Selling Umbrellas In A Synagogue
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Selling Umbrellas In A Synagogue
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Re: Selling Umbrellas In A Synagogue
#2tl;dr: most feedback on twitter ads assume it is intent driven (i.e. google adwords), when in most cases it is not.
IMO, it's the root of many social companies struggle to monetize with ads. We've been spoiled the last while because we knew what people were looking for, and could promote directly against that. In some ways, social ads are a step backwards from this.
Re: Selling Umbrellas In A Synagogue
#3tl;dr: most feedback on twitter ads assume it is intent driven (i.e. google adwords), when in most cases it is not. IMO, it's the root of many social companies struggle to monetize with ads. We've been spoiled the last while because we knew what people were looking for, and could promote directly against that. In some ways, social ads are a step backwards from this.
I agree. In some ways social ads are a step back from that, but only because you establish contact with your customers much before they have needs that you can satisfy. So the time to first sale is a lot longer.
But I think, on the flip side, the relationships you develop with them are a lot stronger and a lot more powerful. The problem is, it's very hard to back that up empirically because it's a lot more complicated than just measuring CTR.
Re: Selling Umbrellas In A Synagogue
#4Twitter could work as a way to engage in a conversation. For instance, if I tweet about going shopping for clothing, I wouldn't mind if Old Navy tweeted a coupon at me. That's much more complicated but if they could figure something like that out, the ads would be much more useful.
Re: Selling Umbrellas In A Synagogue
#5Twitter could work as a way to engage in a conversation. For instance, if I tweet about going shopping for clothing, I wouldn't mind if Old Navy tweeted a coupon at me. That's much more complicated but if they could figure something like that out, the ads would be much more useful.
That's interesting. It's a fine line though. I think I'd get annoyed pretty quickly if after every tweet I was solicited for something.
I've been thinking about a real-world analogue for these types of social communities (e.g. synagogues) that actually makes money. The only one I can come up with is something like a fraternity. You pay dues, and have a local chapter that's also part of a larger national organization.
I'm not a giant fan, but it's very similar to the App.net model. Obviously you don't see massive scale, but you do get money without interfering with the social dynamic. Interestingly, the very fact that it costs money may make it more appealing to join. Curious to see where that goes.
Re: Selling Umbrellas In A Synagogue
#6Twitter could work as a way to engage in a conversation. For instance, if I tweet about going shopping for clothing, I wouldn't mind if Old Navy tweeted a coupon at me. That's much more complicated but if they could figure something like that out, the ads would be much more useful.
check out http://localresponse.com/ - they do something similar but based on explicit and implicit checkins (disclaimer: I interned with them about 2 yrs ago)
Re: Selling Umbrellas In A Synagogue
#7Curiously, traditional (Orthodox) Jews cannot use umbrellas on the Sabbath Day. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Are_orthodox_Jews_allowed_to_use_a...
Re: Selling Umbrellas In A Synagogue
#8I haven't used Twitter's ad platform at all (I honestly don't have much to advertise).
But is this pricing universal? $50 for 130 clicks, aka $0.39 per click? That seems like an exorbitant price for a click with unknown and probably low intent.
A CPC of $0.39, a CPM of $32.70!!!
I'm not an online marketing expert - is this realistic?
Re: Selling Umbrellas In A Synagogue
#9tl;dr: most feedback on twitter ads assume it is intent driven (i.e. google adwords), when in most cases it is not. IMO, it's the root of many social companies struggle to monetize with ads. We've been spoiled the last while because we knew what people were looking for, and could promote directly against that. In some ways, social ads are a step backwards from this.
This is why Facebook's new retargeting is pretty exciting (disclaimer, I'm a cofounder of a company in the space, http://perfectaudience.com)
Facebook has/had the same issue: huge audience and targeting that just didn't capture intent. By opening up inventory to folks that have that intent data, retargeting companies, Facebook's able to "sell umbrellas to people in the rain" to use the lingo of OP.
It's going to make a big difference for them in the longrun and we anticipate Twitter doing something similar in the near future.
Re: Selling Umbrellas In A Synagogue
#10Other ads that are not intent based:
TV commericals
Billboards
Print ads
Ads on the sidelines of sports games
Viral marketing
etc etc etc
Comparing Twitter or Facebook ads to Google ads may not be a clear win, but we've been doing that kind of advertising for much longer. The key is for the advertiser to figure out what kind of ads belong on a service (with the company's help), and for the company to find the best way to track the influence those ads have.