Hey, guys welcome to Shama.TV. I want to talk you guys today about Facebook ads. They are talked about, they’re discussed. People either love ‘em, hate ‘em or are excited by the opportunity, but here are my thoughts on Facebook ads.
They are primarily two main thoughts on why I don’t think they are very successful at the moment and I think this may change. This is my current take on it.
(1) Facebook ads aren’t successful is because they are very stringent. Google ads give a lot more flexibility about what you put out there. How you capitalize on certain things. What kinds of images you use. Facebook ads and I have talked to a lot of people who feel this way, are really trying to keep them pulled in. That’s not bad, but when you are trying to really leverage an advertising platform and see everything it can do for you, but when you don’t have the power to experiment freely it really restricts you in a lot of ways. So one of my things with Facebook is I really hope that in the future, they will be a little more lax about the types of advertising experiments people can do. That’s not to say they should go let it go on unlock and it can be spammy ads. I am saying if they can loosen control a little bit and let people run with that I think they’ll see some great results.
(2) The other thing about Facebook ads is people on Facebook are not in buying mode. This is why they’ve seen that Facebook works better by building relationships, cultivating leads and understanding how people are receiving them. It’s a much better research and lead generation tool, than it is a direct selling tool, which is what we are hoping to do with ads, or get them to click through. So, because people aren’t in the buying mindset, it’s not even like Google where their looking for solutions. They’re just their showcasing their identity and connecting with others.
In summary, I think that if marketers can figure out how to get around this, how to work the ads into people identities, and Facebook can loosen up control just a little bit, and let people have a little bit of fun with it, I think Facebook ads have a great chance of being very successful. I think consumers and marketers will find them to be a very handy marketing tool, but for now I am not sure that Facebook ads are the best investment.
May 29th, 2009 at 11:47 am
I recently used a facebook ad to generate leads and promote my upcoming Ustream live event I was hosting. It works great for lead generation and was happy with the results. But I agree to take them to a sales page or sell directly from the ad will probably not work. But it’s perfect for me for generating leads. Thanks for the tips.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
If the platform of Facebook is designed to share your lifestream and not to seek out solutions, then it seems only logical that facebook ads for direct selling will never be at the top of anyone’s ROI list. The tone of Facebook would have to change for that to happen. I agree with Jennifer. FB is a great place to build relationships and network. I think a major reason MySpace lost popularity to FB was because it became so spammy feeling b/c MS tried to force this sqaure peg into a round hole. Thanks Shama…go D/FW!
Jake
May 29th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Thanks for this Shama I have been getting a lot of questions about facebook ads but have never had an opportunity to try them out. I have never heard of anyone having much success with them, guess I will leave them out for now.
May 29th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
I think the Facebook Ad has a ton of potential. But you are absolutely right…the usefulness just isn’t there yet. One interesting case study that you might want to check out is over @ hubspot.com. They’ve been utilizing the ads to great effect…because they have a great value added landing page for them (and they do exactly what they claim to do).
May 29th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Thanks Stuart. Yes, landing pages with solid information maybe one route – but I’d like to see the return compared to other forms of FB marketing (creating a group for example).
May 29th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Hi Laura,
Yes – they aren’t optimal right now. They may be if FB tweaks it – but for now & for most companies – they are a bust.
May 29th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Hi Jake,
Absolutely. It goes against the grain of social media “intention” : )
May 29th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
FB ads have worked great for me as a lead generation tool. Great targeting and great response at a reasonable cost. You’re awesome Shama! I love Shama.tv!
May 30th, 2009 at 9:52 am
I appreciate your thoughts about Facebook ads and lead generation. Do you know if there is any table where Facebook ads, Google ads, and whatever else ads are put side by side so a comparison can be made of the pros and cons of each?
June 5th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I specialize in PPC specifically AdWords but I have been running some tests on FB ads and I found so far that they are most effective for promoting within Facebook…for example, if you want to promote your FB group, event or page and you are not selling anything…just increasing relationships (leads).
I just ran a test for an ecommerce client where I created a FB page for them and we ran weekly giveaways…in order to be entered for the giveaway we required that each person become a “Fan” and post a picture along with a reply. It was very successful…especially because when someone includes a picture these pictures help catch the attention of their friends within their home feeds (adding to the viral benefits of FB)…the pictures also keep people’s attention and interest on my client’s FB page.
Hope this helps you all?
June 10th, 2009 at 7:12 am
I’m not agree with you. First of all, comparing facebook ads with Google ads is just a stupidity. Google is pioneer in Advertising world. You’re comparing 10 billion market with just 500 million market. However, you can compare facebook with myspace or any other social utility or socialnetwork. Frivolity is an issue for facebook users but look on the other hand myspace users are more “non serious”. Most of the users love myspace just because of “music” but still myspace is doing great and earning twice than facebook. Also, not all ads are about ecommerce so pointing this that facebook ads not being clicked just because users “not interested in buying” isn’t valid reason. There are so many reason behind it but I’m sorry it’s hard to explain everything on the comment box.
June 13th, 2009 at 3:57 am
I agree with what Amir said, the problem is that we don’t know how to get the best of advertising of facebook yet!
June 13th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Amir and Hesham-
I am not comparing Google and Facebook ads in the sense of how big they are – but the value that they hold for advertisers. Of course ads can be used for more than ecommerce reasons – but I am focusing here on ecommerce.
June 15th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
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June 15th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
I rarely pay attention to the ads along the side of my screen and even when I click “become a fan,” I hide the status updates and rarely visit the page that I became a fan of; it is interesting to read the other comments of how people are using the service.
July 6th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
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