There are all sorts of issues that crop up when one considers advertising on Facebook. There was the Beacon problem and still, there is that pesky questionable ROI for buyers.
But, here’s a new one – it seems that Facebook’s ad sales team and the social network’s right violations team don’t communicate. No, not at all. I’ve heard more than one accounting of Facebook shutting down brand related sites that are paid “groups.” This is how it goes:
1. Ad agency brand steward buys the ad package from Facebook.
2. They post branded content (videos, blog entries, branded pictures).
3. They create an administrator for the group, which comes with an email address not from the brand, but from the agency (ex. jhovah@adstorm.com).
4. A few weeks go by. Consumers join the group. Download a widget or two and then, BAM!
5. The admin gets an email from Facebook’s Rights Violation team that informs you that they’ve shut down your account.
6. This is where the entire ad team scratches their head in shock and awe. “We spent how much to get shut down?”
7. Next up – contacting Facebook, which is whole other mess of issues.
As ugly and annoying as MySpace can be, perhaps it’s a better bet. From Valleywag: “ComScore reports MySpace served the most ad views on the Web last month and analyst Rich Greenfield says MySpace was able to charge major brands like Sprint, Verizon and Wendy’s more than it used to for many of them.”