Many Internet marketers are already familiar with the existing ad networks out there on the web. They already know about the Google Adwords and Adsense system, for example, fully understanding the intricacies of finding the right keyword, adjusting the ad creative, and so on.

However, the same strategy may not be quite as effective with Facebook Ads. On the surface, the system seems to work in much the same way. You are able to target a specific demographic based on a number of different criteria, so you should be able to see a similar click-thru rate and, should the destination URL allow for it, a similar conversion rate. This does not appear to be completely true.

Part of this has to do with how people interact with different websites. If you are buying advertising space on Google search results (search engine marketing), that’s one thing. If you are buying ads on different websites (Adsense/Adwords), that’s another thing. And Facebook is entirely different too. Many people who go to Facebook are too preoccupied with the casual games, status updates, and uploaded photos to bother looking at the ads, let alone click on them.

Even though the ads can be targeted to an extent on the popular social networking site, it seems that it may not be quite as effective, at least for certain niches and industries. What has been your experience with marketing through Facebook’s paid ad system? Has it worked for you? Or do you find greater success with different ad networks?