Not long ago, I wrote a post on the 60 Second Marketer blog called The Truth About Facebook Ads: They Don’t Actually Work. It created a bit of a stir in the online community because there were a lot of Facebook loyalist who defended the platform and who have actually had some success with Facebook ads.

The post generated over 33 comments, many from members of the 60 Second Nation and some from people who were just stopping by. I love those kinds of dialogues because they highlight what the 60 Second Marketer is all about — stirring up debates among marketers about the science of marketing.

But on Friday, one of our SIXTY clients asked a question about Facebook ads that prompted me to clarify what I mean when I say that Facebook ads don’t actually work.

As stated in the original blog post, Facebook struggles to have relevancy among mainstream marketers like Coca-Cola, Nike and Apple, many of whom have robust Facebook pages, but almost never use the platform for advertising.

So, Should You Abandon Facebook Advertising?

Well, no. And yes.

Here’s what I mean.

If  you’re using Facebook as your primary advertising tool, you’ll probably struggle to generate the ROI you’re hoping for. It’s particularly useless if you’re driving people to a link outside of the Facebook platform. It’s less useless if you’re using a Facebook ad to drive people to a page within Facebook. (Facebook likes to keep people inside the Facebook world.)

But if you’re not using Facebook as your primary advertising tool — in other words, if it’s one of many marketing tools you’re using to build awareness and drive leads to your business — then it’s an acceptable platform.

In other words, if it’s used as an add-on to an existing (and robust) marketing campaign, then it can be perfectly suitable to round-out your overall program.

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That concept — not to lead with Facebook, but to use it as an add-on instead, is a quick and easy way to remember the key point I’m making about Facebook ads.

Are there plenty of people who have been able to make Facebook ads work? Sure. And many of them will have been incredibly lucky and will have generated a client or two (or more) from their ads. It’s also worth noting that Facebook is constantly working to improve and enhance their platform.

But if I were a company with a reasonably nice-sized advertising budget, would I spend my money on Facebook ads? No, I’d spend them on about 5 or 6 other vehicles before I ended up spending a dime on Facebook.

So, I hope that clarifies things for you. Facebook ads can be useful — once you’ve exhausted several other vehicles first. Otherwise, they can be a hit-or-miss proposition.
Jamie Turner is the CEO of the 60 Second Marketer and SIXTY a marketing communications agency that works with national and international brands. He is the co-author of “How to Make Money with Social Media” and “Go Mobile” and is a popular marketing speaker at events, trade shows and corporations around the globe.

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