Critics claim that Facebook ads don’t really work. Now Facebook is fighting back with data – but don’t believe everything you read.
Facebook has been feeling the pain of revenue pressure from investors who expect more from a company worth nearly $60 billion (a drop from the $104 billion market capitalization of its IPO opening day). And it doesn’t help that increasing criticism has focused on the idea that Facebook advertising isn’t effective when compared to other choices.
But now Facebook is fighting back with a new report from comScore that purports to show the value of marketing on the site. The numbers look good: For example, tracking Facebook fans of Starbucks against a control group of Starbucks customers not exposed to Facebook marketing showed a 38 percent difference in the level of purchasing. The social network company is using the report to claim that it really can get the job done for marketers, as the Wall Street Journal reported:
“In an interview, Brad Smallwood, head of measurement and insight at Facebook, said the results proved ‘it’s a myth that Facebook advertising doesn’t work.'”
But… not so fast. First, Facebook is a comScore client and helped put the report together, so this isn’t an objective study. More importantly, you have to dig into the report, because it doesn’t actually seem to say what Facebook would like it to say.
…to read this article in full, visit leading US small business resource, Inc.
