Last week saw Facebook announce new ad format, allowing advertisers to run messages directly in user’s news feeds, whether they had ‘liked’ their page or not. Oliver Felstead, Managing Director, UK & EMEA, Coupons.com looks at the implications of the controversial addition to Facebook’s marketing arsenal…
Facebook’s trial launch of advertising in users’ newsfeeds marks a tempting but dangerous move for brands wanting to market to the social network’s 1 billion users.
Brands have spent the last two years learning how to engage with their target audiences in the social space, from setting up their own Facebook pages to creating marketing campaigns geared around increasing the number of Facebook ‘likes’ and gaining insight into the social media value interchange.
The lessons learned through hard graft and a significant investment in time and money are that brands need to earn the right to appear in consumer’s updates; that they can only earn that right through engaging in a value interchange – whether that is creativity, information or a money-off coupon, for example; and that engagement is the key to social and indeed viral success.
As General Motors’ recent pull of its advertising spend with Facebook highlighted, brands cannot prove the ROI in their social media ad spend. This is because it fundamentally fails on all the key drivers behind successful social media engagement.
Tempting though it is to apply old, push-based advertising models to new channels, brands must adapt to fit social media, and learn to trust consumers to make decisions and take control.
By Oliver Felstead,
Managing Director, UK & EMEA
Coupons.com