I figured today would be a good day to do one final post about the juggernaut otherwise known as Facebook. We’re days, perhaps even hours, away from Facebook’s initial public offering (IPO).
But that’s not the reason why this is my last post. The reason is because it seems this is my 3rd post in 3 months about Facebook and no one in the media or advertising seems to listen to what I say…
Or do they?
I’ve been critical of Facebook, not as a communication and social platform, but specifically Facebook Advertising, for a while. First, why advertising will kill Facebook here; second, Facebook’s major problem (which is advertising) here.
Basically, being someone in the advertising & marketing ecosystem for well over a decade, and someone who does in fact have a strong grasp of social media, I figured I was qualified to tell people that 1) advertising in its current form does not work and will not work in social media or in Facebook; 2) Facebook was and is immensely reliant upon advertising, to a fault. You know…because it doesn’t work! It was only a matter of time before people realized that, I figured. At Sprouse Marketing Group, we certainly have a list of marketing trategies and tactics that are well ahead of Facebook Ads.
Today, news came out that General Motors has pulled a pretty enormous campaign to the tune of $10 million. Yanked it. Said it was because, you know, the ads didn’t work!
This is the last time I will say this. I like Facebook, it is a fun utility. I dislike the notion that somehow Facebook is an advertising platform. It is not one, and will never be one. With services or platforms that are not conducive to advertising, you must charge some type of a subscription or fee. Facebook hasn’t and doesn’t (maybe the ship sailed on that already, but maybe not), and therefore will struggle (relatively, as much as a platform with 800 million users can) to really build a huge business long-term, which to me means 2-3 years from now.
The company will go public, and pretty soon the pressure is on to make real money; and when 85% of your company’s revenues come from something that doesn’t work, it might be time to pivot.
Talk to you about Facebook again in 2015!
I saw the GM headline flash when I was at the gym and immediately thought, “Yup. Mike was right.”