Leading up to the recent IPO of Facebook, many in the business community asked just what value to set on the social media giant. Some reported disappointing results from advertising efforts. General Motors, in particular, abandoned paid advertising to restrict themselves to community building efforts.
A new report from
Greenlight, a search engine marketing company, suggests that only 3% of Internet users regularly click on ads of Facebook, while 75% report they rarely or never click Facebook ads. Those numbers can be interpreted in many different ways and mean different things depending on whether you are a digital marketing consultant or a nervous Facebook shareholder. Here’s what we take from this.
First, “Likes” may be more compelling than banner ads. When your friend’s name and picture comes up on the Facebook sidebar informing you that she has “liked” some brand or product, it catches your eye. Lots of companies have found that word of mouth promotion from friends is far more valuable than a shiny advertisement, and Facebook helps that word of mouth happen online.
Second, Facebook may not be the place people go to find new things. As an advertiser, we are attracted to Facebook because that’s where people spend a lot of time, but if we put ourselves in the shoes of the average Facebook user, it’s quite different. When we log in, we are generally looking to share some news, or find out what’s happening with our friends and family, or maybe some celebrity we are following. What we’re not doing is shopping.
So, when we log into Facebook, it’s to socialize. Advertisements are an intrusion on our conversations with our loved ones! People feel free to tune out the ads to focus on what they came for. They may even be actively repelled by the ads.
Google keyword advertising works a bit better because when someone goes to the Google home page and searches for “best cappuccino in Toronto”, it’s because they’re craving a cappuccino, or planning to meet a friend for coffee. So the advertisements that pop up in the search results page are actually welcome – rather than an interruption, it is helpful information the searcher is looking for. However, as good as Google is at customizing search results to the user and occasion, it’s still a very big tool trying to be all things to all people. You get the same search experience whether you’re searching for espresso or electricians.
So how does Find Me Coffee fit in? Simple.
The users who come to Find Me Coffee are coming for one reason, and one reason only. They want to find a place to have a coffee. So once again, advertisements are actually welcome. If I’m looking to find a coffee shop, and an ad tells me that the coffee shop around the corner has free WiFi, that’s useful, that’s very helpful indeed. It’s not an intrusion at all, but exactly what I want. So Find Me Coffee is better than Facebook.
What’s more, the Find Me Coffee experience is tailored to the needs of the thirsty coffee lover. What’s the most important criteria when you want a coffee shop? It has to be close, within walking distance preferably. So people can search by location, and see all the coffee shops on a map. After that, they want amenities, or perhaps they want a particular chain, or perhaps they want to look at each shop in detail to see if it is providing the kind of gourmet experience they want.
So advertising or buying a premium listing on Find Me Coffee lets you reach the people you want, at exactly the time they are willing and even eager to hear your pitch. It is, as they say, win-win.
Posted on: 2012-06-25 12:00 AM 
