Facebook IPO: Not Focusing on Advertiser’s Needs

It’s definitely no secret that Facebook is launching it’s IPO this coming Friday, as it’s been all over the news in the digital marketing industry.  However, there has also been a great deal of backlash from their current advertisers, including GM who actually stopped all of their Facebook advertising.  Facebook recently announced that they were going to increase the number of shares to it’s public offering, which has so many analysts around the world wondering if they are going to be able to uphold their worth.

Facebook has used many different types of advertising models, some of which have been successful, others, not so much.  Although Facebook has been a huge hit amongst it’s users by catering to their demands, they haven’t been so catering to their customers – advertisers.  Facebook is a great marketing tool as companies can choose their exact target audience, however, Facebook has not yet executed a strong advertising system for businesses.

Currently, Facebook has ads on the side of the web page so when users are logged into their accounts, they see ads targeted to them along the right side of the page.  This is great for businesses to get right in the face of their target audience who may be pulled in by the ad, but what if their target audience isn’t actually looking or interested in the product or service?  That is where the advertising system being used by Facebook is flawed.  For example, with Google, users are actively searching for particular products and services and advertisers appear in those searches.  So here you have the consumer searching for a particular product, and the advertiser appearing right in front of the user.

Facebook’s average click-through rate (CTR) for a Facebook ad is under 0.05% which is approximately half the average CTR for banner ads across the Internet, whereas the average CTR on the Google Display Network is a bit under 0.50% – almost 10 times the CTR for Facebook ads.

What are your thoughts on the Facebook IPO launch?

LookSmart Interviews with WebMaster Radio at SES SF

Webmaster Radio Roving Reporter, Dana Todd interviewed Benoit Vatere (VP, Distribution Network, LookSmart) at SES SF. In this brief interview Dana and Benoit discuss LookSmart’s unique perspective on translating user intent into enhanced conversion rates. Benoit goes on to describe how LookSmart’s Tier 1.5 initiatives equip advertisers with advanced technology and traffic quality at low PPC prices.

Check out the full, unedited interview for yourself!

LookSmart is Hiring!

LookSmart is actively hiring for a number of diffeent positions, in our San Francisco headquarters, as well as our offices in New York and Kitchener, Ontario. It’s an incredibly exciting time to join the company.

Open positions include:

  • Director of Network Analytics (San Francisco)
  • Vice President, Advertising Sales (San Francisco or New York)
  • Perl Engineer (LookSmart Canada – Kitchener/Waterloo area)
  • Sr. Software Engineer Ruby on Rails (LookSmart Canada – Kitchener/Waterloo area)
  • Software Engineer Ruby on Rails (LookSMart Canada – Kitchener/Waterloo area)
  • Sr. Account Manager (LookSmart Canada – Kitchener/Waterloo area)
  • Business Development Manager, Publisher Services (San Francisco)
  • Sr. Software Engineer Ruby on Rails (San Francisco)
  • Software Engineer Ruby on Rails (San Francisco)

Valentine’s Day Search

Search for the Customers You Love

Valentine’s Day is here and millions of consumers are now jumping online to find that “perfect gift” for their loved ones—from seasonal products and gifts to flowers and greeting cards. Will they have eyes for you?

With LookSmart, attracting these holiday shoppers has never been easier. In fact, we’ve been matching advertisers with customers for as long as people have been searching. Just add our handpicked Valentine’s Day keywords to your campaign—and enjoy the bliss. If only love was so simple.

Valentine’s day has always been a rewarding time of year for retailers. The attached Hitwise graph, based on Valentine’s Day searches from last year, reveals a spike in searches for “love poems,” “flowers,” “lingerie” and “e-cards.” We’re also including a list of search terms in the apparel, flowers, gifts, jewelry and dating categories to jump start your creativity. Click on the link below to download keyword suggestions.