Prospecting: Facebook Ads Resonate With 36-55 Age Group for Norton

● New channels are often stereotyped as "what the kids are doing," but increasingly social networks like Facebook and Twitter have turned out to be good places to reach older adults. Norton, maker and seller of PC antivirus and performance software, recently launched a Facebook ad campaign to boost downloads of its free PC Checkup performance and virus analysis application and raise awareness of its services-oriented product NortonLive. The campaign saw a 387 percent higher response from the 36-55 age group than any other, and a 13 percent action rate (downloading the PC Checkup), well beyond the goal of 1 percent.

The Facebook ads, which had about as much selling space as a matchbook, featured funny caricatures of issues PC users may have, such as waiting for the computer fairy to come make their stalling PC better (with a pic of a grown, scruffy man in a fairy outfit) or having their PCs slowed down by vampires (which featured art suggestive of the Twilight books and movies). The campaign encouraged social engagement as well by asking viewers to vote for their favorite ads.

"Not everyone in this age group had a computer in their home growing up," says Colleen Edwards, president of technology marketing and PR firm PowerMark, which created the campaign for Norton. "Most know how to use a computer, but don't necessarily know how to fix theirs if it becomes slow, bloated or infected." However, "this age group is action-
oriented. If they have a problem and are told about a solution, they take action."

According to Edwards, Facebook advertising is very "high touch" for the marketer. "To optimize your Facebook ad performance, you have to constantly monitor and fine-tune," she said. "There are many, many levers you can pull — headline, copy, images, bid amount, targeting, etc. — to optimize your Facebook clickthrough. We assess NortonLive's Facebook performance reports daily and make adjustments frequently."

Although the clickthrough rates on Facebook ads aren't as high as usual pay-per-click advertising, Edwards and Norton have found that the "cost per click is hard to match." — Thorin McGee