After talking with several affiliates today that are running ads on social networks like Facebook and MySpace, I decided to take a look at the potential of this marketplace and get the inside scoop on how to optimize ads and who to market to.
What I found is that advertising on social networks goes way beyond the typical placements, sizes and interactions options and even beyond clicks and impressions, and spans into a combination of ads and social interaction.
When advertising on sites like Facebook, the goal is to encourage peer-to-peer interaction, run Engagement Ads and get people to become fans and share your content with others. This means you’ve got to think outside the typical ad placement box and make your ad more of an interactive product.
During my research I came across some really cool stats on Facebook users that provide a little more insight on who uses the site, why they are there and how to get their attention. Here some of the stats I found most interesting.
• In the Northeastern U.S., Facebook has 900 users per every 10 square miles
• If Facebook were a country, it would be the 5th most populated nation on the planet
• Facebook ranks above all other sites for time spent and pages viewed
• The fastest growing demographic of users on Facebook is women over 55 (Luckily my mom’s online interaction is limited to AOL and she has no interest of venturing elsewhere.)
I was most surprised to find that it is the older generations that are frequenting their Facebook pages more than younger users. This would be a good potential market for health and beauty offers along the lines of age reducing creams (Age Invisible), diet supplements (Green Tea Fit) or other types of skin care offers (DermAcai).
(P.S. if you are interested in running any of these offers, they are available at Epicenter…)
Another way to get your banners noticed on these social sites is to use chiclets. If you don’t know what these are, then you need to read this article.
If anyone else has ideas on how to optimize social network ads, I’d love to hear from you.
