Hey Facebook Where Are My CPC deals?

As a customer of Facebook's Cost Per Impression media (ads paid for when they are seen), we've inquired about using their Cost Per Click programs (ads only paid for when they are clicked, merely being seen is free). Check out the CPC program here:



The response is that scale allowed is extremely limited. They say I could only buy about $15k worth of media in month. With the scale my advertisers are trying to reach its logistically inefficient to invest the time to go in the CPC system.

What is $15k of media or 15,000 clicks going to do for advertisers trying to effect the behavior of couple hundred million people? Yes, they might seed a viral explosion, but 1,000,000 people can seed a viral explosion a lot better.

I think this is another example of Facebook being inconsistent. Beacon was literally going to change advertising as we know it and then completely backed away from. Rules constantly change for application developers and they don't know which end is up. Advertisers get pissed because Facebook will posture that CPC is a great product unless you have real money to spend.

All this makes it difficult for their larger marketers to determine how Facebook fits in the very BIG picture of their marketing. Until that happens there are not going to be any HUGE ("sure I'll cut my TV budget type") bets. Want proof? Click here.

Facebook needs to get past the point of throwing a bunch of shit at the wall and seeing what sticks if it wants to swim in the deep end. Until we know where you stand and confidence that what you say to today will be true tomorrow, and true for everybody (especially your largest customers) advertisers might dip their toe in the water but we won't throw down.

I hope the new COO gets this together.

Potential Twitter Ads?

Is this how they plan to monetize Twitter? Are advertisers going to be able to buy that space?

Numbers tell a story

John McCain:

• 53,381 MySpace friends
• 136,793 Facebook friends

Barack OBama

• 386,341 MySpace friends
• 894,666 Facebook friends

Aside from the obvious, Obama's supporters are younger, have more time on their hands, and have been involved in a heated primary for 6 months, the numbers say something else to me.

Both candidates have more friends on Facebook than MySpace by a little less than 3:1. But MySpace total US traffic more than doubles Facebook. If they are both similar "social networks" the numbers would be opposite. If they had the same level of activity, that would favor Facebook a lot but this is pretty crazy.

People are just a ton more likely to share political views on Facebook, what else are they more likely to share? Alot would be my guess. Think marketers should care about that?

What makes Facebook tick

Love how Josh Beil gets to the guts of Facebook's value. Its Newsfeed + Scale. I see the openness as one way to create valuable applications but not the only one (and potentially noisy to customers). Apple doesn't need it.

If you can build an engine for passive communcations between people like Newsfeed and have a level of ubiquity you can change lives. Tivo, cellphones, major retailers, airlines, hotel chains, governments, car makers can all be players. Facebook is a gateway drug.

New Title and URL

New title, name and URL for the blog. The name AdSportTech was pretty dumb, difficult to say, and false. So this blog is now called 'The Gist of March'.

Gist is defined as

–noun 1. the main or essential part of a matter: What was the gist of his speech?

What I really try to do in this blog is take the information I get from work, reading, chats with other folks and get down to the essential part of the matter for marketers.

I'm not sure if anyone was tracking this with an RSS feed but you might have to update it.

If you are reader I hope this new URL doesn't cause you to drop off. I want to sell sponsorships on this thing one day, I could use a thousand dollars a month like Mr. Schafer.

Does the shell matter?

I was recently asked if running an ad before a Martha Stewart clip on Martha Stewart.com has any more value than running an ad before that same clip on YouTube?

Its an easy answer for the buyer in me, but for the marketer its not as clear.

As a buyer, since syndicated content is a new way for content creators to increase their supply of ad space, I would pay less. Supply and demand, you create more supply through syndication, I pay less, simple. I'm sure the sellers would accept that, but what if they didn't?

As a marketer is there really less value? I don't know. Some people argue that it doesn't matter what content is next to ad, much less the subtle difference of what website hosts it. All that matters to them is who the individual is that see's the ad. What's their age, what are they in the market to buy, are they the right target. The context in which the ad is viewed means little, and they sacrifice that to get more exposure per dollar. If its cheaper to advertise to me during a Battlestar Gallactica rerun, why pay more to advertise to me during the Grey's Anatomy finale?

I think there are times to follow that logic and times not to. Your state of mind changes depending on what content your consuming, and seed planting is art that requires harmony of message, target, context, and timing. There is alot to that special sauce.

But I'm hard pressed to think there more's marketing value to the shell that holds the same content. YouTube or Martha Stewart, NBC.com vs Hulu.

What are your thoughts?

What Wu Tang Taught Me About Social Marketing

When I was in college most of my friends were very into hip hop and it wasn't for me. I'm more into Springstein and the Who. But I wanted to be included in their conversations. If I showed knowledge of something that was both off the everyday's hip hop fan's radar and that the hard core fans thought was awesome, I could leverage this undiscovered gem.

So whenever I had the opportunity amongst a hip hop conversation I would say "Capadonna's verse in Winter Wars was the best rhyme ever." I was quite the hit at parties. Thanks for the tip Jared.

As a marketer there are conversations around cars, traveling, eating, clothes, food, entertainment, health, style that we want to get into. Most corporate messages are as out of place in these conversations as I was in hip hop conversations. But if we can create something that's just a little obscure but our most ardent influential customers think is awesome, maybe we have a chance.

I think our Portland Office did a great job at this with their Bruce Campbell Old Spice spots.