Originally published on Facebook
Editor’s note: According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, General Motors is stopping all of their Facebook advertising. Their Facebook ad budget was $10 million a year, a big bankroll to say the least.
There is little in the way of facts about why GM is pulling their ads, but plenty of commentary.
7 things that came to mind in 7 seconds but took me 7 minutes to write down:
1. Seriously? GM thought Facebook ads were going to result in car sales… just like that? 20 seconds, 20 minutes or 20 months later? And how exactly did they determine that it was or was not helping anyways? Did they poll people to ask them “Excuse me, since you last saw one of our Facebook ads, did you or did you not buy one of our cars?”
2. Facebook is awesome but it’s a business and this business’ advertising solutions have been optimized so that brands do PAID + EARNED + OWNED. You can’t do one without the other. At least not if you hope to compete with the other Fortune 500 trying to do it right, even if with minimal budgets. Does GM know this?
3. Has anybody told GM that Facebook ads can be done with just a few bucks? I mean, small businesses spending $10 a day in Sponsored Stories are going to get more targeted reach on Facebook than one of the most iconic US brands of all time.
4. Ok, ok I get it. GM has a cool + innovative campaign unlike anything we’ve ever heard of and they’re doing it soon so this is their way of saying “We got this.”
5. Wait. Maybe this is just a STUNT. PR stunt. Could it be? This is easy buzz on Facebook IPO week. Right? I mean this HAS to be temporary. It’s not like someone at GM can say “We shall never ever advertise on Facebook and so be it!”
6. Where is Christopher Barger when you need him? Hopefully they have him on speed dial because they might need some help from the guy who led their social + community engagement during the 2009 crisis.
7. Did I mention I spent 7 minutes typing this? Well, congratulations to you American Express because your always-on ad strategy on Facebook might be paying off. I just spent 7 minutes with this post.. and one of your sponsored posts. Maybe I’ll go and get a new card from you simply because we’ve spent so much time together.
What did you think?