Is Facebook trying an AdWords end run?

[abbottsys]

Remember back when Google had staggering traffic but no finacial model. Then it discovered PPC and experimented, finally getting it right with AdWords. The rest is history as they say. The revenue that came in from AdWords built the Google we know today.

Well, Facebook is in a similar position - lots of traffic and no finacial model. What's the solution? Run PPC ads on the site? Apparently not, Facebook is trying something far riskier - they have "invented" a new type of ad, the "social ad", which can only exist on social networks.

Is this an attempted "end run" around AdWords? Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but (maybe) soon and (maybe) for the rest of their life.

Lots of maybes here. But hey, back in 1998 when I started using PPC ads a lot of folks thought I was totally crazy. So I'll keep an eye on the Facebook experiment, while I spend all my time on AdWords.

Thoughts?

[AussieWebmaster]

The Facebook Flyers are a great branding tool and not too expensive right now.

[abbottsys]

The Facebook Flyers are a great branding tool and not too expensive right now.

Facebook Flyers? Please clarify. Remember, I'm an AdWords Addict not a Facebook Fanatic :)

[beu]

Facebook Flyers? Please clarify. Remember, I'm an AdWords Addict not a Facebook Fanatic :)
Facebook Flyers are the best way for students and local businesses to advertise to their college community. With Facebook Flyers, you create your own Flyer and choose which colleges you want to see it. It is then posted the number of times you specify to pages throughout the Facebook site.
http://www.facebook.com/adfaq.php

[abbottsys]

Facebook Flyers are the best way for students and local businesses to advertise to their college community. With Facebook Flyers, you create your own Flyer and choose which colleges you want to see it. It is then posted the number of times you specify to pages throughout the Facebook site.
http://www.facebook.com/adfaq.php

Thanks beu. That's the second time today you're saved me, I'm glad someone around here reads the instruction manual :)

As regards "Flyers" and "Colleges" - I don't think that's going to cut it for me. But, I'll keep an eye on their subscriber demographics and their "social ad" experiment. Can you sell stuff by socializing? Anyone remember Tupperware?

[AussieWebmaster]

they allow you to do a demographic and geographic selection

[Ryan L]

everybody wants a piece of the "maven" or the "connector" in modern consumer behavior parlance.

[beu]

No problem abbottsys, always happy to help out a friend! :)

As far as this topic, I think Aussie has it nailed down. I don't think ads on facebook are designed to compete with AdWords because I see AdWords as far more "long tail" targeted. Facebook targets by demographics and geo wheras AdWords targets by search query and geo but with a lot less demographic direction due to privacy issues.

To me, Facebook's real "gold" if you will, is it's fairly accurate demographic data provided free and by willing participants. Maybe getting this data was/is part of the reason behind Orkut?

[Dan01]

I don't know a lot about Facebook, but I don't see any profit in it for me. In other words, is there an angle for me to benefit?

Google provides publishers with ways to generate revenue. I bet advertisers like an alternative revenue generating machine though.

[Ryan L]

Facebook and most social web is the word of mouth marketing/advertising play, just another arrow in the diligent marketers quiver.

The problem is the downside risk of W.O.M.M. is so huge if your brand isn't willing to dive in completely.

In regards to Dans question: Say you truly love...I mean love Harley Davidsons....wouldn't you put up an ad for the new bike in exchange for say maybe a free t-shirt or 10% off harley davidson merchandise.

Now from Harleys perspective; if you can find out which facebookers are truly opinion leaders or influencer's...isn't it worth a free t-shirt.

[Dan01]

You are right Ryan. I think I should have mentioned that I am a publisher. I can see the point for targeted advertising.

[abbottsys]

The more I learn about these new Facebook ads the less I like. It appears they work like this..

You're a Facebook user and you buy, say, a book on Amazon. Facebook asks if you would like to tell all your friends about this. If you agree then Facebook sends your friends a message, together with a paid ad from Amazon.

So, this is the new "social ad", a revolution in advertising? I think not. I can see a few things that are seriously wrong with this picture..

1) Your friends will get annoyed, and regard you as a spammer.
2) You are running Amazon ads, but not getting paid anything. In other words there is nothing to compensate the publisher. There is no AdSense equivalent.
3) You just might not want all your "friends" to know exactly what you're up to.

If this is really how this stuff works (please correct me if I'm wrong) then it's a disaster in the making.

Just give me Facebook pages that carry good old AdWords PPC text ads. Call me anti-social, but I'm not yet ready for "social ads" :)

[beu]

1) Your friends will get annoyed, and regard you as a spammer.
2) You are running Amazon ads, but not getting paid anything. In other words there is nothing to compensate the publisher. There is no AdSense equivalent.
3) You just might not want all your "friends" to know exactly what you're up to.


Nope, I think you've got it for the most part! In some cases there are ways to "share" information only with certain "friends" and to keep certain "actions" private. Either way, the issues mentioned are important points to consider!

:)

[Ryan L]

This will work for uber large companies with ginormous branding budgets...so called "lovebrands" as Kevin Roberts describes them.

The pepsi's, AB, harleys, cokes...of the world

The problem with this strategy is that the reason Google is so dominant and adwords so successful...it doesn't rely on lovebrands for revenue. It is perfectly happy feeding off of uncle johhnys doorknob and hardware shop. Adwords fits for small business.