Social Advertising & PPC Play Very Well Together

Social Advertising has become ever more popular, especially with the sizable marketplaces that Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter  and others have to offer. While the high level concept of targeting your audience is similar for both PPC and social ads, there are differences in the ultimate results of using these two methods.

PPC is best known for its success within eCommerce and for lead generation. PPC’s success lies in the ability to attribute leads and/or revenue to a single keyword/match type combination. Not only is it an efficient way to advertise, but it is one of the quickest – campaigns can be launched in less than an hour! Advertisers have become expectant of PPC’s stable and reliable lead generation. Therefore, Social Advertising results can oftentimes lead advertisers scratching their heads – “if it works on pay-per-click, why do we not see the same results in social?”

There are several reasons. First, the marketplaces differ. Users go to Google, Bing or Yahoo in search of information. Users who go to Facebook or LinkedIn typically go to manage their social engagements, activities and to connect with others. Here is where they engage with others about products and services; where we learn that a “friend’s” opinion matters.

Second, Social Advertising gives brands the opportunity to engage their audience in a way that search does not. It gives advertisers the ability to connect with and query those who use the brand’s products/services.  It also gives the brand the ability to affirm its best attributes by pointing them out in status updates. Contests and promos can continue engaging users and intriguing those who have not used the brand before. This type of engagement is creating a new found consumer loyalty. Companies, performing artists, non-profit organizations, etc. can communicate directly with their fan base, creating a feeling of being closely connected and listened to.

Social Advertising’s specialty is engagement. Highly effective advertisers use the 3 R’s in their strategy. The IAB says the 3 R’s are Reach, Relationships and Relevance:

• Reach: Social media overtook email as the most popular online consumer activity back in 2009 and continues to reign, by far (combined with blogs), as the single most popular way consumers spend time on the Internet, according to a recent Nielsen study of digital consumers during Q3-Q4 2011.
• Relationships: Social media’s strength is in the personal connections it enables, the peer-to-peer contact, providing more reasons for consumers to visit regularly and for extended periods of time.
• Relevance: Consumers are extremely engaged with the content and connections that their friends are creating because of its personal relevance.

Both Pay-per-Click and Social Advertising are extremely beneficial means of advertising, and, used together, create holistic brand awareness.

“Advanced analytics, allow data to be compared and unified across all channels –web, mobile and social. This offers the senior marketer the best business case for justification of investment, a path for achieving marketing performance, and a competitive advantage in the marketplace,” says Justin Kistner, Director of Social Products, Webtrends.

As for choosing a measurement solution, Kistner goes on to say:

“The analytics solution that brands choose to track, test and target your Facebook advertising must be able to support passing campaign data, allowing you to track a Facebook campaign as is done on a standard website. And, to follow a Facebook visitor through to another property, such as a website, the analytics solution has to support cross-domain tracking.  With Webtrends, brands can:

• track conversions through iframe tabs, an HTML structure that allows an external page to be embedded on Facebook fan pages,

• maintain visit history even as visitors cross domains,

• collect Facebook-specific data such as fan status, gender, language, and more,

• measure and compare performance across all digital channel,

• enjoy open, flexible analysis for visual reporting.”

See “Facebook’s Best Kept Secret: Building Conversions and Revenue with Ads for Fans” whitepaper for a more details, or contact chase.wells@webtrends.com, or visit Webrends.com.