 10 years ago. Advertisers have the same types of questions: is it cost effective, are there buyers there, and do people make buying decisions on Facebook? The answer is YES, YES and YES.
