Facebook ads are effective? Many think they are not

It is worth to advertise in Facebook?

It is difficult to know. 

Last week General Motors (GM), the third-largest advertiser in the U.S., shut down its Facebook budget, about $10 million, explaining that Facebook ads have little effect on consumers’ car purchases. (However, it will continue to use Facebook’s free fan page.)

Experts consider that big corporations do not want to use Facebook ads just as a brand loyalty mechanism or to make them look trendy:

• By the measure of how many people click on an ad, Facebook doesn’t look very effective. Nearly 60 % of users say never click on ads or sponsored content, and another quarter rarely does. 
   
• The big problem Facebook and many other social-media sites have is that they don’t have consistent, reliable metrics that prove advertising on their sites works. They need to create a clear set of tools that show return on investment.
   
• Facebook and other sites are introducing new advertising formats, like “social context” feature, which allows users what friends have already interacted with the brand. 

Facebook, with 900 million users and 500 million log in every day, is the largest publisher of online display ads – static or animated banners.  It published 28 % of all such online ads last year. The company generated $3.7 billion of revenue last year, 85 percent from advertising.

Now at a market value of $100 billion, investors estimate that each person with a Facebook page is worth roughly $100. Also it is said that each Facebook user generated $4 worth of sales for the company.

Download: Facebook Ads - Getting Started Guide.