Facebook Ad Graphic
Reading “Facebook Tries to Woo Marketers” by Jessica Vascellaro in today’s Wall Street Journal, I was alerted to the fact that Facebook is now showing “engagement ads” after a user logs in. These ads encourage the user to act with a comment or RSVP. “Facebook charges more for the engagement ads than other display ads on its site,” Vascellaro says.
I just logged in, and here are the ads from the right hand column:
Rachel Ray’s Diet
Read about the diet Rachel Ray featured. Learn how I lost weight in only a few weeks. I still can’t believe it works.
PhizzPop Design Challenge
The PhizzPop Design Challenge is coming to Chicago on November 20th. Rub elbows with the best in the Web design business. RSVP today!
Yep, that’s what they are doing. According to Vascellaro, if the user takes the action, Facebook shares the notice of what the user has done with their friends. Presumably Facebook takes into account the users’ privacy settings?
I logged in a second time and noticed that I can vote on each ad, thumbs up or down. When I did so, I was asked what I liked or didn’t like about the ad.
The social network Myspace outpaces Facebook in display advertising, writes Vascellaro, with 15% of display ad spending to Facebook’s 1%. And she quotes Interactive Advertising Bureau stats to project a 2.5% decline in this ad spending in 2009.
Facebook’s click-through rates are also low. According to Forrester Research analyst Jeremiah Owyang, less than 1% of users click on display ads as they use Facebook. It’s no secret that social networks in general and Facebook in particular struggle to create viable revenue models. (Facebook Still Figuring Out Business Model.)
Nevertheless, Vascellaro reports that Facebook has had some success with smaller advertisers who spend heavily on search engine ads. The example given is an ad for a local storage company, purchased through an ad agency.
So how are banner ads going in your social networking website? Let me know in a comment.
See also my series How To Start a Social Networking Website
