J2 Marketing

For companies or organizations debating the value of purchasing and placing ads on social networking giant Facebook, they may want to take a look at this year’s sales numbers.

According to a recent article from ClickZ, advertising agencies, marketers and research data are all suggesting that Facebook’s ad sales blew everyone else out of the water. Portals such as Yahoo, AOL and MSN are searching for a flotation device, as they are struggling to compete with the lure of the social network’s 800 million users and possible impressions.

Scott Symonds, head of media for digital agency AKQA, said that Facebook’s 2011 ad sales are “definitely a challenge” to the search portals, which are also unable to offer marketers the same type of follow-up that Facebook can in terms of viewing likes/fans and building a community around a brand.

As a result, Symonds noted that the portals are in fact trying to become more like Facebook, promoting sharing and other social activities, the source writes.

“We’ve seen that positive impact in surveys … I think Yahoo, AOL and MSN all have great content,” he explains to ClickZ. “They are all trying to find a way to make their content more sharable so they can compete with Facebook, which has a pretty good advantage right now. The portals are not even disputing that. They are trying to socialize their inventory.”

But Facebook is not sitting happy on its riches. Instead, the company is moving into other arenas of the marketing sphere, announcing plans to test mobile ads as well as couponing spots.

Bloomberg reported this week that Facebook has announced that it will enter the mobile marketing sector by the end of March, prior to its much rumored and anticipated initial public offering.

While the details on what mobile ads from the company would look like, some have floated the notion that Facebook’s Sponsored Stories, which center around consumers’ interactions with brands, would be available on mobile users’ News Feed, the source writes.

Yet Facebook will have a lot of catching up to do in this field, especially against giants such as Google, Apple and Millenial Media. The social network does have some advantages though, according to Bloomberg.

“Facebook’s potential advantage is that by gathering so much information about a person’s interests and associates, it can help advertisers target potential customers more directly than mobile Web browsers or applications,” Bloomberg notes.

However, Facebook has delayed the launch of the mobile advertising service already and a source tells Bloomberg that further delays could still occur.

Mobile ads aren’t the only new marketing device Facebook is testing. The company is currently working with a new ad offering that allows companies to post a coupon on their page, which can then be re-posted by fans.

“Users who see the ad or the page post can click ‘Get Coupon,’” InsideFacebook explains. “This action can be posted to a user’s wall. Users then receive an email from Facebook with the coupon and an option to share it with friends.”

The source notes that the coupons can be used both online or off, depending on the company’s preference, and is currently being tested by a limited number of businesses. As of yet, there is no word on whether or when the service will be available to a wider audience of marketers.

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