If you’re a small business with a limited budget and wondering about using Facebook ads as part of your marketing campaign, here’s a successful case study on how Facebook ads can help you.

Facebook is fast becoming the web’s top destination site with 1 in every 8 minutes of online time spent on Facebook. Unlike more traditional methods of advertising, Facebook offers businesses a cost-effective way of tapping into a customer base of over 750 million users with 2 million users based in Ireland. 

Originally started as a social platform for University students, Facebook has expanded its user profile and the fastest growing demographic for Facebook is those of 35 years old and upwards. Not only does it continue to attract more users everyday but its popularity in the world of business has also grown. The number of marketers who say Facebook is ‘critical’ or ‘important’ to their business has increased by 83% in the past 2 years. Facebook also offers free word-of-mouth of marketing with 56% of consumers likely to recommend a brand to their friend after becoming a fan.

So the question is how do you attract customers and build a fan base for your business?  This is the first step in a strategy to use Facebook for business and we like to talk about one aspect here – Facebook adverts.

Every Facebook user creates a personal profile when they join Facebook that details their age, gender, where they live, their likes and interests, education and work information and languages spoken. This gives businesses invaluable information to target Facebook adverts at the right audience and expand their social reach. Each business can set a budget of how much they want to spend per day (to limit the cost) and schedule when they want to run the ad. The ad can then be ‘linked’ where it takes potential customers to either, your Business Facebook Page, event or App, or to your Business website which sits outside Facebook. A really strong feature of this kind of advertising is that your advert can be seen millions of times by your target audience, but you only pay for the customers who are interested in your product/service and click on the advert (Pay Per Click Marketing).  But perhaps the most impressive tool of Facebook advertising is Facebook Insights which allows you to monitor the success of your ad and make any adjustments if necessary. Below is an Insight snapshot over the course of 10 days on a highly successful Facebook campaign that we ran recently. The name of the campaign has been omitted for privacy reasons.

These specific figures have been taken from a campaign that we ran from the 5^th of November to the 15^th of November 2011 for a client.

What does this tell you

• The company achieved this with a total spend of just €255.42.
• They limited their daily budget to spend a maximum of €25 per day.
• The campaign reached 229,862 target users within 10 days.
• 132,210 users saw the ad as a result of their friend ‘liking’ it – as we noted earlier people are more likely to buy from a brand if it has been recommended by a friend.
• The company was charged for 1,220 clicks but reached 229,862 users.
• The target market saw the advert 4.9 times.
• These views converted into 703 connections and a potential 703 new customers.

There are some very interesting conclusions that can be drawn from these figures. Firstly, Facebook ads enable companies with limited spending power to maximise their marketing budget and expand their customer reach. These types of ads generate viral marketing benefits. Not only did this campaign appeal to the target audience but it also reached their friends as well.  

Secondly, this campaign resulted in 703 new connections which can be viewed as potential long-term customers. The company can build a relationship with these fans long-term, engage and communicate with them and eventually convert them in real customers. The campaign clicks show that users are interested in what the company is offering. They have attracted the user’s attention and the onus is now on the company to sell to these customers.

And finally, this campaign shows the rate at which a Facebook ad can accelerate product/ brand awareness. The total cost of the campaign was just €255.42 and it was seen by a target audience of nearly 300,000 users.  When you compare the cost and the effectiveness of a Facebook ad campaign with other forms of marketing such as print or radio, it’s easy to see the benefits. Your ad is guaranteed to be seen by your target audience, your social reach is expanded and, above all, the cost is minimal.