Facebook And Social Media Tools For Advertisers

As companies scramble to learn to use all the social media tools that now exist out there, they may find that one of the most useful collections of tools is found conveniently on one website; www.facebook.com. As it has expanded beyond its original student-oriented focus, it has gradually introduced various conveniences for marketers. The site provides a way for companies' social media policies to target very specific audiences who are more likely than others to be looking for their services already.

The site was originally designed for people to keep in touch just with those they specifically invited as contacts, such as friends, family or school classmates. But over the years, Facebook has added business marketing tools that allow marketers to get in touch with potential clients, even if still in a peripheral way. Advertisements in the margins of people's Facebook pages are placed on those pages based on several factors set in place by the users themselves. For example, keywords are an integral part of social media tools. When users write lists of words that describe their interests, those lists become keywords that will signal Facebook's marketing programs to place ads related to those words.

Advertisers who buy space on Facebook can tweak the social media tools even further. They can target their ads only to people in their local area, for example, or it is possible for ads to be placed on pages based on the users' own communications. If someone changes a personal setting from "single" to "engaged," or even mentions their engagement in a status update, ads for wedding photographers can be placed on their pages. This is social media optimization with a vengeance, allowing marketers to reach people who are clearly looking for the advertised services.

These sorts of social media tools are likely to prove very beneficial for marketers. It used to be that they had to put money into ad campaigns that flung their information indiscriminately into the public arena, and then hope someone out there would take notice. Now, their business marketing dollars can be put into a much more explicitly focused campaign. They won't bother nearly so many people who will resent a barrage of ads they aren't interested in. Instead, they'll be speaking to people whose interest is much more likely to be roused immediately. For once it is a genuine "win-win" situation.

Related topics about social media tools
A Cautionary Tale About Social Media Websites
As an example of bad tactics on social media websites, take a few instances of the behavior of some marketers on Twitter. They induce many people to "follow" them, and then reward followers with an endless barrage of self-promoting announcements, like Twitter is a forum for non-stop press releases. Not once do they actually engage their followers as people, but obviously regard them as a captive audience to preach about their company.

Social Networking And Return On Investment
Big business social media efforts may produce great results, yet never be fully measurable. How does one quantify good will? If customers enjoy their conversations with a company and begin to feel a certain brand loyalty, can the value of that be calculated? Social networking can produce those things and other positive results, without any accountant ever being able to measure them. It may be that businesses will just have to accept that "increased good will and loyalty," even if unquantifiable, are perfectly acceptable returns on their social media investment.

"Policing" The Social Networks
Developing social networks for corporations and individuals alike has created new problems and challenges for how to manage this burgeoning communication form. One challenge for businesses, which needs to be involved in these networks to converse with customers, is to create social media guidelines so that conversations can proceed without giving away proprietary secrets but also without making customers feel used. For the general public, on the other hand, the big concern is managing their personal data on their own social network.