Should Joe the Plumber be a Facebook Advertiser?

Could Facebook advertising be for small businesses too?  If you’re living on Planet Earth these days, you’re no doubt hearing about Facebook’s explosive growth and how anybody who’s ever heard of “Avril Lavigne” is using it.  Your friends are on it, your co-workers are on it, and—look at that!—your Mom is on it, too.

But are your customers on it?

According to istrategylabs.com statistics from June/2008:
•There are about 26,000,000 Americans on Facebook. 
•About 70% of them are under 25 years old. 
•Only about 10% of them are over 35. 

So it would seem that it’s only effective for reaching teens and young adults?  Aye, but here’s the rub: the highest growth rate of any age demographic on Facebook is 35-54.  And 10% of 26 million is still a LOT of people.

That doesn’t mean Gen X’ers are going to dominate Facebook anytime soon, but it might mean this: where Xanga attracted some older-than-average users, and MySpace attracted even more, Facebook might make enough impact into older demographics to make it a legitimate advertising choice for any business looking to reach homeowners, soccer moms, or NASCAR dads.

Other things to consider:  If you’re in a major metropolitan area, you’re going to be able to geographically target people to your floral shop’s website better than if you are in rural America.  And if you’ve got a good website that can turn hits into sales, you have a big advantage there, too—since the most effective online ads link directly to a website.

For reaching high-schoolers or homeowners, Facebook advertising is worth a look.