Revolution Messaging

Facebook has been all over the news recently, but this time the world’s largest social media network’s revenue model will directly impact the mobile marketing world. Using location technology, Facebook has joined the mobile advertising world that allows us to target users with real-time data based on their geographic location. And because more than 200 million people access Facebook via their mobile phone, this advance in technology will directly affect you.

Research to date has already indicated that Facebook mobile ad targeting will change the marketing game. Click-throughs seem to be more effective than on desktop computers, and the geo-targeting will customize ads to each individual. Facebook is certainly at the forefront of the ad technology, and we feel it has the potential to revolutionize the marketing world. You can now target an ad only to Spanish speakers in Washington, D.C who are reading through their Facebook news feed while walking down the street (we all know we do it). The possibilities are seemingly endless with this Facebook development. At Revolution Messaging, we have been conducting extremely successful mobile advertising campaigns since the fight for health care reform in 2009, and we have been eagerly waiting a Facebook mobile advertising option.

Initial research shows that Facebook mobile marketing is also financially beneficial. Ad Age research delivered the news that mobile ads had an average 0.79% click-through-rate versus an overly optimistic 0.32% for PC-only ads with various types of placement. Much like other mobile ads, the higher click-through means your ad budget can be stretched further.

In addition to this ad targeting program, Facebook’s recent acquisition of Face.com (for a mere $50 million or so) will make the social media network even more tech savvy and appealing to users and advertisers. This acquisition may finally help Facebook figure out how to help people tag mobile uploaded photos, something that people currently can’t easily do. Without this option made easy, Facebook misses out on alerting people they were tagged in a photo, which is then missing out on people immediately visiting their Facebook page wherever they are to find out more. And when they visit their Facebook app on their mobile phone, it is one more chance that they will be served your mobile ad. Facebook is working towards the right combination of technology to make sure their presence on mobile is as integrated and advanced as possible.