Facebook offers advertisers a bevy of options, enabling them to fine-tune their campaigns to precise specifications. Regardless of whether they are looking to create super precise initiatives targeting niche audiences or broad efforts that are applicable to the social network's 800 million users, Facebook gives advertisers the ability to do so.

However, some features may cost marketers more money, a recent report from Facebook marketing firm TBG Digital suggests. The company observed Facebook ads that don't take consumers to outside websites but instead drive them to on-site profiles have cost-per-click rates that are 45 percent lower.

Facebook advertising rates are already growing, and the price discrepancy is something to bear in mind when planning multi channel marketing efforts utilizing the site. TBG Digital found CPC rates increased 10 percent from the third quarter of 2010 to the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) rates registered an 8 percent jump over the same time period.

"Click-through rates (CTR) increased by 18 percent from Q1 to Q4 and 7 percent from Q3 to Q4, although CTR for U.S. advertisers dropped by 2 percent between Q3 and Q4," Direct Marketing News notes, citing the report. "Advertisers in the retail, food and drink, finance, games and entertainment industries accounted for 68 percent of the total ad impressions served by TBG Digital during the fourth quarter."

As more users flock to Facebook, the number of advertisers utilizing the social network is likely to grow as well. This increased demand also means that Facebook is likely to continue driving up the costs of advertising on the social network – a key consideration for advertisers to take into account as they create their 2012 campaigns.

The price increase may be offset by the company's constant deployment of other advertising formats. For example, it recently released an ad type that is displayed within the organic content of users' News Feeds. Additionally, Facebook is also looking to move into mobile advertising later this year, according to internal reports.

Either way, digital analysts anticipate the company will make record amounts from advertising this year.
"Facebook will slightly surpass earlier expectations in 2012, earning an estimated $5.78 billion worldwide in ad revenue that year. eMarketer had previously estimated Facebook would earn $5.74 billion," a recent report from researcher eMarketer states.