Is Aviation Facebook Marketing Dead?

Once again, the Wall Street Journal is reporting on the imminent demise of Facebook for marketing professionals - the question that John and I ponder in this episode is, how important is this in aviation Facebook marketing, since we and most of our clients use Facebook in some fairly specific ways to acquire leads, begin relationships with ideal prospects, and sell aviation products and services.

This is not the first time that the "death of Facebook" or death of Facebook marketing, has been predicted.

This article from over a year ago was also an apparent exaggeration.

The change in algorithm, most experts agree, will have the biggest impact on news organizations.

When we discussed the Impact Equation, people are so overwhelmed with information that more ads are not necessarily better. I think this change will actually be good for people who do quality marketing and advertising because prospects will be happier using Facebook and less overwhelmed.

We're fine with this. It just means we'll have to be better at creating campaigns that are well-planned and well-targeted.

It is important to keep an eye on your numbers. The demographics on our own Facebook page audience is a little "off" from the demographics of our ideal customer.  We'd love to have more male 45-54 people in our Facebook audience, so we're working to shift that forward with the content and targeting of our ads.

One example of how these changes won't impact advertising - many aviation marketers have very specific audiences for specific reasons.  They have some products or services that are only interesting to a very small number of people, so it makes sense to advertise those items with "dark posts" rather than broadcasting them openly on your Facebook page.

In a dark post, the ad (or post) is targeted specifically to people who meet certain criteria.  (Geographic or demographic.)  For example, people who are attending a particular trade show (using geotargeting) or people who are members of a Mooney fan club.

In any case, it's never a great idea to depend too much on any third party, whether that's Facebook, or a specific magazine or trade show.  That's building your business on "borrowed ground."  

Facebook should be one of many "hooks in the water," or prospecting tools, that you use at any given time in your marketing system.

Each prospecting tool has its pros and cons, and those pros and cons keep changing.  Another great reason to ensure you're using prospecting tools that have opposing strengths and weaknesses. 

We used this example in a previous post on digital marketing - if you have a $10,000 advertising budget for the year, you would get better results by spreading that money over several different advertising efforts than by sinking it all into any one advertising media. If you develop a fantastic advertising campaign, you can usually make it even better by adapting it to more than one media. As an example, a great Facebook post will likely also make a very effective magazine ad or postcard.

Want some help with your aviation digital marketing?

We have several options for aviation companies who want to start taking advantage of digital marketing and new technologies.

It's a moving target, and it's a full-time job to keep up on all the changes.

And that's OUR full-time job!

Click here to see the options, call us at 702-987-1679 or make an appointment to talk with us about your specific needs.