Facebook is the undisputed king of social media with well over half a billion daily users. In 2011, the site brought in over $4 billion in ad revenue alone and, recently, they went public with an IPO that dominated the business world headlines for days.
While the Facebook phenomenon is impressive it’s still been something of an enigma to the affiliate marketing world. Most affiliate partners just don’t have a very good idea of how to integrate Facebook into their overall business plan.
Today we’re going to take an in-depth look at how affiliate marketing partners can harness the power of Facebook as a top-notch player acquisition tool.
The good new for gambling affiliates is that Facebook is already a very gambling friendly entity. Thanks to Zynga, millions of Facebook visitors have had their first taste of online gambling and are ready to take the next step. Zynga’s Texas Hold ‘Em is the most popular app on Facebook. Last year, Caesars Online Casino joined the mix and already has nearly 2 million visitors a month.
Getting Started
The first step in getting new players on Facebook is actually getting on Facebook yourself. Set up a page for your site and start regularly posting content on it. Remember, Facebook is not necessarily a business driven social network like LinkedIn, so don’t overdo it with the posts.
Now it’s time to start finding some new players. Fortunately you’ve already got a powerful ally in this job, your current players. Be certain to promote your Facebook page to your current players in your e-mail newsletters and other promotional vehicles. Offer them an incentive to like your page, like an e-book or free roll.
Getting your current players on board will help harness the power of social media. According to a recent article on Yahoo! Finance, the average Facebook user has around 130 friends. The more your players are liking your content, the more the word gets out to their networks.
The key to making a Facebook based player acquisition strategy work is to be certain that it’s integrated into your general plan. Luxury Daily recently featured a very interesting case study on how Tag Hauer has integrated its Facebook, SEO and web strategies with great success that should give affiliates some good ideas.
Facebook Advertising
Thanks to their astonishingly deep demographic information, Facebook offers some of the most narrowly targeted advertising options on the Internet. Anyone who is familiar with Google AdSense should have no problem figuring out Facebook’s advertising.
Over the past year or so, Facebook has loosened up its policies regarding gambling advertisements, so now is a great time to jump on board.
For a good, step-by-step guide to getting started with Facebook ads, we highly recommend you check out John Chow’s, How to Make a Profitable Facebook Ad Campaign.
The Other Side of the Coin
Of course not everyone is so convinced that Facebook is the best tool for bringing in new players or customers. There’s a fair body of evidence suggesting that Facebook’s power is better harnessed as a branding tool.
In an article titled Is Facebook a Failure at Customer Acquisition? at Postadvertising.com author Jon Thomas points out some of Facebook’s weaknesses. He says that in most cases, around 84% of the people who like a certain product or site are current customers. In his opinion, Twitter is a better venue for finding new players.
He also recommends businesses start out by purchasing Facebook advertisements to bring customers to their Facebook page, and direct them to the website from there.
Given the talk of real-money gambling on Facebook, gaming affiliates should definitely be looking at this venue for player acquisitions.
The players are out there, it’s up to you to find them.
Do you think Facebook has any value as a player acquisition tool? Share your thoughts on the subject on the CAP Forums.