Facebook Ads as good as AdWords in 2000? I don’t think so!
Search engine marketing blog “Apple Pie & Custard” published an article yesterday entitled “Why Facebook Ads are a Better Opportunity Now than Adwords in 2000”
I don’t think I’ve ever disagreed with a statement as strongly as I do with this one. There are lots of reasons for this. but the big obvious glaring reason is this.
If a user is searching on Google for a keyword/keyphrase then by definition they are seeking information, they want to find something out. In other words they are actively looking for information/a product/whatever. Compare it if you will to somebody going to Marks & Spencer in the high street because they like their Belgian chocolate cheesecake from he food hall so they set off to go and look for it and maybe buy some. Btw yum! Do you see my point? By making the effort to type a search phrase into Google then you are showing an intent and desire to seek out information. That’s your mindset, so when you see a Google Ad for the particular product etc. that you are looking for, then you are likely to click on it.
But when you are messing about on Facebook, looking up old friends or sending boozemail to your mates or whatever then you aren’t in the same frame of mind at all. You are about a billion percent (that’s the scientific bit) less likely to click on an ad if you happen to see a banner halfway down the page. And that’s a really big “if”, I mean who clicks on banners these days? Surely we all suffer from banner blindness? I know I do.
To me, its just such a huge mindshift between actively searching and looking for information on Google than happening to chance across a banner on a random Facebook page.
I just can’t comprehend how a search blog like the one above can make such a bizarre comparison between Facebook ads and Google AdWords in 2000? Does anyone else get this?
And just in case Apple Pie & Custard need some more evidence that Facebook Flyers are crap then look here, here, here, here, here and here.
What I’m listening to right now: BlackStreet - “U Blow My Mind”
Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 8:10 am and is filed under Google AdWords, PPC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Comments
Trackbacks
-
[...] Facebook Ads as good as AdWords in 2000? I don’t think so! “If a user is searching on Google for a keyword/keyphrase then by definition they are seeking information, they want to find something out. In other words they are actively looking for information/a product/whatever….But when you are messing about on Fa (tags: facebook advertising marketing google adwords) [...]
-
[...] a great podcast on marketing with Facebook. I had read a couple of blog posts by people saying they weren’t impressed with Facebook’s new PPC offerings. Ed’s podcast sheds some light as to how Internet [...]
-
[...] Some more people mistakingly think Facebook ads are good. [...]
-
[...] year I wrote about how I think FaceBook ads are rubbish, in terms of return on investment for advertisers. I still think they are but the ads themselves [...]
-
[...] ShopWindow API. Though advertising through Facebook applications has, historically, provoked many a cautious response, there is no doubt that engaging users, to the extent that they customise their own online space [...]
Welcome to my blog. My name is Kieron Donoghue and I run UK Offer Media Ltd. I thought it would be fun to post a daily (well hopefully daily) blog, writing about my experiences in Internet Marketing and more specifically Affiliate Marketing. I'll include some personal stuff too, probably about my other passions, music and cars. Please feel free to post your comments and thoughts too.
Thanks for the feedback Kieron, but I think you miss our point a little.
We were never trying to suggest that Social Ads would replace or even fufil a similar purpose to Adwords merely that they were an opportunity of similar magnitude.
You might not get the same clicks but surely its about how many of those click convert rather than their volume.
We manager a number of large PPC campaigns for our clients and understand theres no greater sign of user intent than someone searching for a product, but want if you want to advertise to someone who doesn’t know what they are looking for social ads are ideal.
To give a really quick example that sprung to mind, you want to advertise a job it makes sense to advertise to passive aswell as active job seekers.
What we are saying it’s different to Adwords but still a great chance to make money for us and our clients.
TBH I don’t think there is an opportunity approaching anywhere near the magnitude that AdWords offered (and still does for that matter) in 2000.
Sure, you can target you ad to a certain demographic on Facebook but you’ve always been able to do this with banner advertising. If I wanted to target the female 18-35 demographic then I would advertise on Handbag.com for example. Other major online portals have offered demographic advertising for years too, its nothing new.
And as the links in my main post show I’m not the only person to have a resoundingly average experience with Facebook ads. The web is littered with other webmasters who have had similarly disappointing poor experiences.
Hi Keiron
I’ve posted a few articles on my blog about Facebook ads. I’ve had a little bit of success but I’m coming round to thinking that that’s an anomaly - it’s Christmas and people are spending money a bit more carelessly. What really kills Facebook ads is the platform itself. It’s impossible to get any useful stats out of it; you can’t tell why your ad isn’t showing and recently they’ve taken to declining ads for spurious reasons. I do think there’s mileage in the idea of targeting ads to demographic groups and it’ll be interesting to see if their recent deal with Microsoft will lead to demographic-targeted advertising on Live Search. Knowing what MSN AdCenter is like though I’m not holding my breath for anything useful.
Well, I am surprised with such a text here. First I was thinking that guy makes bunch of money and wants to hide his goldmine… but then started to believe that you simply do not know what are you talking about!
Did you buy at least 10,000 clicks targeted to let’s say 35-40 that have changed his status to “engaged” in last few weeks?
Well, his mindset is as you said:
“looking up old friends or sending boozemail to your mates ”
OK, maybe I am dumb but I am sure there are even dumber people in this “virtual room”
You’re right Kieron, other portal style sites are offering demographic information, but not in the same kind of detail.
With Facebook and the other platforms we’ll inevitably have soon I can target really precisely.
Say I’m a retailer trying to promote a new series of Desperate Housewives, I can have an advert to all the people who have expressed an interest in that show.
Or if you’re a retailer selling a new book that’s trying to cash in on the Harry Potter phenomena I can advertise to fans of Rowling.
People might not be getting great performance yet, it’ll take time for them to master the system, the reporting will improve.
Plus if people are really doing well do you think they are going to share the precise details?
Hi Kieron,
First of all, thank you for your interst in our blog.
I agree with kelvin’s responses. Facebook offers demographic and interest targeting that ‘handbag.com’ could not offer in the past.
However, I also agree with your point that it will probably never be as big as Google adwords, and I have heard and seen the people trying to game Facebook ads, but that always happens during the early days of the launch of a new advertising network.
I also wanted to mention the fact that not all of the posts you have linked to about Facebook ads being “crap” are negative! Which makes me question your research.
Furthermore, I know a lot of people have slated Facebook, but hey, this is the internet, I could find you another 1 000 blogs about how Facebook ads are great… or any topic for that matter.
Eloi, sure there are some very minor positives in the blog posts that I linked too, but not very many. The overall concensus of opinion in the “blogosphere” is that facebook ads just aren’t worth the bother.
Kieron, Eloi and Kelvin,
Firstly, I like this thread…it’s nice to know what the “doers” in the field are up to and what the issues of advertising on Facebook bring up.
On my blog (one linked to from this blog), I posted my personal experience. I am not yet a very good advertiser but am working on it.
The major issue that I have with putting money in Facebook is that I don’t think the users (which in my opinion are mostly high school and college students) won’t click on something they have to buy. So, I (as an affiliate marketer) am having a horrendous time making any money off of FB because the users aren’t willing to spend money on a product. Regardless if they know they want it or not, in the long run I think FB will end up costing me money rather than making me money.
I believe that the FB ads system was designed for only one purpose: to make FB money so they can raise money by saying that they are on their way to being cash positive. That’s it. They’re a big deal now and carry a cloud of influence that brings them affluence. Their business is booming b/c of their user base but they haven’t figured out how to monetize and this is their attempt at getting some positive cash flow.
In the long run, I really hope that this experiment fails because only the “big guys” with freebies to promote will ever see the benefit and the little fish like me will spend a few (or not so few) bucks and give up.
Just my 2 cents.
Nick
In 2000, Google was already handling 200,000,000 search queries a day. I don’t have any facebook traffic stats but there is one thing I know: The quality of Google traffic in 2000 surely converted far better than the tr*sh traffic facebook generates nowadays.
Great topic Kieron - I’ve been pretty excited by facebook ads over the past year.
While we’ve had some successes with them on very specific quirky campaigns, we’ve found it difficult to actually sell anything (at profitable ROI), even with extremely specific demographic targeting (resulting in low volumes of higher quality traffic).
I agree with your first point - people on facebook aren’t really looking to purchase anything (even now at Christmas time); people searching on Google are already half-sold before you’ve even done anything. So I also don’t think this is the next big opportunity, just yet.
Cheers,
Chris
mm, let’s get some of that M&S belgian choc cheesecake down our faces!