Facebook’s Marketing Effectiveness Backed By Two Of Its Biggest Advertisers

Just days ahead of Facebook’s IPO, GM dropped Facebook Ads citing that they weren’t effective.  While Facebook lost that $10 million dollar account lost last month, today Facebook gathered support from their two largest advertisers,  Ford and Coca-Cola.  Both brands stated  that Facebook ads bring value to their marketing efforts. painting a much different picture in the Wall Street Journal article.

The two biggest issues that have arose since the IPO include the effectiveness of Facebook marketing and the ability to track efforts.  Both Ford and Coca-Cola supported the effectiveness angle, but might have added more fuel to the tracking fire.  The article states the following:

“Ford said 4.3 million Mustangs were designed since the application launched last September, and that sales of Mustangs are up 18% this year. Ford thinks at least some of the sales increase is connected.”

While the statement supports value in Facebook marketing, it actually confirms some of the reporting/tracking issues that occur with any branding campaign.  Joe Tripodi, Coca-cola CMO, also mentioned that Facebook ‘probably’ helps drive beverage sales, stating:

“If we can get 40-million plus fans, or even some subset of them talking positively about the things we’re doing, ultimately that’s a good thing for us”

He went on further to state that “there needs to be some value” given to those people who “like” Coca-Cola on Facebook. However, no quantifiable value was provided.

For more information see the Wall Street Journal.