The Importance of Facebook and Linkedin Advertising

With over one billion combined monthly users worldwide, Facebook (FB) and Linkedin have enormous reach. These platforms make it easy for users to generate and share user-generated content. This in turn keeps users on the platforms and available to generate and share more.

In addition to sheer reach, a powerful strength of FB and Linkedin is the detailed level at which they know their audience down to the individual. This is possible since these platforms have access to user-provided profiles and the profiles of the user’s friends and connections. There are few other advertising platforms that allow an advertiser to target such a large audience with such specificity.

The strengths of FB and Linkedin advertising allow advertisers to precisely control costs, target finely tuned audiences and adjust advertising spend for seasonal or other time-sensitive changes in the market. In addition, the value of the marketing dollar is easily quantified and tracked.

Facebook and Linkedin Advertising Explained

The user’s experience in Facebook (FB) and Linkedin are somewhat the same. A new user establishes a profile and then maintainsit over time. In FB, this profile includes interests, demographic information, current and past geographic data, education, work history and contact information. In Linkedin, this profile includes past job experiences, skills, education, interests, and contact information. Both platforms encourage user’s to establish and grow their online social networks. FB calls members of the social network “friends” while Linkedin calls them “connections.” A user has access to the profile information of their friends and connections. In addition to normal users on the platforms, organization can also create a presence. User’s can engage with organizations in much the same way they can engage with their friends and connections.
Users spend most of their time viewing a feed of posts made by their friends or organizations in their social network. In FB, this page is called the “Newsfeed” and in Linkedin, it’s called the “Home” page.

The platforms present display ads on the right side of these pages. When a user clicks on these ads, the user is taken to one of the following: 1) the organization page on the platform, 2) to a third-party website, or 3) to a FB application.

Advertisers using display ads can target users with great precision based on the user-generated profiles. Both platforms offer pay-per-click (PPC) and pay-per-impression models. Advertisers establish monthly spending budgets and pay in advance. While there is some overlap, generally FB is best suited for B2C and Linkedin is best suited fro B2B.In FB, when a friend interacts with an organization (such as “liking” the organization’s FB page), a post is made to the friend’sprofile and this in turn is broadcast to the user. On average, users see only 35% of the total posts generated since posts come in all the time but users aren’t on the site all the time. Advertisers can promote the posts that their organizations create using a FB offering called “Sponsored Stories”. The strength of a Sponsored Story is that it is written in “voice” of the friend so it comes across as a trusted recommendation rather than an unsolicited advertisement.

In traditional advertising, an audience segment is identified and then targeted. Unique to social networks is the ability to target the social network of interested users in a dynamic fashion. For instance, when a user that sees the ad and takes action, FB can preferentially show the ad to the user’s FB friends since the chance that they will have similar interests/needs will be high. This is referred to as “social reach”.

A wealth of analytical data is available to gauge and track the performance of a FB or Linkedin advertising campaign so that they can be quickly adjusted and optimized when market conditions dictate.

Choosing a Facebook and Linkedin Advertising Agent

Managing a social media advertising campaign requires expertise in writing and optimizing advertisements, understanding business objectives associated with the advertisement, and an ability to provide transparent explanations of how every marketing dollar is being spent (e.g. by website visitor, phone call, email, online form submitted, or coupon printed.)

Our consultants at NetEdge Marketing have worked with many small and medium sized businesses to establish the optimal social media advertising campaign budget and can help you do the same.

Many are surprised that a website isn’t even required. Our service includes designing and developing one-page websites that can turn clicks into calls. Businesses can get started by requesting a free Digital Marketing Analysis that will help assess your needs and develop a strategy for success.