Pay-Per Click Through Social Media Marketing Over Search Engine Marketing

Pay-Per Click (PPC) services enable businesses to advertise online and only pay each time a potential customer clicks on their advertisement. The most popular places currently for PPC campaigns or search engine marketing is through the top 3 search engines, Google, Yahoo!, and MSN. However, social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace should also be considered for pay-per click campaigns. Facebook and MySpace are considered second tier pay-per click websites, and are great additional social media marketing resources for reaching target customers in a more cost effective manner. The benefit of using these second tier websites for PPC services is that it allows businesses to reach those individuals that are constantly visiting social media sites. Often times, heavy users of social media do not use the search engines as regularly, thus allowing advertisers the greatest customer reach.

A major difference between the top tier pay-per click ad sites and the social media sites lies in the delivery method used to display the advisement. Google, Yahoo!, and MSN present ads to users based upon search queries matching predetermined keywords chosen by the advertiser. On the other hand, ads in social media PPC sites are targeted to users based upon the demographical information provided in their profiles. Age, gender, and location are some of the key demographic variables that advertisers can make specific selections in targeting customers.

If unsure of whether social media sites will be an effective advertising driver for you, it is recommended that you perform a test. Purchase the minimum amount of clicks on MySpace and/or Facebook and start monitoring your internet traffic to assess each ad site’s effectiveness in reaching your target market. Facebook and MySpace alike provide their advertisers with an analytical package that displays demographical data and metrics that pertain to the performance of the ad campaign. Through this feedback, advertisers can decide whether social media marketing is an effective channel in reaching their customers.

Tags: PPC, Socail media marketing, Social Media

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About This Post
Published: October 23, 2008
By: Ajay Shah

This article is filed under:
Search Engine Advertising | Web 2.0

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