You don't need to understand everything about Facebook to create effective campaigns. The most important thing is to understand what your target audience is doing on there!
Facebook and Social Networks
Facebook is not just any advertising channel. Unlike Google or news sites, Facebook is a social network, i.e., a platform that connects people so they can interact. They can exchange information from their daily life: pictures, videos, text, you name it.
One way of thinking about it might be to compare Facebook to a cafe. Let's say you go to The Ivy Cafe at a busy time of day. You’ll most likely overhear snippets of conversation, which will probably revolve around daily life. Chris messed up his last exam. Lamia has just had a baby ("Here’s a picture, don't you think she has my nose?"), Isabelle trains every Sunday at the local skate park ("Here, I'll show you a video, it's am-az-ing")... I could go on and on!
All this to say that this hubbub is very similar to your Facebook Feed. The only difference is that your Feed is never-ending: the algorithm constantly updates and adapts to your tastes, unlike a cafe that you eventually leave at the end of the evening.
And the fact that your Feed is so fascinating is no accident. Facebook's goal is to make you feel like the night is never over because your friends are always on the platform, and there's always more content to discover.
When you start to design a campaign, think back to The Ivy and ask yourself, "Is my content interesting enough to interrupt this group's conversation?" If the answer is no, keep looking.
In fact, Facebook gives this definition of the Feed in its online training tool, Blueprint:
The goal of News Feed is to deliver the right content to the right people at the right time so they don't miss the stories that are important to them.
But Facebook is not just the Feed. As you'll see in the rest of the course, Facebook's advertising tool, called the Ads Manager, enables you to participate in the conversation and also reach your target on Instagram, Messenger (the instant messenger app), or Marketplace, for example.
Money, Money, Money
Facebook was ad-free when it first launched in 2004. Yes, information was exchanged for free! Advertising came later, in 2007, at the same time as fan pages and the Become a Fan (now Like) button.
This allowed Facebook to grow and become profitable. Companies paying for ads found that this new channel was a different way to get in touch with their target market.
Why different? Because the brand could now interact directly with the user, peer to peer, in a horizontal relationship. In contrast, other more traditional advertising channels prioritize delivering a message to a passive user who cannot react publicly (for example, advertising posters or promotional inserts in magazines).
To understand this better, let's go back to The Ivy. It's 8 p.m., and the cafe is full. You're talking with your friends when someone you don't know comes up to your group and offers you a sample of the latest trendy cocktail. You're a little bit irritated by this unexpected intrusion, especially since you can clearly see the name of the brand they’re working for on their T-shirt. But the cocktail is quite similar to what you ordered earlier, so you agree to try it.
A Facebook campaign is pretty similar. An ad will pop up on your Feed, say between a cat video and a photo of your niece. It interrupts a "conversation" you are having with all your friends and family. So it has to be interesting and relevant enough to make you want to click on it!
This is why "classic" advertising messages, designed for a passive audience, do not have much success on Facebook. Interaction is key.
Let's Recap!
Facebook is a social network whose goal is to connect people and allow them to interact.
Facebook Feed is like a conversation in everyday life, except that it is never-ending and constantly updating.
Ads Manager enables you to advertise on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and other networks.
A Facebook ad interrupts a "conversation," so it must be as relevant as possible to make people want to interact with it.
Now that you have a good understanding of how Facebook works, let's look at the vocabulary we will use throughout this course.
