With almost 900 million active monthly users (over half of them logging in daily), Facebook provides one of the best opportunities for advertising online. Most importantly, Facebook gives advertisers access to personal information: from users' ages, locations, faiths, favorite football teams and weekend hobbies. This advanced psycho and demographic targeting allows almost any brand to reach its target market on Facebook without wasting money advertising to a plethora of uninterested consumers.

Facebook allows many forms of advertising, including:

• Promoting a specific post
  
• Promoting an event created by a Facebook page
• Bringing new fans to the Facebook page by showing them their friends who like the page
  
• Bring new fans to the Facebook page with an offer or specific copy
  
• Driving traffic directly to an external website
  

Most individuals use Facebook for social sharing experiences with friends and communities they know well. Therefore, most rarely leave Facebook to see your products and services. Although Facebook advertising allows you to guide people fitting your target market directly to your website, it's not always the best marketing move.

One click gets that user to your website. From there a large portion will leave before your site even finishes loading, some will look around, and others may even buy something. The majority of the time, however, they will leave at some point and you will have paid for a small amount of brand visibility. They are more comfortable staying in the "Facebook bed," so to speak.

Now, say you direct those ads to your Facebook page where you offer a discount coupon to new fans, host daily discussions or polls to bring people back to your page, and reward loyal fans with quarterly contests. You've tied a rope from yourself to that fan, and made them a promising potential customer. Perhaps they've subscribed to your emails as a part of entering a promotion you ran on Facebook, or maybe they've become passionate about your services, sharing your content to their own wall weekly, giving your messages more credibility and visibility.

On average, 56% of consumers say they are more likely to recommend a brand after becoming a fan on Facebook.

In some cases, Facebook Business Pages serve as supplemental websites. They are highly customizable, and can include any information about your company. Remember – most people who log on to Facebook don't intend to make purchases; they want to socialize. Don't rely on Facebook ads alone to create sales. Think of Facebook advertising as a way to convert potential customers into fans and increase customer engagement and brand awareness. Once your fans get to know your brand, and they like it, you can count on them to visit your website. If you are set on using Facebook ads to enhance sales directly, you'd do best to promote special deals and promotions that appeal to your fans' interests.

You can run your Facebook ad campaign based on a pay-per-click model (suggested) or a cost per impression model. Costs are lower when you direct your ads somewhere within Facebook. Aside from being an efficient form of targeted advertising, Facebook ads are extremely effective because they are easy to implement and control. Results can be analyzed and ad copy, images, or targeting criteria can be updated immediately.

If you haven't considered how Facebook ads can increase your Facebook fan count, and ultimately drive traffic to your website, hopefully you will now. Feel free to comment below with questions and comments!

Continue reading: How to Drive Traffic to Your Website: Google & Bing Ads
View all: "Driving More Traffic to Your Website" blog series