Facebook marketing 'becoming more popular'

The popularity of pay-per-click (PPC) marketing on Facebook is increasing, new research has suggested.

According to Marketing Sherpa, 3.6 per cent of those surveyed invested constantly in advertising on the social networking site over the past 12 months, compared to the ten per cent that used budgets to place contextual advertisements on Yahoo!.

The figures showed that 17.2 per cent of those questioned invested in Facebook marketing occasionally over the past year, greater than the 14.9 per cent and 16.3 per cent who infrequently used Yahoo! and MSN respectively.

Those using PPC as part of a lead generation campaign many be interested in the data, which also revealed that Google search advertisements are still the most popular, with 68.8 per cent spending constantly in this area.

"Wherever there are consumers clicking, there are search marketers and PPC ad buyers at work," the news source explained, adding that Facebook is a "perfect example" of the fact that the PPC advert "universe" will continue to grow.

A recent Marketing Sherpa report showed that many marketers are unsure of the best way to utilise social media websites, with a quarter being uncertain of the potential of Facebook and almost half unaware of how to make the most of Twitter.

Written by Julian Poulter and Copyright "Selling People 2009"