How Facebook Mobile Advertising Benefits Have Arrived

Posted in Facebook Advertising, Facebook Mobile Advertising. Written by FB Ad Advisors on April 13th, 2010

Mobile/portable devices are becoming a natural component of many companies’ media mix. Handsets which feature Facebook and other mobile advertising are often very personal devices – providing a distinctive platform for personal interaction with consumers.

Advertisers are becoming more and more conscious of the opportunities in 2010, and are developing new applications and services, exploring fresh ways to exploit these marketing opportunities. This article will discuss the scope for future expansion of the Facebook mobile advertising space.

Today’s mobile handset communication is a global phenomenon, changing how people socialize and mix amongst their peers. Facebook advertising on mobile or portable is proving to be a significant draw to existing and new Facebook users.

More than 4.1 billion subscribers around the world are using mobile services daily, more than 2 times the volume of traditional online users. Cellular devices have a number of unique characteristics that make them very well suited for advertising and promoting to Facebook users.

Handsets able to transmit Facebook advertising are extremely “individual” devices, being that they are owned or operated and used by one human being. They are almost always with the particular person when they travel, allowing you to target contextually while folks are on-the-go.

Mobile phone models can be a suitable platform for building brand name attention, through syndication of free content, marketing material or software applications. Mobile or portable advertising and marketing is one more sales channel evolving together with ‘always-on” online accessibility.

Because mobile devices are often switched-on and close-by the user most of the time, this makes them more readily available to the consumer whether they are at home or traveling. For this reason, they allow Facebook advertisers to reach their potential customers at the appropriate moment (say, when a shopper is seeking to buy a particular product or service and needs help to decide what to buy).

The home-based computing advertising revolution is being replayed when consumers are on the move. Many believe mobile telecommunication and World Wide Web services have started to converge, providing a more consistent user experience.

But mobile mass media has strong and unique benefits that can’t be duplicated by legacy (non-mobile) media, such as;

• Mobile or portable devices are always-on

• Mobile devices and networks include a transaction process

• Mobile has the most accurate audience measurement of any media

• Mobile captures the social context of marketing consumption

• For many of today’s users, mobile or portable devices are the first “personal” mass media. In the same way that Facebook “personalized” the web for many people, mobile devices are more personal than a computer, as they become “part” of the personas they are more or less permanently carried with the user.

With a current and appropriate knowledge of mobile marketing & advertising mix, combined with the above unique benefits of mobile devices, marketers can perform sharper media campaigns than ever before.

Already, a number of “mobile savvy” marketers have started taking the advantage of mobile phone devices to carry out their marketing mix in new, portable forms (see this story for further details).

Today’s mobiles are hugely interactive gadgets which possess a wide variety of features, including; video clip players, music players, digital cameras and web browsers. There are lots of juicy opportunities for advertiser/user interaction, for example where consumers find the advertiser at a convenient time in the product selection process.

Another key benefit is the cellular and mobile marketing is this; the space for Facebook advertising messages is actually much less crowded, compared to older advertising channels. So Facebook mobile ads often get more attention than fixed computer ads.

Numerous Facebook marketing strategies are being developed to induce a response in the form of a voice call, SMS/MMS, video transmission or a visit to a portable web site.

As the advertising and marketing business acquires more experience with Facebook, Google and other mobile funnels, it will become a more profitable and natural part of today’s media marketing mix.

If digital media is converging, as many are predicting, there could be less and less variation between mobile and traditional Internet advertising. But will this really happen? Or will mobile marketing on Facebook and other avenues continue to develop its own “personality,” requiring specialized marketing tactics? Only time will tell.

One thing is for sure; there will plenty of opportunities and profits for mobile marketers who get it right.