According to a new Ad Age survey, marketers who buy Facebook ads are more focused on building brand awareness than accumulating fans.
When marketers were asked to identify their primary goal with Facebook ads, almost half of the respondents put building awareness and sentiment for their brands at the top. The other major goals mentioned were, in order; driving traffic to brand websites, building fans or likes, staying in touch with customers, and generating sales leads.
While racking up likes has been the focus of many Facebook marketing strategies in the past, the study shows that many now value other variables more. This is most certainly because we do not know if likes actually translate to increased sales.
While creating a fan base is important, marketers now try to figure out what to do with their following. There seems to be less focus on previously popular metrics such as click-through rates, and more of a focus on reach. Facebook has pushed this concept for a while, and the study shows that marketers are now listening.
Based on the findings, branding and awareness are now top goals for many social media marketers. Meanwhile, lead generation and getting targeted users seems to be more of a priority for business-to-business brands. But regardless of who you are targeting, marketers now lower their expectations of immediate results, and instead focus on brand awareness.
Do you use Facebook ads? If so, what do you expect to get out of it? Please let us know in the comments, we would love to hear your thoughts on Facebook advertising!
