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I put my family business on Facebook. Here’s what happened.

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Re: I put my family business on Facebook. Here’s what happened.

#81

Post by bicknergseng »

Here's my thing. Facebook is new to advertising (and making money for that matter). Expecting that they start out on the same level as Google is wrong. Dead wrong. Microsoft has been trying to compete with Google in advertising for years and is only succeeding in burning money. But FB is new, has momentum, and has a lot of talented people focused on making the product as best as possible. They will find a way to make boatloads off their product, and I imagine as long as Zuckerberg has a say, they'll continue to be product and customer focused rather than worrying about balance sheets. I think this will win in the end.

Or they'll implode and we'll all likely end up without jobs.

Re: I put my family business on Facebook. Here’s what happened.

#82

Post by shimon_e »

ajays wrote: post #48

Something's amiss in the article. First there's this: " Result? Two! €160 quid for two clicks, each of whom looked at two site pages. " Then: " Clearly something is not right, so I decide to view the profiles of all those who clicked the ads. They hit one common spot – they were all in the UK. But they were aged from 13 to about 70, many were unemployed or in education, we even had a Muslim fundamentalist who is very…

One is referring to facebook page clicks. The other is talking about those who followed through to his site.

Re: I put my family business on Facebook. Here’s what happened.

#83

Post by rmATinnovafy »

nhebb wrote: post #43
rmATinnovafy wrote: post #29

Worst prt is he may be done with marketing after such experience. He will miss out on the truth. Which is that direct marketing will help get the results he wants. A pity.

Direct marketing doesn't get discussed much on HN and realted posts don't seem to get much traction (c.f. http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=direct+mark... ). I think it's a topic that could use a could hand-holding tutorial for startups. How to select a DM agency, how to build a target mailing list, and so forth.

Most likely because a lot of startups don't know how to use it.

But don't worry. Im working on that.

Re: I put my family business on Facebook. Here’s what happened.

#84

Post by fl3tch »

> I decide to view the profiles of all those who clicked the ads

What? I thought advertisers didn't have access to that info. That's pretty creepy. And while he's talking about them in the article, he should have thrown in their names and links to their profiles for good measure.

Re: I put my family business on Facebook. Here’s what happened.

#85

Post by sopooneo »

frisco wrote: post #54

I actually don't think that advertising is Facebook's future. The intent isn't there in the same way it is with a Google search. However, I do think Facebook has a bright future with payments: imagine "Pay with Facebook" buttons throughout the web, with Facebook's business as essentially being the IRS of the internet. They could even require sites that integrate with Facebook Platform (which is very powerful and valu…

Someone else just mentioned that to me the other day, and it makes some sense. But isn't it the case that television ads don't have intent associated with them either? And those seemed to work for a long time even though they were less targeted. So while intent might be a major factor, it seems it can't be the primary difference.

Re: I put my family business on Facebook. Here’s what happened.

#86

Post by jakejake »

vijayr wrote: post #58
jaysonelliot wrote: post #7

I can certainly understand the author's frustration with Facebook advertising, and for what he's selling, it does make more sense to use Google than Facebook or Twitter. I don't think that's an indictment of the site, though. Facebook and Twitter are mediums for sharing and discussion. Traditional commerce feels a bit off, at best. If you want to use them to promote a business, you have to be participating in them on…

I suppose, like everything in life, there is no "one size fits all" solution to advertising. Just because FB works for someone, it doesn't mean it'll work for everyone else (same for Google, Twitter etc) and vice versa. I wish there was a site, that had a list of online advertising success stories, and what strategies worked in each case. So if I am a 150 year old packaging business, I can simply look up businesses s…

Only problem is that sites like google that use a bidding system for ad placement - those small businesses don't want your competition there raising the CPM prices. So they may not be likely to share the places where they have a good ad return!

Re: I put my family business on Facebook. Here’s what happened.

#87

Post by tlianza »

vijayr wrote: post #58
jaysonelliot wrote: post #7

I can certainly understand the author's frustration with Facebook advertising, and for what he's selling, it does make more sense to use Google than Facebook or Twitter. I don't think that's an indictment of the site, though. Facebook and Twitter are mediums for sharing and discussion. Traditional commerce feels a bit off, at best. If you want to use them to promote a business, you have to be participating in them on…

I suppose, like everything in life, there is no "one size fits all" solution to advertising. Just because FB works for someone, it doesn't mean it'll work for everyone else (same for Google, Twitter etc) and vice versa. I wish there was a site, that had a list of online advertising success stories, and what strategies worked in each case. So if I am a 150 year old packaging business, I can simply look up businesses s…

This would be great but is, unfortunately, naive. These are exactly the kind of learnings that businesses benefit from by keeping private.

Sharing these tips with your competitors, especially in a scenario like this where you'd literally drive up the prices of your own ads, doesn't make much sense.

Re: I put my family business on Facebook. Here’s what happened.

#88

Post by zzaman »

> we even had a Muslim fundamentalist who is very concerned about things in Pakistan.

So, does having an interest in your homeland make you a fundamentalist all of a sudden? I'm Pakistani. I read and share stories about Pakistan all the time. Its offensive to assume that because I have an interest in stories about my homeland (which happens to be a breeding ground for religious fundamentalists), I'm a religious fundamentalist as well. (I'm not at all religious, actually.)

Re: I put my family business on Facebook. Here’s what happened.

#89

Post by Splines »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #28
citricsquid wrote: post #12

> everything I read about maximising your web presence and impact told me that SMEs must integrate and embrace social media, especially Facebook This is where he went wrong; signing up to Facebook because a book said a business needs a Facebook page to be successful online is the wrong approach. If you can't explain why you're making a Facebook page it probably isn't going to work, even if you have no knowledge of Fa…

Exactly, case in point: My local sandwich deli has now decided to go all "social media". They have a big sign on the counter saying "please like us on facebook" and when you buy a sandwich the staff ask you if you are on facebook. Something about the whole approach just feels wrong in a way I can't quite put my finger on. It just feels like them asking me to do what is basically a meaningless mechanical chore. I've b…

> They have a big sign on the counter saying "please like us on facebook" and when you buy a sandwich the staff ask you if you are on facebook.

Personally, I dislike this sort of approach. If I need to like something to get something in return (sometimes a coupon or a download), I usually un-like the thing immediately thereafter and try to scrub all traces of it from my wall.

Yes, this is going against the spirit of the exchange, but it's my FB account (in as much as I can say it is), not yours.

Re: I put my family business on Facebook. Here’s what happened.

#90

Post by jlarocco »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #28
citricsquid wrote: post #12

> everything I read about maximising your web presence and impact told me that SMEs must integrate and embrace social media, especially Facebook This is where he went wrong; signing up to Facebook because a book said a business needs a Facebook page to be successful online is the wrong approach. If you can't explain why you're making a Facebook page it probably isn't going to work, even if you have no knowledge of Fa…

Exactly, case in point: My local sandwich deli has now decided to go all "social media". They have a big sign on the counter saying "please like us on facebook" and when you buy a sandwich the staff ask you if you are on facebook. Something about the whole approach just feels wrong in a way I can't quite put my finger on. It just feels like them asking me to do what is basically a meaningless mechanical chore. I've b…

Admittedly, I'm not a huge Facebook user, so maybe this is ignorance on my part, but...

If you're already in the store buying a sandwich, why are they even promoting the Facebook account? When I buy a car, the salesman doesn't ask me to go watch their commercial on TV afterwards.

Does the number of "likes" factor into how often their ads get served?

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