Think You Know Facebook Ads?

I use Facebook Ads. I love Facebook Ads. I even recommend Facebook Ads to others. But I do stumble across a lot of misconceptions about them.

Whenever I see an article about advertising on Facebook, the comments that follow are usually something along the lines of, ‘If they start showing me ads, that’s it! I’m quitting!’

Why the hostility? Are Facebook Ads really that disruptive?

If you see an update in your sidebar or your mobile newsfeed of the most recent post on a page you liked, do you find that disruptive?

If you see an update in your sidebar or your mobile newsfeed telling you that your friend liked a page, do you find that disruptive?

Those are all ‘Sponsored Stories’, forms of paid advertising on Facebook.

Yesterday, I noticed Facebook was inviting users to learn more about its advertising practices with a little call-out at the top of the page, so naturally, I checked it out.

What they made clear:

• Facebook delivers ads made by businesses. If you really dislike ads on Facebook, don’t hate on Facebook. Hate on people like me that buy the ads.
• Facebook does not sell your name and contact information to advertisers. But, how then, do I see ads that are so specifically tailored to me? Advertisers know all about you... because you tell them. If I’m advertising a charity marathon taking place in St. Louis, I want my ad to show up to people who live in St. Louis and like running. If you’ve indicated on your profile or through pages and articles you’ve liked on Facebook that you live in St. Louis and like running, guess what? You are going to see my ad. You basically opted in to it.
• But, you can opt out. Just roll over the ad and click the ‘X’ on the top right corner to never see it again, or manage what ads you see and don’t see here.
• If you like your Facebook free, then get used to advertisements. Last year, it took over a billion dollars to run Facebook. They employ engineers, web developers, designers and more. People gotta get paid!

And despite one of the top questions being, “I never click on ads, so why do businesses pay Facebook to show them?”, people really do click on ads. In fact, in the Facebook Ad campaigns we’ve run, we generally see 80% of new likes on Pages come from clicks on the advertisements.

Learn more about Facebook Ads here. 

Danielle Hohmeier is the Online Marketing Manager at Atomicdust. She writes about marketing and design in the digital world, with a focus on marketing convergence and social media.