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GM Says Facebook Ads Don't Work, Pulls $10 Million Account

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Re: GM Says Facebook Ads Don't Work, Pulls $10 Million Account

#251

Post by huggyface »

raverbashing wrote: post #32
PedroCandeias wrote: post #30

Banner ads are a relic of the 90s. I fully expect facebook to discontinue them eventually. Because who cares if ads don't work? GM just endorsed sponsored content (to the tune of $30M, no less), a form of advertisement facebook can easily serve to their ever growing mobile user base.

Also, I'm not sure GM's marketing dept. is experienced in advertisement for online media Sure, it's easy to advertise on FB (or Google Ads). It's a whole different story to make it effective. Take Google AdWords. If you don't optimize your strategy you'll have a high CPC (cost per click), will probably pay for ineffective words. Also, there are changes you can do to your content (being advertised) that affect your CP…

GM isn't a mom and pop. They engage marketing agencies who certainly know what they're doing.

Re: GM Says Facebook Ads Don't Work, Pulls $10 Million Account

#252

Post by huggyface »

overworkedasian wrote: post #167

what did GM hope it would accomplish by advertising on facebook? Unless they are offering a discount coupon for 50% off their next GM car, facebook users wouldnt care. did they hope facebook users would be more inclined to buy GM vs a foreign car? if that is the case...i have bridge i would like to sell you.

did they hope facebook users would be more inclined to buy GM vs a foreign car?

Is there something particularly unique about Facebook users? Is it some niche group?

Of course not. It's a cross-section of demographics.

And among normal people, yeah most do choose to buy a GM car. I have a nice GM SUV -- fantastic vehicle. I see a lot of people are cludging out the dated "durr GM bad" nonsense from the 90s.

Re: GM Says Facebook Ads Don't Work, Pulls $10 Million Account

#253

Post by batista »

steve8918 wrote: post #200
cletus wrote: post #114

I've said this repeatedly: Facebook is a high-risk proposition, particularly as an investment (disclaimer: I work for Google). "Intent" as other commenters have noted is a big part of the story but it's not the only story. Search can broadly be broken up into at least two categories: 1. Navigational eg typing "b and h" into the browser; and 2. Informational eg "cheap flights to jamaica". I don't know what the make up…

You make it sound like search is the be all and end all reason why people use the Internet. It's not. It's obvious that a Google employee would believe this, and believe me, I think Google ads are amazingly effective when used with Google search. I've just started using Adwords and it's great. But Facebook is entirely different from Google search, and there is no reason why their monetization techniques need to be th…

>You make it sound like search is the be all and end all reason why people use the Internet. It's not.

No, it's just the be-all end-all reason for people using the internet to find information. You know, the very situation where an ad is more effective.

>Facebook is more akin to a TV station

Yes, and ads on these do not work that good, especially if you can ignore them far more easily than switching channels in a tv program when the ads come in.

Re: GM Says Facebook Ads Don't Work, Pulls $10 Million Account

#254

Post by kamjam »

richardw wrote: post #225
diminish wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been doing paid advertising with a few million dollars budget, with a strong conversion focus mostly on google, social web sites and content web sites. Social web sites have low relevance, low CTR for most purposes. However they are an ocean of impressions. Facebook has a chance to replace the advertorial parts of cheap TV non-prime time. If you use it properly you may get conversions though a bit lower qualit…

The 'impressions' is very similar to the dot-com 'eyeballs' though. Luckily they have what seems like a lock-in on those impressions so they should have a decade or two to work it out! But you're absolutely right - it's basically TV-type advertising.

I barely ever notice advertising on websites, the sides of the web page generally holding information which is not very useful to me. The only sites I notice them on are ones which make it very difficult for me to find the information I am looking for (because it is surrounded by loads of adverts) and now I tend to ignore those sites.

I finally got annoyed with those flash adverts everywhere and hogging up my bandwidth so use AdBlock... but even before, just cos it's served in front of a person does not mean they have taken any notice of it.

Re: GM Says Facebook Ads Don't Work, Pulls $10 Million Account

#256

Post by badclient »

AznHisoka wrote: post #250
badclient wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has been fighting spammers, scrapers, black-hatters, and thinking about all kinds of search problems for over a decade. Same could have been said of Yahoo and other search engines before Google.

yep, and they failed.

Eventually every company fails.

Re: GM Says Facebook Ads Don't Work, Pulls $10 Million Account

#257

Post by JPKab »

webwright wrote: post #133
cletus wrote: post #114

I've said this repeatedly: Facebook is a high-risk proposition, particularly as an investment (disclaimer: I work for Google). "Intent" as other commenters have noted is a big part of the story but it's not the only story. Search can broadly be broken up into at least two categories: 1. Navigational eg typing "b and h" into the browser; and 2. Informational eg "cheap flights to jamaica". I don't know what the make up…

"I've said this repeatedly: Facebook is a high-risk proposition, particularly as an investment (disclaimer: I work for Google). "Intent" as other commenters have noted is a big part of the story but it's not the only story." As a Google employee, what do you think of Google as an investment? If you look forward 5+ years, everyone is doing much of their internetting via their phone (certainly some or all of that will…

"Additionally, consumer's bar for tapping an ad is MUCH higher (given the relative speeds of mobile browsing). As searching moves mobile, how does Google's revenue shake out?" combined with "If you look forward 5+ years, everyone is doing much of their internetting via their phone "

This makes no sense. Do you truly believe that in 5 years mobile phones browsing speeds won't be much more comparable to desktops? LTE phones already have faster connections than many people's broadband.

Thinking about Google's ad revenue in 5 years time, based on the idea that people's only encounters with internet connected devices will be their phones and PC's is a horribly myopic view of future tech trends. In 5 years time, there will be cars sold with Heads Up Displays featuring Google Navigation. Facebook will certainly be integrated in here too, but at the moment I don't see Facebook preparing themselves for this.

Re: GM Says Facebook Ads Don't Work, Pulls $10 Million Account

#258

Post by larrys »

tomkarlo wrote: post #204
larrys wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"is not going to get you on the good side of the lawyercats." I don't know of anything in particular that would prevent an employee of a company from posting a comment here or in a blog reply anywhere simply saying they thought it was a good idea to buy the stock that would warrant any action. But lets say (since I don't have time to fully research this I'm basing my answer on many years in business and dealing with…

As an employee, it's not the federal government you'd worry about. It's your own company's lawyers, etc. You're much more likely to get in trouble internally for violating the company's policies about making statements related to the stock valuation than any outside entity. Employees at Google (and many other tech companies) are often privy to what would be considered "inside information" about the company's future p…

"You're much more likely to get in trouble internally for violating the company's policies"

So is there a specific policy in writing regarding what you can and can't say? The issue certainly isn't revealing non-public information of a specific nature which is fairly obvious to keep under wraps.

I believe what matters is the amount of specificity. For example you can't say "Our earnings will be up this quarter so buy the stock". But you could say "I think we are doing well so I am buying the stock". Salesman, selling a product for a company, say, airplanes for Boeing are definitely able to make general sales like statements that could or could not be interpreted as a stock buying signal.

Re: GM Says Facebook Ads Don't Work, Pulls $10 Million Account

#259

Post by raverbashing »

huggyface wrote: post #251
raverbashing wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, I'm not sure GM's marketing dept. is experienced in advertisement for online media Sure, it's easy to advertise on FB (or Google Ads). It's a whole different story to make it effective. Take Google AdWords. If you don't optimize your strategy you'll have a high CPC (cost per click), will probably pay for ineffective words. Also, there are changes you can do to your content (being advertised) that affect your CP…

GM isn't a mom and pop. They engage marketing agencies who certainly know what they're doing.

They certainly aren't mom and pop but it doesn't mean they are up to date

They may keep an old agency just for the sake of it, who may not be specialized in modern medias

And they can hire the best people for internet marketing just to end with their campaigns not approved by GMs marketing department, having to get something conservative (hence, ineffective)

Re: GM Says Facebook Ads Don't Work, Pulls $10 Million Account

#260

Post by thebigshane »

jrockway wrote: post #181
alain94040 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until someone gamifies car purchasing, so that when I get 10,000 facebook points, I can redeem for a discount at my local GM dealership. Now that would be a great source of leads for car manufacturers.

Whoa, "dealership"? That's the part of the equation that everyone wants gone.

Who buys a car without sitting in it first?
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