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Facebook's Ad Pitch 'Backfired': GM Insiders

Facebook apparently touted ... free pages

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted May 18, 2012 1:55 PM CDT

(Newser) – A key reason for General Motors' decision to drop paid Facebook ads: A pitch meeting didn't go so well. Sources tell Reuters that GM met with Facebook honchos in the last few weeks; in the meeting, marketing reps reportedly pointed to the effectiveness of their free pages. The paid ads appeared "kind of meager and perhaps expensive by comparison," a source notes. The plugging of free pages "kind of backfires on them in a funny way," adds an insider.

It didn't help that Facebook is likely to boost paid ad prices following its IPO today. And Facebook's "click-through rate"—how often users click on ads per page view—is actually half the Internet average of one click per 1,000 page views. Google, by comparison, provides four clicks per 1,000 views.

A Facebook logo is displayed on the screen of an iPad, Wednesday, May 16, 2012 in New York.
A Facebook logo is displayed on the screen of an iPad, Wednesday, May 16, 2012 in New York.   (AP Photo/James H. Collins)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 3 comments
Odaecom
May 19, 2012 12:53 PM CDT
Well it could have been as simple as someone from GM had "liked" a page that had bought advertising and was getting the floods of 8-12 posts in a row from the page.  And are holding back pissing-off customers, until Facebook (tries to) fix their crappy code. The ones I saw at first they said sponsored but even a month after complaining politely to the page, (which addressed the concern to Fb) I saw a few more floods that didn't say "trending" or sponsored...  
Fondue
May 18, 2012 3:16 PM CDT
Ford, are you doing it wrong?
Disillusioned
May 18, 2012 2:35 PM CDT
I dearly love stupidity when combined with greed
 

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