The Benefits of Advertising on Facebook

Katherine Bennett - December 9, 2009

There once was a time when social media sites were considered to be just for teenagers or those looking for love. However, that has just changed in recent years, especially on Facebook. Facebook has become a huge asset to advertisers, especially when they are looking to reach to a niche audience. Facebook allows advertisers to geo-target ads and key in on users via specific keywords in their Facebook profile.

Facebook allows advertisers to do geo-targeting by country, state/province, and city. This allows the advertiser to limit or expand their message to their target audience based on geo-target settings that the advertiser can set. An extra benefit is that Facebook is not limited to the United States. Facebook has most of the countries of the world on its geo-targeting list, which keeps advertisers from being locked in to one area or location. Relative to other social media sites Facebook offers advertisers a lot of options.

One option that sets Facebook apart is keyword interest targeting. Let me explain. When Facebook users sign up for an account they fill in information on their profile page based on their interests. When advertisers create an ad in Facebook they have the option of searching and selecting keywords that may be of interest to a Facebook user.

A picture is worth a thousand words so let’s look at an example.  Let’s say an advertiser is looking to reach people who are doing home improvement projects. When the advertiser starts to type in the keyword “home improvement” Facebook pulls up a list of keywords associated with “home improvement that are associated with people’s profiles. The advertiser can then select from any of the keywords suggested.  Once the advertiser selects the keywords for a particular ad; Facebook serves the ad to the people who have those keywords in their profile. 

Facebook is a great asset to advertiser’s especially since it has geo-targeting and specific keyword targeting. By using Facebook, an advertiser can target a specific audience and not feel like they are casting their net too wide. It will be interesting to see how advertisers benefit as Facebook expands their offerings and the world of social media continues to evolve.