March 2014 Web Extra: Harkness on Facebook, LinkedIn advertising
In the March 2014 issue of Landscape Management, The Benchmark columnist Jeff Harkness covered online advertising methods, including Google AdWords and Bing Ads.
Here’s more from him on Facebook and LinkedIn advertising tips.
Did you know more than 1 billion people use Facebook? If you’re not using Facebook to advertise, you’re missing out on a huge, untapped audience for your business. You are free to create a Facebook page about and for your business and to use it to connect with and communicate with clients and prospective clients from around the globe. You also can create ads that appear on the side panel of Facebook and can control what types of people see these ads. Unlike Google and Bing, you target your Facebook ads using demographic data, like sex, age, marital status, household income, location, etc.
The Good: The sheer amount of people you can get an ad in front of is staggering; plus, the clicks are extremely cheap.
The Bad: It’s hard to use Facebook effectively to capture sales. People on Facebook are not necessarily looking to solve a problem.
Expert Tips: Using Facebook to push offers to your existing audience may improve your chance to sell to those people, as they already know about you.
LinkedIn is a great place to advertise whether you’re looking for a new employee for your business or just want to let people know that your business exists and hires only the most qualified professionals. As with the other advertising services, you have control over who sees your ads, how much you spend and what keywords and keyword phrases are used to lead people to your ads. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn is heavily slanted toward business professionals, so if you’re selling to businesses or looking to recruit, LinkedIn may be the best place to start.
The Good: LinkedIn is the king of B2B advertising.
The Bad: Total traffic is considerably less than Facebook, and earning clicks is difficult.
Expert Tips: Bid high. When you receive your click estimates, always bid towards the top of the spectrum.
About the Author: Jeff Harkness
Harkness is a landscape management consultant with 3PG Consulting. Contact him at jeff@3PGConsulting.com.Subscribe to Landscape Management
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