Facebook Ads: Why They’re Necessary

Facebook advertising today has become the most effective way to reach your target market on that platform.

It used to be that you could make a post on your business page and expect your fans to see it.  Those days, however, are over.  Facebook’s announcement about organic reach for pages let the business world know that the free ride is over. 

To reach your audience, you will have to pay.

Reach

“Reach” is a marketing term used to describe the estimated size of an audience that would see your message.  On Facebook, it is the number of users that your post would reach.  Organic reach is the number you would reach without paying to boost that post to a wider audience.

Starting in 2012, Facebook began using an algorithm that systematically decreased reach for business pages.   In 2014, the social giant admitted that reach was about  one or two percent of a page’s followers.

Earlier this year, Facebook revealed that reach for pages would be cut again, to less than one percent.  That means if you have 100 followers, your messages are reaching less than one person.

For all intents and purposes, then, organic reach on Facebook is dead.  It’s not really a viable option anymore. Businesses need to move on to the obvious alternative.

Overcoming Limited Reach

That alternative is Facebook ads.  Advertising on the platform allows you to by-pass the algorithm that limits reach.  Ads let you identify your audience and reach as many of them as you want.  You are in control and the only limitation is your daily budget.  If you can spend a lot, you will reach more people.

It is a highly effective way to go beyond the limits of organic reach on Facebook and reach the users you wish to target.

The Advantages of Facebook Ads

By advertising on the platform, you can achieve the goals of your original organic Facebook campaign.  Building awareness, enhancing your reputation, growing an audience and getting website traffic are all obtainable objectives.

While you need to invest in the advertising, the cost is a mere fraction of what you would spend with traditional media such as radio, TV and print.  You can advertise on the site for as little as $5 per day.

Facebook ads are also targeted, meaning you can choose the demographics of the audience you want to reach.  That’s a huge advantage over traditional media that simply casts ads out broadly to all their listeners, viewers or readers.

The Wrap

With organic reach dead, marketers need to find another way to get messages in front of their target audience.  Abandoning Facebook for some different platform is an option, but not an attractive one.  That’s especially true if you work at a B2C business.

Facebook has the demographics they want to reach.  Add in their exceptionally large number of users and the social giant becomes too attractive to marketers for them to walk away.

So finding marketing success on this very attractive channel means using Facebook ads.

Do you have questions about the best way to use Facebook advertising? Call me today at 513-237-5530 for answers.

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Bob Turner is a Digital Marketing Consultant in Cincinnati, Ohio.