I was giving a lecture last week on the topic of online advertising.  One of the issues discussed was Facebook and how this advertising merits and stands up to other forms of advertising.  Now, anybody who has listened to me talk on this subject know that I am a huge fan of Google AdWords (because it allows advertisers, when implemented correctly, to effectively target individuals, nearly on a 1-to-1 basis).  Google AdWords is an advertisers dream!

So, now on to Facebook.  We recently started advertising on Facebook.  In theory, it appears to be a great system, too.  

We can target people based on their geographic location, interests, age, sex, etc

So, during my lecture, I explained all this and I showed how to set up a Facebook advertising campaign.

Facebook advertising (details available at www.Facebook.com/advertising/) allows advertisers to enter an image (your logo, perhaps?) along with a Title (25 characters, same as Google AdWords) and up to 125 characters of text (Google AdWords allows 70).  So far, so good.

One of the delegates then suggested that it was possible to add a poll and even a video INTO the advert.  Well, this was news to me.  During the break, I rapidly searched for further information on adding video and other animation to Facebook ads.  I could find nothing.  I could find no mention of it on the Facebook site. 

The next day, I spoke with a representative from Facebook and they explained – you can of course add video and polls to Facebook adverts.  But there are limitations, as follows:

1. The advert is only placed on your Home Page under the “Sponsored” section (right hand side of the screen)

2. You MUST be spending at least US$10,000 per month to even be allowed to use this type of advertising (so, Dove must be big spenders, as seen from this example!)

All in all, not for the little guy!  

Also, wouldn't it be nice for Facebook to introduce this type of advertising to all advertisers?

What do you think of all this?

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Anthony Quigley