It is exciting news that Facebook and Shutterstock have teamed up to make stock photos available to Facebook advertisers. (Facebook Advertising and Shutterstock images)
As most folks know, I'm not an across the board fan of Facebook advertising. This stems from several reasons, that apply to other media or sites as well:
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what are your expectations from the advertising?
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whom are you targeting?
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what's your ROI?
With Facebook advertising, it seems many folks fall into the same problem they do with Search Engine Marketing (aka SEM, PPC, CPC) or worse. Getting someone to "Like" your Facebook Page (or even go to your website) is not a successful campaign. I may go to the Ferrari dealership, but the truth is, I'm not buying. I may visit because I'm already a fan of their product. If you spend money via advertising to get me to that dealership, you've wasted your money.
Just because someone goes to your website or Facebook Page (or even Likes your Facebook Page),
- are they your customers?
- How much are you willing to spend to get on the radar screen of someone who will not buy your product?
- Or do these folks have in their sphere of influence potential customers?
- Will they be brand advocates?
- Will they help create an appearance of success by just having high numbers?
Image Testing.
As I've introduced in the past, Search Engine Marketing is a great place to do market research about what messages resonate with consumers. One single word change can make a significant difference in getting folks to respond and take action. Traditional market research can be cost prohibitive to many brands and smaller companies. In my opinion, "Some data is better than No data." For a limited budget, one can glean valuable insights from an SEM campaign that can then be utilized in other marketing channels (print collateral, print advertising, website development, promotional offers, etc.).
With this new program between Facebook and Shutterstock, I would argue that this is a great place to start on market research for what images are resonating with which demographics. It appears (although I have yet to test, yet) that good A/B tests can be set up.
Once your data is in, you can puchase the appropriate images to use elsewhere. Surely this is why Shutterstock has entered into this partnership.
I look forward to seeing the results.
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