Re:How Advertising Works, and Why It Won’t For Facebook
by ssharp on Friday May 09, 2008 @07:27AM
(#185398)
Online advertising is heavily weighted towards direct sales. I haven't used facebook that much but from the ads I've noticed, I don't see much branding happening - they're all looking to get clicks and convert sales.
Re:How Advertising Works, and Why It Won’t For Facebook
by mattmaroon on Friday May 09, 2008 @01:51PM
(#185687)
Brand advertising on the net is all about clickthroughs too, just like any other ad. That's why you never see a banner with no link. The brand advertising is Budweiser's website, not their tiny banner. Since clickthroughs are whats relevant, the same laws apply.
Re:How Advertising Works, and Why It Won’t For Facebook
by pchristensen on Friday May 09, 2008 @02:01PM
(#185698)
Eh, the click is there so they can measure it and get more transparency than a billboard. But even if you don't click on it, it's about as effective as a billboard - not useful for a specific sale but one more incremental bit of brand awareness.
Re:How Advertising Works, and Why It Won’t For Facebook
by mattmaroon on Friday May 09, 2008 @06:09PM
(#185960)
That's wrong because it isn't the tiny banner ad that is the billboard, it's the website you get to when you click it. Budweiser doesn't sell beer on their home page, they advertise it.
2. You're missing the distinction between brand advertising and action oriented advertising. When Budweiser advertises, their goal is to create an association in your brain that links them to something cool you like so that when you're in the bar you choose their product rather than another brand. How many people do you know search for "beer" on Google to choose which brand to buy?
3. Facebook does have aspects that allows them to get that order of magnitude of views you mentioned. For example, if I "fan" a Facebook Page, many of my friends will see that in their news feed. Probably not all 250 of them, but many.