In 2010 Facebook announced that over 60% of its ad revenues came from small and medium sized businesses (source: Advertising Age) as smes take the lessons learned from Google and apply them to social media.
New intiatiaves for 2011 from Facebook, including Cost per Like or Cost per Action are likely to see Facebooks ad revenues increase further still in 2011 as more and more brands, including most recently Baracadi, move spend from other digital channels to social media.
The new cost per like ad format allows brands to further build personal relationships with their customers and, more importantly, with their customers' friends network. With Facebook claiming that, on average, users have 130 friends this provides brands with a personal referral network that self perpetuates through genuine brand interactions.
Of course, the catch is that customers are still entitled to voice their opinions in both a positive and negative way and that any such negative remarks can also make there way into a brands 'sponsored' and branded advert. Brands therefore will have to work even harder to maintain positive relationships with their customers and will have to devote the hours that would have been spent on creative production into brand vigilance. However, with more ways for 'personal' recommendations between customer networks the benefit should always out weigh the cost.
If you would like to know more about running a social media campaign on Facebook then why not talk to Sagittarius Digital's digital marketing strategists to find out more. Call us on 01233 467800 or use our Contact Us page