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Social Intent vs. Search Intent More importantly, Facebook ads not only fail to gauge what a user's current intent might be, but they fail to acknowledge what Facebook know a user's intent is. Essentially, most Facebook users log on to socialize, not buy. In this respect, Facebook ads can make you look a lot like the guy who goes around a cocktail party trying to sell insurance. Social intent is probably one of the main reasons that Facebook's average CPM ranges somewhere between 13 and 53 percent below the industry standard. Indeed, as ClickZ reported, Facebook ads get half the clicks of network banners and the average click-through rate (CTR) for Facebook ads in 2009 was 0.063 percent and 0.051 percent in 2010. Conversely, the average CTR on AdWords is around 2 percent. That's 20 times the industry standard and almost 40 times that for Facebook ads. This is probably because many search sessions revolve specifically around making a purchasing decision -- maybe not buying right then and there, but deciding how the user will buy when they're ready. And when they are ready, there's a decent chance they'll return to Google to recall that product or purchasing decision they arrived at during previous sessions. Context is Everything Given Facebook's position in the marketplace, this isn't to say that Facebook ads should be ignored by marketers. Indeed, Facebook has become such mainstream channel, that it can't be ignored by certain advertisers. As this Webtrends study points out: ... industries that are fun to discuss with our network are seeing higher CTR. ... Brands that are social get a higher CTR, which translates into better engagement metrics: Post Quality Score, EdgeRank, Feedback Rate, and others. In turn, Facebook rewards such behavior with a lower cost-per-click and greater visibility in the News Feed. It's the marketers and/or campaigns that are driven by results, however, that should think twice before investing too much into Facebook -- especially if

April US Social Networking Traffic Down 16% from '07\n\nThe market share of April US visits to a custom category of 57 of the leading social-networking websites increased 3 percent from March - but was down 16 percent from April 2007, Hitwise reports - via MarketingCharts. MySpace.com led in traffic, receiving 73.82 percent of the market share of US visits in April.\n\nhitwise-social-network-sites-traffic-market-share-april-2008.jpg\n\n * Facebook ranked second by the market share of visits, with 14.80 percent, followed by MyYearbook, which received 1.33 percent.\n * US traffic to MySpace and Bebo, among the top 5, decreased 5 percent and 13 percent, respectively, compared with April 2007.\n * MyYearbook had the largest gain in market share in April 2008, increasing 475 percent compared with April 2007.\n * Facebook and BlackPlanet followed, increasing 32 and 15 percent, respectively.\n\nNew and Returning Visitors\n\nhitwise-social-network-sites-returning-traffic-april-2008.jpg\n\n * Among the top five social networking websites by market share, MySpace received 95 percent of its visits from returning visitors in April.\n * Facebook and MyYearbook.com followed with 93 percent and 90 percent, respectively, of traffic returning from within the previous 30 days.\n\nTime Spent on Network\n\nhitwise-social-network-sites-time-spent-april-2008.jpg\n\n * In April, the average time spent among all social networking websites increased 73 percent compared with April 2007.\n * Among the top five most-visited websites, MyYearbook led with users spending an average of 32 minutes and 54 seconds on the website.\n * Facebook had the largest growth in average time spent, increasing 57 percent in April 2008, to 20 minutes and 52 seconds, from 13 minutes and 19 seconds in April 2007.\n\nHitwise, a subsidiary of Experian, has issued a social networking report, "The Impact of Social Networking in the US," analyzing which industries are most affected by social n

Marketing Has Become Personal (Again) When the Big Guys want to look like Small Players, they make deep investments, mostly in social media. If you look at Coca-Cola's Facebook Page, for example, it doesn't look remarkably different from any other Facebook Page, even those created by tiny companies. On that Facebook Page, Coca-Cola -- one of the largest companies in the world and possibly the most recognized brand on the globe -- is presenting itself as not just small but also personal and approachable. In fact, if you are a fan of its page, you can write on its wall. Coke has videos of its fans and simple pictures of people enjoying a Coke. These aren't professional, glossy images but the sort of pictures we've come to expect online: a bit grainy, not well lit, and very real looking. The rule, and indeed the opportunity, of the new medium is to make your marketing personal. You need a bit of guts to do it. We all have a natural tendency to speak and act in ways we feel are professional when doing business, and this is true online as well. But social media is the single most important media space for brands right now, and its nature is different. If you are a big brand, you don't need to pretend you are small, but you do need to find ways to become approachable, engaging, and personal in the way that small brands do. Let's Get Small There are a few rules to follow when you try to get more personal in your marketing. Use these methods and you can start putting some real faces next to the brands consumers think they know: * Start with the current fans.This is really the great story of the Coca-Cola page. It was started by two guys who simply loved Coke, not by company itself. They amassed a following of brand loyalists, totally on their own. The company came to these guys and asked for the opportunity to help them out and keep them involved. Exactly what you would do if you were an actual human being, not a great big company more concerned with protectin

How to Build a Robust Social Presence Get your basic data out there. For many professionals, the core of your social presence probably involves one or more of these: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Each of these can be set up in less than five minutes and costs you nothing. Before jumping in, a few tips are in order: * When creating your profile, be sure to include a nice photo, and follow the steps suggested at each site to complete as much of your profile as you can. When you're considering adding, following, or contacting someone, think about the impact of missing or otherwise insufficient information. Business networking should not feel like you're living in a mystery novel. None of us has time for that, so think about the people who are looking at you. Make it easy for them to understand who are and what you do. * Thoughtfully add people to your network. I overheard someone on a plane last week saying "I have over a thousand people in my personal network but have no idea who most of them are." If the people in your network lack credibility, what's that say about you? These are your "friends," right? * On LinkedIn, seek out recommendations, but only from people who are qualified to give them. Five hundred professional connections without a single recommendation sends an unfortunate message. Likewise, a recommendation that starts out "I've never actually worked with Dave, but..." is useless, and detracts from social capital and personal credibility. * Participate. Leverage your ability to add or become friends, to post, and to comment to your advantage. Talk about your business, about news that relates to you or your profession, about things that are of interest to your audience. Do not shill or spam. * Be careful with questions like "What are you doing right now?" This common question -- in the context of business -- is a thought-starter, not a literal interrogative. The best response is less along the lines of "ea

Very good guide on constructing winning Facebook ads.

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working example of how to integrate Analytics with Facebook and Twitter buttons