Facebook Continues To Monetize The Site

Black Tie Digital Marketing just reported that Facebook is moving toward developing their own search engine, and with this new search engine comes paid advertising opportunities. eMarketer discussed how, “Facebook has been testing out new ways to monetize the site and come up with new sources of revenue. So Facebook is currently testing out a paid messages program that will allow users to reach out to people who are outside their network of friends for a fee of $1 per message.”

Now, although I don’t use Facebook messages frequently if a brand I am following on Facebook starts sending me messages with exclusive offers, savings, and information I am definitely going to pay attention. Who wouldn’t? A study conducted by AYTM Market Research showed that “26% of people sent and received Facebook messages.” While this number seems low, not a lot of people are going to chat via Facebook when texting is much quicker and easier. But you aren’t communicating with companies via text, so Facebook messages may be the perfect solution for brands to communicate more effectively to their customers.

Social media marketers have not relied much on the messages feature on Facebook, and before I learned of this new marketing tactic that Facebook is offering I hadn’t even considered it. While this feature isn’t readily available to everyone right now, I believe it will be soon. While status updates can get lost in the shuffle of your news feed, messages will stick around and you will be able to access them more easily. Private messages will provide the customer with a more personal feel from the brand, which we have learned is a big reason why customers choose to do business with certain companies.

eMarketer also reported that, “When announcing its experiment with paid messages, Facebook stated that changes to communication tools are actually designed to bring more relevant messages to a user’s inbox. Facebook also recently added inbox filters so users can choose who they receive messages from and cut down on unwanted spam.”

Only time and testing will tell whether or not these paid, targeted messages will be successful but I believe that with the new search engine coming out and more brands upping their game on Facebook, this new feature will be very popular. If you need help with Pay-Per-Click Advertising in Melbourne, Florida then give our experts at Black Tie Digital a call today to see how we can help!