Facebook is making the biggest ad splash since Google, according to an article in the Financial Times.
More than four-fifths of the largest advertisers in the United States have turned to the social networking platform to promote their wares -- after several years of fearing these types of communities. The lure of Facebook must have been too much to resist, with 340 million monthly unique visitors. Now, it's not unusual to see the likes of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Nike (NYSE: NKE), and AT&T (NYSE: ATT) advertising in this world.
Havas Digital, which represents such businesses as Sears (NASDAQ: SHLD), Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE), and Air France (OTC: AFLYY), says its clients are clamoring to put ads on Facebook, which are small, discreet, and blended into the site as a whole.
Further, these campaigns can be paired with the use of the social networking platform itself to reinforce the brand and extend the value of its online presence. Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), for example, has 3.7 million fans on Facebook; Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) has 3.5 million. The success of the fan pages and other free alternatives is in large part responsible for the move to paid advertisements.
Facebook anticipates revenue growth of 70% this year, with cash-flow profitability coming in 2010. It's already doing $500 million in revenue a year and expects to be able to reach $1 billion if it focuses on monetizing its site.
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