Facebook “Want” Button to Launch?

Possibly one of Facebook’s best contributions to the world of advertising has been the ever-famous Like button. It has helped with not only conversion rates, but also in helping advertisers to figure out things like target demographics, popular trends, and just how many people would actually respond to marketing on Facebook. The Like button is rumored by software developer Tom Waddington in his blog, to be on the verge of an improvement. He writes on the possibility of an addition to Facebook’s button arsenal. This improvement may just come in the form of a Want button.

The Want button could help Facebook to allow advertisers the ability to create more than just conversions. It would allow advertisers to get information on consumer’s possible wish lists, getting an idea of exactly what they will respond to most in advertisements and actual products alike. In a Forbes article, Robert Hof writes, “A “want” button would add to the wealth of data about Facebook users’ interests, demographics, location and, yes, likes.” The want button could be just what Facebook needs to earn a spot in the rankings of the great advertisers on the web, helping to keep a good competition between itself and its well known competitors.

What people are wondering with this new prospect of a Want button is if it can get better results for advertisers than the search ads of Google. Google’s search ads have created some of the best conversion rates seen in internet performance marketing since it began. So the question is; with this new Want button, would Facebook be able to compare to the conversion rates that Google’s search ads create for marketers? Well, the answer to this mystery may be easy to figure out with a bit of common sense. The fact is that, even if someone were to hit the like button in an advertisement, it doesn’t mean that they are even interested in buying that product, ever. This is different from Google’s search ads, in that if someone is searching for the product, they’re already interested, so that step disappears. Plus, since they implemented their search ads, Google as perfected their advertising opportunities, catering them perfectly to advertisers and consumers alike. With the Want button being so new that it isn’t even seen yet, there is little possibility that it can compete with Google’s advertising methods this early in the game.

Regardless, the Want button is definitely something that Facebook should choose to go through with, for it would add so much to Facebook’s new advertising methods. Hof says, “such a signal could help Facebook provide a very valuable layer of data about commercial intent.” Facebook may not be quite at the level of Google in the scheme of marketing, but it still provides considerable amounts of useful data to marketers, some of which they couldn’t get from other methods of advertising. Facebook is showing signs of being a very valuable advertising medium in the future, because for many it already is, but for right now Google still reigns King.
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