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By on March 4, 2009

Facebook Redesigning Pages, But New Research Suggests Engagement is Low

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In an attempt to entice more of its users to engage advertisers, Facebook is planning a re-design of its "Pages" which, according to AdAge, will include:

  • Pages will soon have tabs, making them resemble Facebook profiles.
  • Information shared by pages will show up in Facebook users’ news feeds more often, presenting expanded opportunities to attract new fans.
  • Since there will be multiple tabs, Facebook ads can set any tab as a landing page.

However, new research from The Participatory Marketing Network (PMN) suggests that it may not be the ad format that’s the problem, but the platform itself. According to a study of 220 social network users aged between 18-24, they’re just not that interested in ads on social networking sites.

  • 62 percent of Gen Y’s have visited a brand or fan page on a social network, but only 48 percent have joined.
  • The top five reasons for joining a brand or fan group are to “get news or product updates” (67 percent), “view promotions” (64 percent), “view or download music or videos” (41 percent), “submit opinions” (36 percent), and “connect with other customers” (33 percent).
  • While 84 percent noticed ads on social networks, 74 percent say they click infrequently and 36 percent say they don’t click on ads at all.
  • Only 19 percent say they find ads on social networks relevant.
  • 51 percent say they’d join a separate social network to manage their brand interactions.

Still, Facebook is doing a great job in enticing brands to use Pages to engage network users–I have a client right now that is excited about building a Facebook Page, despite low engagement rates.

Have you tried advertising via a Facebook Page? What success did you have?


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7 comments on “Facebook Redesigning Pages, But New Research Suggests Engagement is Low”

  1. Jaan Kanellis Says:

    March 4th, 2009 at 1:11 pm

    I see tons of issues with FB pages all of the time, namely constantly being bombarded with ads to click on when trying to install widgets/apps.

    Jaan Kanellis’s last blog post..3 Google Keyword Tools You Should Be Using

  2. links for 2009-03-04 - Kevin Bondelli’s Youth Vote Blog Says:

    March 4th, 2009 at 1:30 pm

    [...] Facebook Redesigning Pages, But New Research Suggests Engagement is Low [...]

  3. Facebook to Redesign Pages to Increase Ad Engagement | HotelTravelCheck.com Blog Says:

    March 4th, 2009 at 1:58 pm

    [...] more at Marketing Pilgrim. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]

  4. Mark Zuckerberg Lays Out Facebook's Next Moves | Technology News Update Says:

    March 5th, 2009 at 7:43 am

    [...] at least one study shows people on social networking sites tend not to look at ads much, the marketing potential of Pages looms [...]

  5. Kyle Austin Says:

    March 12th, 2009 at 6:07 pm

    I’m often baffled by how the recent Twitter frenzy has overlooked the brand opportunity for marketers on Facebook, along with the lack of scale for Twitter. Yes, Twitter now has 6 million users, but Facebook has 175 million! More importantly, according to Nielsen’s recent report on social networks (which we covered this week), Facebook users spend an average of 3 hours and 10 minutes on the site per-month; the highest average time per-person amongst the 75 most popular brands online.

    Kyle Austin’s last blog post..New Facebook Pages Spark Interest from Publishers and Marketers

  6. Rich Says:

    March 17th, 2009 at 4:36 pm

    I’m very disappointed with the new Facebook design. The old layout had a “Live Feed” option that showed you not only your friends’ “status” messages, but also let you know when your friends made new friends (some of whom might be people you yourself want as friends!), as well as when your friends joined groups. Regardless of anything else, the new layout FAILS BIG TIME because it doesn’t have these features. Facebook needs to add the “Live Feed” back into its new design, and they owe it to users to let them go back to the old layout until the new layout is OK.

  7. Engagement Rings Lover Says:

    March 23rd, 2009 at 11:33 pm

    I was googling about engagement and facebook relativity and found your wonderful blog. Thanks for it, I have just bookmarked it and will make regular visits to catch up with your future posts.