The term ‘Social Media’ or ‘Social Network’ was coined somewhere between 2005 and 2007, and it was defined as a collection of online platforms and tools that people use to share content, profiles, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives and media itself, facilitating conversations and interactions online between groups of people.
In simpler terms, it was a way to connect with the people that you wanted to connect with, share snippets of your life, and let people know what you are interested in.
Two things from the previous sentence will stand out to some. One, is that the statement itself, is in past tense, meaning that Social Media at present, stands for something completely different. Two, is everyone letting a public platform know their interests.
2012 was a turnaround year in the field of Social Media. Tinder released and almost immediately gained a large user base. This was the first time people started to take notice that their interests on Facebook, specifically the common interests between two suitors were being displayed on the app.
Some questions were raised pertaining to the privacy one has, when they are on Facebook. However, due to their fast update roll-out system and interactive UI that the audience had already started to love, and due to the lack of a similar competitor, nobody really left Facebook. The few that did, had to return.
Coming to the business end of this blog, this is about Facebook Ads taking over everyone’s feed, thus putting its original purpose into second gear. But Facebook has been running ads since as early as 2004 and everyone was okay with it. So what changed?
Facebook followed a rigorous plan over the past ten years, and in the early stages of the execution, there were hardly any ads being run. Even the ones that were running, used to only appear on the desktop version, on the sidebar. This was the phase where Facebook was creating an audience, similar to what AdMakers on Facebook do today, before they run an ad. They were pushing their user base to like specific movies, where they liked hanging out, the activities they liked doing and pages they liked to see content from. Based on all this, the algorithm was able to create an interest profile of each user.
Facebook started pushing ads on Priority as late as 2015, and by 2016 most big brands were on board with the idea. The platform has never been the same again. Every time you login to Facebook, you are swamped with ads and this is taking a hit on personal profiles. The impressions on personal posts are drastically going down and the idea of staying in touch with your loved ones has somewhat changed.
However, this provides a lot of incentives to Businesses, especially new ones that have a fixed budget.
Running ads on Facebook is no utilitarian hill-climb, both in the senses of difficulty and economy. If well targeted to the perfect interest profile, an ad with Rs. 1000 INR( approx. 14 USD) can do wonders for your business.
Facebook now has a Network of Apps, a Marketplace and best of all, Instagram which is the millenial’s go-to app in 2019, monetizing your business on these apps creates an instant audience and conversions.
New platforms are joining the Ads Bandwagon everyday, up until very recently, LinkedIn was a network of connections in the workplace where you had that one guy posting too often about work culture and everyone agreeing with him. LinkedIn is now a prime location to run ads, especially with the personal Sponsored InMails that can be sent to a target audience, it is an ad, with a personal touch. Corporate firms are utilizing the opportunity to branch out and get professional contacts in their respective purses. Ads are also running on Reddit, Pinterest and Tumblr. A lot of these social networks have a considerably large audience, and negligible ad competition when compared to Facebook. These ad opportunities need to be seized.
If you are thinking about utilizing the repurposement of Social Media to the best interests of your business, definitely try Facebook Ads.
Scared to take the first step into the world of Digital Marketing? We are Think Tree Media House. We run more ads everyday than the number of breaths we take. Give us a call and we’ll help you out.
About the author:
Purbayan Bhattacharyya, aka PB, is a Digital Executive at Think Tree Media House. His hobbies include singing, PUBG and being sassy af.
