I work in social media advertising. Social media advertising is really profitable but only if you do it right.... like I do. Here's my card.

No.. it's not.

His findings were based on one example for a Buffy pole? Wow. How he doesn't live in a cardboard box is amazing.

Facebook marketing is really crap unless your aiming for lowest common denominator sales/conversions or pushing for that extra reach. Otherwise you better be advertising something on facebook like zynga.

If GM doesn't want that extra reach it's probably worthless than.

Well I'm totally convinced. Facebook is worth at least $8 a share.

I always wonder how Facebook makes money, because I keep forgetting I have adblock+

Sargun: I always wonder how Facebook makes money, because I keep forgetting I have adblock+

Facebook owns adblock?

I'm guessing this guy either has a ton of money invested in facebook or pulls most of his salary from listing ads there.

So what he's saying is the only way to make money using Facebook's ad platform is to get people to advertise their interaction with your brand on their timeline. Sounds about right. It also sounds like a practice that will kill the popularity of facebook as it becomes more widespread. I know it pisses me off when I realize that voting in a poll shows up to my friends or that everything they do online comes up in my stream.

FaceBook has advertising?

redpanda2: So what he's saying is the only way to make money using Facebook's ad platform is to get people to advertise their interaction with your brand on their timeline. Sounds about right. It also sounds like a practice that will kill the popularity of facebook as it becomes more widespread. I know it pisses me off when I realize that voting in a poll shows up to my friends or that everything they do online comes up in my stream.

I made a second account with a fake name just for that purpose. I don't want to advertise to my family and friends every time I sign up for a contest or freebie.

There are ads on the internet?

I did some facebook advertising for my insurance business page. The number of followers on my page increased but it did not lead to any new business. The strange things was that about a third of the new followers were international even though all my targeting was just for the SF Bay Area. Very strange.

gmacbeth: I did some facebook advertising for my insurance business page. The number of followers on my page increased but it did not lead to any new business. The strange things was that about a third of the new followers were international even though all my targeting was just for the SF Bay Area. Very strange.

How did you market to them on your page after you got the more "likes"? That's the key question.

Of course GM marketing sucks. They hire a bunch of clowns from Kellogg. If those meatballs had any talent, they would be getting rich selling Buffy the Vampire collectibles online. Or if they were really good, they could sell Star Wars memorabilia on eBay. That's the Major Leagues of marketing right there. Kellogg? Not even single A.

bostonguy: gmacbeth: I did some facebook advertising for my insurance business page. The number of followers on my page increased but it did not lead to any new business. The strange things was that about a third of the new followers were international even though all my targeting was just for the SF Bay Area. Very strange.

How did you market to them on your page after you got the more "likes"? That's the key question.

If I remember correctly, there were limitations on reaching out to them directly. My posts would show up on their feed but I don't think I could message them from the ad page (It's been a number of months but I think that was an issue.) My contact info was on the site but no one ever called or emailed. Insurance is one of the least sexy products to sell but just about everyone needs it. My thinking was, if you can like a page, might as well get a quote. It just didn't work that way.

The target marketing aspect of the ads were interesting and eye opening. By analyzing peoples likes and post, they would classify interests (sports, fashion, cooking, etc.) It made me not want to "like" anything anymore. You could also narrow your target audience by geography, gender, sexual preference, schools attended and a number of other criteria. Any info you put in facebook is used to create a profile for advertisers. If people really understood this, I'm sure they would share less.

(There's a great article in Consumer Reports last month on Facebook and privacy. It's worth checking out if you are interested in the topic.)

gmacbeth: bostonguy: gmacbeth: I did some facebook advertising for my insurance business page. The number of followers on my page increased but it did not lead to any new business. The strange things was that about a third of the new followers were international even though all my targeting was just for the SF Bay Area. Very strange.

How did you market to them on your page after you got the more "likes"? That's the key question.

If I remember correctly, there were limitations on reaching out to them directly. My posts would show up on their feed but I don't think I could message them from the ad page (It's been a number of months but I think that was an issue.) My contact info was on the site but no one ever called or emailed. Insurance is one of the least sexy products to sell but just about everyone needs it. My thinking was, if you can like a page, might as well get a quote. It just didn't work that way.

The target marketing aspect of the ads were interesting and eye opening. By analyzing peoples likes and post, they would classify interests (sports, fashion, cooking, etc.) It made me not want to "like" anything anymore. You could also narrow your target audience by geography, gender, sexual preference, schools attended and a number of other criteria. Any info you put in facebook is used to create a profile for advertisers. If people really understood this, I'm sure they would share less.

(There's a great article in Consumer Reports last month on Facebook and privacy. It's worth checking out if you are interested in the topic.)


Why would they share less? When you log in to facebook, you're going to have ads on your screen - might as well have targeted ads? I get ads for surfing trips and diving trips and ski equipment sales, and job offers in engineering. I like having that as opposed to the junk that shows up on most websites.

It sounds like the author there bought a bunch of Facebook stock at the IPO price.

I very rarely see ads on the internet - and when I do they tend to be for satisfactorily random stuff - i.e. they have no idea what the hell I might want.

Apparently I do a decent enough job of confusing the marketer's algorithms.

Not that I'm worried, it's not like I've ever bought anything that I haven't explicitly sought out and evaluated, so I'm not worried about being controlled.

Still, there's a part of me that likes the fallacious idea of being anonymous and unpredictable.

Why would they share less? When you log in to facebook, you're going to have ads on your screen - might as well have targeted ads? I get ads for surfing trips and diving trips and ski equipment sales, and job offers in engineering. I like having that as opposed to the junk that shows up on most websites.


Privacy.

Something that is disappearing from this world.

Some people want the attention http://sfbikeride.org/ but not I.

Like is somewhat NSFW but legal in San Francisco.

link not like

I genuinely fail to see the connection between information I have voluntarily entered into a free website and a violation of my privacy. Targeted marketing makes marketing a lot less annoying. I use adblock and I don't put much on Facebook unless I'm totally ok with it being public. Do people really not understand this relationship?

Ads? On my internet? It's not likely...

I still don't trust that if I click on an ad to buy something, even if real, my CC won't be stolen. So I will never click on an ad.

Vespizzari: I genuinely fail to see the connection between information I have voluntarily entered into a free website and a violation of my privacy. Targeted marketing makes marketing a lot less annoying. I use adblock and I don't put much on Facebook unless I'm totally ok with it being public. Do people really not understand this relationship?

The problem isn't the information that you entered. It is the information that you can't control entered on your behalf by other people or 3rd party websites.

The author is partly correct, but he is grossly underestimating his advertising costs.
The custom photo's, original blog posts and other things done to make the page interesting all costs money (and time), which he doesn't factor into the CPC and eventually the cost per sale.

Since he doesn't give us those numbers, I'm doubting it's "success" as a return on investment.

And since it looks like you can like something on facebook without ever seeing the page, then that artificially increases your advertising budget.

When a marketer or ad man is trying to sell you something with "you have to do heavy lifting, then you better price that into what you are charging."

gmacbeth: link not like

me too link not like >:(