Facebook just doesn’t seem to be able to woo marketers thus far…but you can’t say they’re not trying! The latest offering, according to the Wall Street Journal, are the social networking site’s “engagement ads,” which appears when a user logs onto Facebook. They prompt a in-ad action, such as to comment on a movie trailer. If they complete the action, Facebook shares a notice with their friends (My question: can users opt-out of that notice?)
But the article emphasizes the lack of faith marketers seem to have in Facebook as an investment-worthy media. Whether that is fair or not is another question, but the fact remains that social media ads clearly need to be able to be measured more effectively before the vast majority of marketers will accept it.
Still, I just can’t believe that Facebook and its ilk aren’t ultimately a vast direct marketing opportunity — even if at the moment users simply won’t click on display ads. I haven’t a clue what the tipping point will be to drive marketers to invest heavily in social networking ads, but clearly Facebook is making a concerted effort to find out.
