If you’ve become fed up with how Facebook has made things opaque and difficult for advertisers but couldn’t put your finger on the exact reasons why, this post from J.C. Kendall, CEO of TekPersona Corp., might help. “If you run a business, and you are looking to make money through driving people from Facebook to your products or services, Facebook is very likely not in any way worth the amount of time or expense required.” In his overview of why this is, Kendall points to how online sales this Black Friday grew 20.7 percent from last year, but social media was responsible for just 0.34 percent of those sales, a 35 percent decline from last year. On Cyber Monday, social media was responsible for 0.41 percent of online sales, a 26 percent decline from last year. Commercial intent doesn’t exist on social media, and only on rare occasions will a social media user be interested in a brand that interrupts their experience. Kendall mentions how Bradley Horowitz, Google vice president of Google+, likened ads on Facebook to a man wearing a sandwich sign walking up to people having a conversation on a sidewalk. Add to all this the fact that Facebook is now charging (or, should we say, penalizing) businesses to communicate with the audiences they’ve worked hard to build and it’s clear there’s a bait-and-switch tactic being used, in favor of Facebook but not in favor of businesses. Social media is fine for branding, but AdWords is better for businesses pushing products and services, since searchers display commercial intent. Google+, meanwhile, is the social network businesses should really consider. (Social Media Today)
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