] HipMojo.com » Memo to Facebook Advertising Team

Memo to Facebook Advertising Team

Valleywag first reported on Facebook’s abysmal click through rates (CTR), then today we read one more account of how Facebook yields very low CTRs:

Our most recent campaign saw 1.4 million page impressions delivered at specific universities – and only a 0.04% clickthrough rate. 

Everyone is tripping over one another to give Facebook props, some are even suggesting this is the next Google-type company.  All that might very well be true, but the key word is well.  We said the same thing about Friendster, after all. 

The point is that Facebook is no Google right now.  Or, if anything, it’s Google in 2001-02, an amazing platform with lots of runway but one that was not yet crystalized.  If I were part of the team that had to develop a strategy for Facebook’s revenue growth (there is such a team, right), I’d dust off the history books and recall one thing:

This is very reminiscent of how Google looked at display/banner ads and looked the other way.   In other words, Google beat Yahoo! because it did not try to fight in Yahoo!’s domain, portaldom and display banners, it focused on search and jumped on text links and CPC format.

Am I saying that Facebook should continue along the spectrum and focus on CPA-deals?  No.  That’s folly.  But I will say that Facebook is an untapped goldmine but it will never bear fruit if it tries to build a business model that is akin to Yahoo!, Google’s, or anyone else for that matter…

Related:

- Why Facebook’s VCs will Fund Facebook App Developers
- Facebook OS: Be careful what you ask for
- Facebook 100M users, a matter of when, not if
- Facebook: IPO vs. M&A.
- Facebook’s 2008 to do list: File for an IPO.
- Should MSFT Turn its Attention to Facebook?
- Peter Thiel: Facebook is Worth $8B.
- Murdoch: “MySpace worth $6B”, if so, then break up FIM!
- Facebook to be worth $2.35B by 2010. 

Tags: , , |
Posted By: Ashkan Karbasfrooshan | Jul 12th

Subscribe:


Leave a Reply

*
To prove that you're not a bot, enter this code
Anti-Spam Image

Subscribe:


« « previous post | next post » »
Admin

Shortcut:
HipMojo.com

Subscribe:

Search Site:

Categories:

Archives:

Blogroll: