Facebook is a name that comes with a heavy load of controversy attached to it, as advertisers do not seem to know what opinions to believe. Some say that Facebook is their most successful marketing platform, making up a huge chunk of their efforts. All the while, there are others that still doubt the success that Facebook brings about and that have not seen the success that they were expecting from the company. Of course, Facebook knows well of all of these doubts and they are partially responsible for many of the recent updates to Facebook’s advertising offerings. Now, the company’s Global Marketing Solutions VP, Carolyn Everson has spoken out to disprove these doubts and to make an attempt at boosting the company’s reputation in the marketing industry.
At Business Insider’s IGNITION conference, Carolyn Everson spoke about a company that has been seeing great success through its Facebook advertising efforts. The company is none other than Samsung, a company that seems to find its way into the news constantly. Everson stated that by spending about $10 million over a period of three weeks advertising the Galaxy III release, the company was able to generate $129 million in sales, and that was only the number for the company’s Facebook efforts. Turning $10 million into $129 million is an incredibly impressive return no matter what marketing medium you are talking about, and the fact that we are talking about Facebook here shows that Facebook must be working.
Sure, timing had a lot to do with the success that Samsung had, as the three weeks that the ads ran happened to be at the exact time of the iPhone 5 launch. However, Everson assures us that timing was not everything in Samsung’s case.
It wasn’t just about the three-week launch. They thought about it, they built up a fan base … they targeted very sophisticatedly…
The fact is, Facebook helped Samsung reach the spectacular number that they did, but it was Samsung’s properly planned out use of Facebook’s advertising that really allowed the company to profit. To put it simply, Everson states
“The biggest myth about Facebook is that Facebook ads don’t work. I’ve never felt more confident about our data that Facebook works.”
Marketers constantly question the effectiveness of Facebook advertising, but there is a good chance the reason behind all the questioning is that these marketers are not quite using Facebook to its fullest potential. In order to get the best results from Facebook, marketers must make use of all that Facebook offers, such as the ability to engage users with Likes and comments as well as their many targeting options. It is easy to believe that if Facebook is used properly as an advertising outlet, the desired results will be seen. Therefore, blaming Facebook for lack of success is not entirely fair to the company, as it is up to the advertiser to make the right decisions and strategize well. Facebook has often proven to create marketing success, but only with those willing to put significant effort into their Facebook campaigns.
