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This past week while attending the MBO Conference once again in Indianapolis there was still a surprising amount of chatter about Facebook Ads. I am shocked by this. Granted I am a small sample size; but I truly have become a master at ignoring these ads on social networking sites. First of all, they are generally way off the mark --- I am not the least bit interested in a Career in Genomic or becoming a chef (Potentially because one of my interests is "cooking" and "ethnic food" means I want to be a chef?) I know this is more of an ad server issue than anything; but the larger point I want to make is that I wouldn't go to Facebook if I did decide that being a chef was my long term passion. I'd go search, without a doubt.

While Facebook ads may work for some as many things do --- I have to keep questioning the ROI of this versus search marketing when you now can market to those that have truly said they are interested and looking for your product versus marketing based on simple assumptions that anyone who likes to cook wants to be a chef.

As a side note, I am a Facebook addict (Go ahead and connect with me on Facebook) & I am starting to see a few brand and charity sponsored applications that do make a lot of sense in certain demographics, but still believe that search marketing is a much more powerful medium for most businesses versus display ads on social networks.

Comments for I Didn't Come Here For That Facebook

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 by Derek McClain:: I notice the ads from time to time, but agree that I would not come to Facebook as the first step in my decision making process for any purchase. Now if I searched and found a company's blog or web site that had a link to their Facebook fan page, I might check it out to see what fans were saying. Most of the ads I get now are actually a company advertising its fan page. In closing, I have talked to a few people that gave Facebook Ads a try and all seemed quite disappointed with the results.