About Face 01/14/2010
 
Facebook allows businesses to target potential customers much like Google AdWords.  Define your customer based on the interests, movies, music, etc. listed on their profile.

We have all seen these small, text + pic ads to the right of your homepage.  You have probably even clicked on a few.  Admittedly, I invested money early on to test the effectiveness of Facebook advertising.

The problem is that Facebook is proactive while AdWords is reactive.  People go on Facebook looking for people, not stuff.

AdWords has the edge over any other form of advertising because people are telling you what they want.  You then have an opportunity to react by putting your product/service/whatever in front of them.  If done right, this can lead to a very good conversion rate.

Facebook advertising is still too passive and should be used with caution.  Just because you liked The Dark Knight doesn't mean you want to buy a Batman statue.  You have actually told us (marketers) very little about what you want to spend money on with your Facebook profile.  


Facebook is a great way to kill time at the office.  This boredom leads to click-happy Facebook users who might take a look at your site out of mild curiosity without having any interest in buying your product.  This is especially true with dating and 'singles' sites that use sex to entice you to click on their ad.

A few solutions:  Make your Facebook ad as unappealing as possible.  I'm serious.  Cut out the picture (Google doesn't need pictures) and display the price of your product in your ad.  Let people know they are expected to buy before they click on your ad.  

Even better, save your money for AdWords.