A new report is out that may somewhat surprise you. Facebook ads are performing about half as well as traditional banner ads.

From Mashable:

Ads on Facebook cost more but got fewer click-throughs in 2010 compared to 2009, and performed about half as well as traditional banner ads, according to a new survey.

A study conducted by Webtrends looked at more than 11,000 campaigns on Facebook to try to establish benchmarks for brands looking to advertise on the platform.

According to Webtrends, the average click-through rate (CTR) for Facebook ads in 2009 was 0.063% and 0.051% in 2010 — half as much as industry standard of .1%. The cost per click (CPC) was also $0.27 and $0.49 for those periods, respectively. (Read the entire article here)

We’ve helped several clients with Facebook advertising, and have found ourselves that it’s worked pretty well because of the targeting options, including specific areas of town, age ranges, gender and a plethora of other demographic options. Marketing specific aspects and sections of Downtown Short Pump has been a breeze with Facebook. However, just as with many other things, your results may vary depending on your specific goals with Facebook advertising.

Our favorite thing about Facebook is the ability to create brand loyalty and recurring visitors through your Fan Page. One option in ad creation on the site allows you to have visitors click to “Like” your company or brand rather than visiting a URL, turning a one-time visit into recurring traffic when your posts show up in their news feed every time you push new content.

What do you think? Have you had an overwhelmingly positive or negative experience with Facebook ads? Do you see the targeting and recurring traffic potential as a high enough trade off for about half of the click through ratio and slightly higher cost? Let us know in the comments!