Do paid advertisements on Facebook work? General Motors says no. The American car company is getting ready to stop advertising on Facebook, just when the social media giant is getting ready to sell shares in an initial public offering.
Last year, GM spent US$10 million on Facebook advertisements, but it is only a fraction of the company’s $1.8 billion US ad spending. The amount only makes up a small share of the social media’s total income of US$3.7 billion, most of which comes from ad revenue.
Wall Street Journal quoted Joel Ewanick, GM’s marketing chief, in saying that the car manufacturer “is definitely reassessing our advertising on Facebook, although content is effective and important.” This means that GM will not be pulling out of Facebook completely.
The Detroit-based carmaker invests about US$30 million on content for the company’s Facebook page. In fact, in the wake of the news, GM has posted on their page saying:
Just wanted to let our millions of Facebook fans know, we’re still here, and we ‘like’ you back! We may not be advertising on Facebook at the moment but we’ll still be talking with you all daily. If anything, we will be providing more content across our many GM Facebook pages – including Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac – to keep the dialogue going.
General Motors is not the only one with doubts. Kia is also unclear how Facebook ads can help direct traffic into its dealerships. However, Subaru is sticking to their guns and will continue to advertise on Facebook. “If the return on investment is there, we will spend more next year,” said Dean Evans, chief marketing officer for Subaru of America.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, GM Facebook page
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GM say a no , but the Pleiades mark in the US say yes…
Could this show the fact that FB ad works for certain target audiance
or so called the reader model.
Maybe GM makes did not suit the FB RM I guess.
As mentioned by GM , they will only keep the dialogue going as FB
stays as the best medium for the mass to communicate , not for them to
shout about their products.
Only my personal opinion…