According to an article posted to USA Today titled, “Facebook wants to be big among small businesses” Facebook will be offering businesses a chance to advertise on the popular social networking site for free says Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer. While many businesses have already taken advantage of social media, some still are catching up and what better time to start than now?
“At Google, Sandberg served as vice president of global online sales and operations in a role that helped build the company’s money-gushing search-advertising business. Now, the chief operating officer at the world’s largest social network wants the same for Facebook. She envisions those small businesses that joined Google’s ad program spending their advertising bucks at the social-networking giant.” Sandberg continues, ‘My dream is really simple,’ said Sandberg, 42, seated near a framed graffiti rendering of co-founder Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook’s headquarters here. ‘I think every small business should … be using Facebook. We’re not going to stop until all of them are using it to grow their business.’”
So how can your business benefit from Sandberg’s vision?
“The company plans to offer free $50 advertising credits for up to 200,000 small businesses. When a person clicks on an ad, there’s a set rate predetermined for that click through — 5 cents or 25 cents, for example — the advertiser has to pay. Facebook will pick up the tab for the first $50 of such ads delivered under its offer. This may seem like small stuff, but it’s the core to an ad revenue strategy that could justify a monster IPO. ‘Credits like that can go a long way,’ she says. ‘For $50, most small businesses can target every single person they need to target at least once, and then they can grow their business from there.’”
If you’re still not convinced of the value of engaging in social media- “With Facebook, businesses can target their paid advertising with a precision not found in most other forms of advertising. A wedding photographer, for instance, could advertise just to women in a specific ZIP code who list on Facebook that they are engaged. A movie chain could talk just to film fans.”
Need more details? Click the link to read more about the new plan and follow the story to see how your business can take Facebook up on this offer. With high user statistics to back campaigns, you’ll be glad you did. “Sandberg estimates that of the nation’s nearly 30 million small businesses, 9 million are using Facebook to speak to their customers, and ‘hundreds of thousands’are spending money on ad campaigns, as well.”
Does your company utilize social media, or take advantage of advertising using social media? How has this worked for you? Don’t forget- Alstin can help you start campaigns and monitor your company’s social media networking sites.
