Facebook claims to have more than 800 million active users, and for many of us online social networking has become a huge facet of our daily lives. To marketers social networking sites appear to be a great resource to reach potential customers and retain existing ones.

But how do the people they are trying to reach feel?

Facebook Users

It seems that these days many people define themselves by their profiles and interactions on social networks. As a result, they tend to feel that they should have total control over the environment on a site like Facebook which plays such a central role in their lives and captures their very essence. Most Facebook users take umbrage at any perceived commercial intrusion into their life on the network, as evidenced by the huge uproar that followed September’s changes to the news feed.

The most recent large scale change to the site is the layout of people’s profiles, with the ‘traditional’ wall being replaced with the timeline. Interestingly eye tracking research commissioned by Mashable found that 43% of participants noticed ‘sponsored stories’ (adverts, effectively) in the old profile format, whereas the ads were noticed by 63% of participants in the timeline format. Can you imagine the outcry that would spread like wildfire if these findings were to be picked up on by the disgruntled users who are dissatisfied by the profile layout changes?

However, what people should perhaps remember is that this site, that is such a huge part of their lives, is free for them to use. Can you imagine another non-essential resource that is utilised so heavily being free? Of course not, Facebook is a business and must strive to make as much money for its shareholders as possible, although part of doing this will involve retaining a large active group of users.

In any other walk of life we are bombarded by advertising of one form or another, whether it’s commercials or product placement on TV, posters in the street or advertorials in magazines. The very fact that companies can use Facebook to micro-segment and target potential customers with adverts based on the wealth of information they divulge is something that, if used correctly, should really benefit marketing professionals, although it irks so many Facebook users.

But if we look at these adverts as suggestions for things that companies feel may interest or even benefit us, is that any different to a café owner suggesting to regular customers that they have a slice of their favourite cake with their coffee as today’s baking tastes delicious? I doubt that would annoy the café patrons quite so much.

Advertising Success

Taking a closer look at some of the success stories of Facebook advertising shows that if executed well advertising on social networking sites can benefit individuals as well as companies. Facebook reports on the success of BookIt.com. In 2011 they advertised the “Trip a Day in May Giveaway”, which influenced likes of their page as people tried to win a free day trip and saw a 30% rise in their revenue driven by Facebook in the month following the giveaway and a 1,400% increase in revenue from Facebook for that quarter.

Another example provided by the social networking behemoth is 1-800-Flowers who received 4,000 transactions from a Facebook credit promotion. This could maybe lead to the conclusion that if there is a perceived benefit to individuals for being exposed to advertising then they will not be so irritated by it. Certainly, with the amount of information available to companies and their ability to target so effectively on Facebook, then there is no reason why they can’t provide something that will be perceived as a benefit to individuals yet still utilise it to boost profits.

Other Social Networks

Facebook is not the only social networking site to be infiltrated by marketers. Google + has recently allowed companies to set up pages on the site and this coupled with Google’s latest personalised search development may lead to companies trying to encourage individuals to add these pages to their circles not just for the opportunity to engage on Google +, but also because it may influence their positioning in search results.

Twitter now allows companies to pay for ‘Featured Tweets’, which will show up in people’s feeds. With both these sites being free to join, to be effective marketing professionals might have to buy the acceptance of the masses by providing them with a perceived benefit in order to be able to effectively engage with and influence them.

Guest Post by Robbie Wilkins

Robbie is an online marketing professional providing SEO services. He is interested to see how SEO companies will respond to the influence social media may exert on Google’s search results.

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