Facebook tries to engage users with advertising

Mark Zuckenberg, founder of Facebook, has never taken Facebook down the traditional internet advertising route. “Advertising on the web is less about just hitting someone with a message,” he says. “It’s about engagement [with that user].”

Following this belief, Facebook has now taken the latest step in its online advertising with the introduction of ‘engagement ads’. The ads focus on brand interaction and growth, allowing users to give ‘branded’ gifts, make comments or become a fan of a brand. Users are also able to give a thumbs up or down next to an advert and give a reason why.

Traditionally social media sites and most internet websites focus on display advertising such as banner adverts and pay per click marketing. Facebook’s latest move focuses more on traditional marketing aspects such as brand awareness and interaction, making the social network more of a focus group than an advertising platform.

It is well known that Facebook has had dismal success with online advertising. The social network which generates the majority of its revenues through advertising sees clickthrough rates of around 0.04% according to one report, which in reality is 400 in a million. Of course most of the users are penniless students as the report states, and have more of an interest in chatting with friends than responding to advertising messages.

All of this information is being highlighted right as Facebook brings their application development contest to a close. Some of the more interesting applications include BarTab where you can send a drink to a friend’s phone for $1. The drink can be redeemed at participating restaurants and bars. Partybuzz is another interesting application which focuses on the offline parties that are being organised online by friends. The application gives an overview of the average age, girl/guy ratio and number of singles.

While all of Facebook’s new engagement advertising is very interesting, everything will depend on the bottom line. In a recession display advertising and brand awareness budgets are always decreased in favour of measurable methods, which are going to be PPC and SEO. While great fun, if the engagement advertising campaign doesn’t meet the needs of advertisers, Zuckenberg will have more trouble engaging advertisers than he will users.