On facebook you are checking out your friends and the adds are not immediately relevant to the reason why you are on facebook. makes a huge difference.
Facebook needs to build a search engine and the social graph should be a subset of the results like Google categorizes images, videos, maps etc on the top/left.
Once fb builds buys a real search engine (blekko) the game could change very very suddenly
If I was facebook, I'd focus on social activities that I'd be interested in while interacting with my friends. Ski trips, wii games, etc.
http://seekingalpha.com/user/36191/instablog/search?terms=Pe...
I like to look at the comparison of google ads vs facebook ads as such: If you want to provide a service/product to people who are seeking that solution, use Google ads. And if you want to go to the targeted demographic directly and present your solution/product/message, use Facebook.
An example would be if you sold wedding services in miami. You could go on facebook and target women 25-35 who are engaged and live in miami. The ads would display only for the targeted demographic and would likely have a good click-through rate. Or you could go into google adwords and buy terms related to wedding services miami or zipcode+wedding service. The differences here are that a woman in the younger demographic is much more likely to be spending hours on facebook and only minutes on a google search.
In addition, google also has incredibly high competition for some of the more lucrative keywords and it is getting increasingly more competitive in local search, now requiring a top 7 ranking to really matter in the local listings.
Also, never underestimate the cpm (cost per thousand) displays of facebook ads to the targeted demographic. They work great for events like concerts and other events when simple awareness is key. A good image also helps a lot, as I run ads with the same text and different images and see dramatic differences in the number of clicks.
It's difficult for me to believe that "nobody cares about Facebook ads and no one clicks on them" because Facebook Ads (and Google Adwords/Adsense) operate as markets, with a bidding system on price. I almost don't want to post this because the more people who know about and use facebook ads, the higher the price rises. Their prices have been steadily rising over the last year as more and more business try them out. They do work, but not for every product and not for every demographic. But people wonder how facebook can have such a high valuation, because they underestimate the amount of direct access and data Facebook has to over 500 million people.
The ads do work, but to create a good campaign requires knowledge of the platform, and experience in marketing, advertising, and copywriting. Laypeople assume they don't need marketers and can do buys themselves, and more cheaply, but usually end up spending more. The true gold in online advertising though, comes from what happens after the person clicks.
You could go on facebook and target women 25-35 who are engaged and live in miami. If Facebook's booster can't find a different glittering hypothetical, they are going to be in trouble... What about "barbers in St. Louis"? Uh wait, barbers in St. Louis actually need almost exactly what barbers in Houston need. The virtue of online business isn't "targeting" but finding something lots of people need.
Engaged? I think I remember friends talking what it's like having your Facebook profile say "engaged". Boy, that's one status that every retailer thinks they can exploit.
It's difficult for me to believe that "nobody cares about Facebook ads and no one clicks on them" because Facebook Ads (and Google Adwords/Adsense) operate as markets, with a bidding system on price.
If your reasoning was correct, nothing sold at an auction would ever be a bad deal.
But given that Facebook is seen as the next platform, every minute one has to presume that a new-customer appears to try and take advantage of this great platform. But frequency of these customers appearing doesn't prove that they are getting a deal that works for them.
Agreed about "engaged" status though
My point is that the number of business that actually engage in very-narrow-targeting are small. And the target groups tend be overwhelmed by this token. What percentage of the population makes major purchases very specific to their demographic? Is it not high (weddings, college, funerals? Anniversaries? You start to run out after a short time). The rich can also be target and are targeted and you are again back in the "not-a-slam-dunk" range.
A San Francisco dominatrix still buys a car and a washing machine in the same fashion as a mid-western minister.
If you look at the idea behind Facebook advertising, you'll see it's actually the old model of brand advertising - somehow injecting an irrational connection between the customer and the product. It's just that brand advertising rightly imagine they can get more traction if they know the exact demographic someone is one. They might indeed do so but it's still in the same realm. The goal is to sway someone's purchase decision when that someone is at a store and has to decide ten different otherwise identical whats-its. The smallest prejudice you can insert will be worth a lot to you here.
But the Google model is the opposite - informational advertising. The model of offering an honest argument for a product that the person is actively seeking.
A Facebook ad is essentially about hijacking attention. Hoping you'll get some free-floating interest from someone who isn't otherwise thinking about your offer.
A web page gets you the chance to make your case to those who are interested in your case. What objectively makes your service better.
Does a cleaning service want barbers? It wants customer in the million-person city of St. Louis but that's a big group. It mostly wants anyone who actually needs a cleaning service. And then there are a lot of things to say but this basic is pretty simple.
Yes, but here is the key. It's all about attitude when presented with the ad. Those few minutes on Google are being spent actively seeking information about that particular topic. The hours on Facebook are about find out what friends are up to, with little thought about finding information.
But just because your revenue model needs work doesn't mean you should leave the door wide open to your largest competitor to steal your customers who are building apps on your very own platform!
Facebook's move makes perfect sense. I'm surprised they didn't do it sooner.
The ads would be of various standard banner sizes
Placed via iFrame so they were contextually relevant to the page you were on, but also socially tied back to the person doing the viewing - cookie tracking the user.
Self management system through facebook gets an option for placement on the "extended network"
I bet facebook clickrates would go WAY up because the ads would be everywhere.
What's even better is people who get "BANNED FROM ADSENSE" would have a real viable alternative.
It's not a small task - but - seems the way to go. Facebook Adsense
If other words, it is mistake to equate Google AdWords with Facebook Ads platform. They should be used differently.
So as with most things, your blanket statement doesn't ring true to others; and ymmv.
http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/16/why-twitter-is-massively-un...
There - Don't say I've never curated content for you :)