Should Facebook Be Your Primary Digital Marketing Channel This Year?

Most of us are familiar with Facebook in terms of its social media dominance, but is it a good place to spend your digital marketing dollars? After all, there seems to be no shortage of worthy platforms that can help you advertise your products and services, so what makes Facebook any different?

Well, if you take a closer look, Facebook has several major strategic developments operating in its favor, and the social media giant is continuing to release useful features that can provide laser-targeted results for advertisers of all stripes. If you’ve been uncertain about what type of role Facebook should play in your marketing efforts, below are four good reasons why you should consider making this uber-popular social network one of your main go-to advertising platforms this year.

1. Massive Exposure for a Very Reasonable Cost

There’s a reason why you see street musicians setting up shop at the busiest places in the city – they need to be where the people are in order to garner more attention (and possibly more money as well). The same principle applies with advertising; you need to establish your presence on the most highly trafficked digital platforms if you want to expose your product to the broadest audience.

With more than 1.7 billion monthly active users, Facebook definitely fits the bill for this purpose. In addition, you will spend less on average when you advertise on Facebook versus Google, and if you’re considering video advertising in particular, you will be pleased to discover that Facebook video ads are comparatively cheaper on a per-impression basis than what you’ll find on YouTube.

2. Superior Audience Targeting Capability

You would be hard-pressed to find an advertising platform that can offer the robust level of targeting capabilities that Facebook provides. When it comes to targeting audiences by various demographics and/or areas of interest, Facebook is as granular as it gets. In addition to their regular suite of heavy-duty audience targeting tools, Facebook has added the Custom Audience Tool, which enables you to upload contact lists (e.g., phone numbers, email addresses, user IDs, etc.) in order to show ads to a specifically defined audience.

3. Two Words: Live Video

Facebook has become synonymous with live video, which is far and away the most popular form of audience engagement on the Web. With the advent of Facebook Live, users can broadcast video content in real time and share the experience with fans and followers. Businesses can leverage Facebook Live to achieve a new level of interaction with their audience by way of Q&A sessions, behind-the-scenes footage, sneak peeks of upcoming product releases, etc. With live video consumption now tripling that of native content, it only makes sense to include Facebook Live in your marketing mix.

4. Robust Growth

While no one can predict the future, it’s pretty safe to say that Facebook isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The number of active users on the platform has nearly doubled in the past four years, and with the rapid-fire release of powerful new features such as Facebook Professional Services, Facebook Live Video, Facebook Events, Facebook Shopping Tabs, and Facebook at Work, you can leverage Facebook’s massive platform to supercharge your marketing efforts in a myriad of ways.

No one doubts the conventional wisdom of not putting all your eggs in one basket, but this doesn’t mean some baskets shouldn’t be bigger than others! When you think about the massive and ever-growing influence Facebook exerts in the marketplace, it only makes sense to consider making Facebook one of your primary digital marketing channels this year.