Do you ever wonder why, with all of the marvelous personal info that Facebook collects, they’d allow an advertiser to run an idiotic ad for mortgage refinancing with a hairy, caveman looking dude on it, or those ridiculous “Find out who Googled You” ads with the image of a college girl that wouldn’t Google you if she were the last piece of ass on Earth?
It’s obvious that the ads must be working because they’re still running. Either that, or they’re running on a pay-per-click basis and no one is clicking, thus costing the advertiser nothing. I’ve come to think that social media is such a targeted platform that, when an offending ad comes up, I never fail to wonder which “marketing genius” dropped the ball.
Don’t get me wrong…I don’t have anything against banner ads on my FB page, nor do I have anything against the companies behind the ads. What bugs me is that we hear about what a great platform Facebook is for behavioral and geographic targeting, then these Run-of-Site (ROS) ads show up. I know that money is money, but when the advertising starts to negatively affect the medium, or the brand, it’s time to make a decision on which one is of the most importance.
Why am I bitching? Primarily because I’m allowed. Yet…I do have a point, although it’s feasible that I’m the only person who took notice. This is doubtful, but theoretically within the realm of possibilities. Maybe Facebook needs the money, although Inside Facebook projects that the social media powerhouse could boost ad revenues from an estimated $700 million in 2009 to a whopping (estimated) $1.1 billion in 2010. Why estimated? Facebook does not release their advertising revenues. So, maybe those “Who Googled You?” ads are working perfectly… Read the rest of this entry »
Catholic priests, under a lot of pressure already due to decades of scandal associated with the Catholic Church, received word from their holiest of holies, Pope Benedict XVI, that part of their new job description should be taking The Word to the internet using social media and blogging. In fact, the Pope urged priests to use all of the media tools at their disposal to preach the Gospel, seeking to engage in conversations with people of alternate religions.
This latest ”commandment” from Vatican City comes after years of the Catholic Church’s growing web presence, culminating, perhaps, in the Vatican’s online site, The Holy See. The site offers the latest sermon from the Pope, information on the Vatican City State, and other nuggets of inside info for all people, whether religious, agnostic, or…backslidden. In case you missed something from the Pope, feel free to check out the Vatican’s YouTube Channel (yes, that’s what I said). Plus, Pope Benedict has his own portal, Pope2You.net, that broadcasts news on Benedict’s travels, his messages, and also includes a Facebook app to allows users to create “Pope postcards” to send to their friends.
The Pope urges Priests to use “cutting-edge technologies to express themselves and lead their communities” according to a Vatican message. Read the rest of this entry »
So the latest Mashable article on the use of social media points to emarketer results indicating that two-thirds of marketers use social media in some capacity. The number is projected to increase to 82% in the next 12 months leaving a mere 12% of businesses uninterested in using the online outlet. The reasons companies aren’t using? They range from not knowing what to do, to not understanding measurement and benefits, to believing it is a poor use of employee time.
As this seems to be a great thing for businesses like myself that teach companies how to use social media and help create and execute social media plans, it definitely leaves the social media space cluttered. The space is becoming filled with a lot more noise than a few months ago, and the noise can definitely get in the way of effective messaging. Read the rest of this entry »
