So what are the advantages? First of all, it’s cheap and extremely well-targeted, offering all sorts of demographic and geographic targeting options (a rare combination in advertising). Second, it works on a pay-per-click system (which means you only pay when a potential customer demonstrates interest in your offering). Third, it offers a fantastic measurement panel so you can easily see how your ads are performing. Fourth, it allows you pause and resume ad campaigns with the click of a button. Fifth, and most importantly, it enable you to advertise not only products and services on your website, but also your own business community page right on Facebook—which will periodically automatically display posts from your business page on the home pages of your fans (creating free, personal advertising).

The disadvantages? As mentioned before, many traditional advertisers and business owners find Facebook confusing. It can be very time consuming. It is somewhat less effective when trying to advertise your product or service to older people. It doesn’t have the dynamic element of video, the nice feel of print material, or the size of traditional display ads. All things considered, these disadvantages are relatively minor. They do of course indicate the Facebook should probably not be your sole marketing medium (but the same is true for all media).

At Wex Marketing, we get Facebook advertising. We get online advertising. We enjoy helping our clients leverage the power of cutting edge marketing tools. If you are interested, we can help you design, setup, and manage your online campaigns for maximum effectiveness. Feel free contact us!

That said, if you want to try it on your own, here are a few tips for advertising on Facebook:

1. Make a Facebook business page before running your ads. Advertising your page will allow you to build a fan base. Once you have a few hundred fans, you can target new ads to friends of those fans. Because your new prospects will see that their friends like your business, they will be more likely to click on your ad. This means you can bid lower for clicks and get more interest for less money.
2. Naturally, it is a good idea to follow general marketing principles when creating your ad: use an eye-catching image, try to advertise specific deals or product whenever possible, use words in your ad that are attractive and clear.
3. Don’t just run one ad at first. Run several, monitor their performance, and then continue running the ads that capture the most interest. A better click-through rate means you can lower your bid-per-click and still get plenty of new prospects.
4. Update your business page regularly. Little tidbits you post will randomly appear on the home-page feeds of your fans. This means free advertising! So do it well by updating frequently with short, catchy posts and visuals whenever possible. It’s also a great idea to respond to the comments and posts of your fans. Be interactive and build customer loyalty.
5. If your website has a blog, make sure you find its RSS or Atom feed and import into the Notes of your Facebook business page. This will allow users to see content in both places—and they can see it automatically on their Facebook profiles.
6. Make sure your website has a link (multiple links if possible) to your Facebook page, and make sure your Facebook page clearly displays your website address for visitors.
7. Don’t give up on your Facebook campaign if it doesn’t take off right away. No matter what advertising media you are using, marketing takes commitment and consistency, time and repetition. This principle rings true when advertising on Facebook.

In sum, properly leveraged, Facebook can be a tremendous advertising and marketing tool for small businesses. It should not be your only tool, but its advantages are many and its costs are minimal. Go ahead and give it a try! And remember, if you want help launching and managing your Facebook campaign, feel free to contact us.

As the United States, and the world, recovers from the recent recession, there is a lot of opportunity for small and medium sized businesses (SMBs). With so many talented individuals laid-off from cost-cutting mega companies, new businesses are starting up all over the country. The question is whether these small businesses survive their first five years of business.

On major challenge that these companies will face is the new world of technology and internet marketing. The technical revolution has created a great deal of opportunity for SMBs, but it has also created a significant hurdle. In order to remain competitive, SMBs must find a way to utilize technology and internet marketing. Unfortunately, the cost for effectively growing in these areas is high, and the technical knowledge required makes it tough for do-it-yourself-ers.

Our founding vision at Wex Marketing is to empower SMBs to remain competitive by offering them large-corporation strategies and tools at local company prices. Through dedication, niche development, and our technologically savvy team, we hope to make web design and development, print design, marketing strategy, marketing research, direct mail, business card design, advertising, etc become affordable and accessible for local businesses in our region. We focus on clean, creative, logical marketing campaigns and design work. We believe that SMBs can and should succeed despite the technology hurdle, and it is our aim to help.