I recently read a post on Erik Qualman’s blog Socialnomics that detailed how the CPC (cost per click)  to market his book using Facebook had skyrocketed on Christmas Eve.

I’ve excerpted the image to the right to give some brief context to this post. The graphic depicts an average CPC (Cost per Click) as low as $0.47 days before Christmas eve which later rocketed to over $18.38 per click!

This strange anomaly got me thinking, why aren’t people using the Google Content network to manage ads on Facebook and other Social Media Networks?

Our company manages Search and Socail Marketing for many different clients leveraging Google, Bing, Facebook and various otherSearch & Social Networks. In doing so, we have learned a few things along the way.

What Did We Learn?

1. Using the Google Content Network can save you Big $ over buying directly from many of these Social Networks. On December 24th we paid $1.63 Per Click
   Facebook December 24th CPC for Our Client

2. When opting to buy clicks you get an Additional bonus… you get impressions! In the example detailed below we got 19,675 Impressions of our ad. In plain English we had 19,675 people see our ads AT NO ADDITIONAL COST
3. The ad size when buying from Facebook is 110 x 80 however….The ad sizes using the content network vary from 300 x 250, to 728 x 90 and so on….ALL SUBSTANTIALLY LARGER then the ad sizes offered by Facebook.
4. Using the Google content network you can specify where your ads are placed on Facebook, above the fold, below the fold, in front of pet lovers, age specified users,  in all 35 Different variations of Facebook users! Something you can’t currently manage to the same extent using the existing Facebook platform
5. We mentioned above in item #3 that you can build different banner ad sizes for use with the Google content network on Facebook, we suggest you do.  In doing so you fill a void where others have not created similar size ads.  And typically where there are less ads/advertisers you pay less per click.  This little rarely utilized tidbit will drop the floor out of your overall cost to advertise on Facebook.

In addition to Facebook there are many…many other Social Networks your business can advertise on using the Google Content Network.  In our next post we will outline a few more of them, and how your business…any business can leverage them.