????5年前，廣告公司Interpublic集團（Interpublic Group）向Facebook投資了500萬美元?，F(xiàn)在，這筆投資有了近2.5億美元的進項，至少名義上如此。問題在于，Interpublic的客戶，或者其他在該網(wǎng)站上投錢做營銷的公司，是否也抱持同樣樂觀的看法。

????2006年，作為Interpublic與Facebook交易的一部分，近1,000萬美元的Interpublic客戶廣告費流入了Facebook的廣告網(wǎng)絡(luò)。盡管事實表明，對于早期投資者來說，F(xiàn)acebook股票極為成功，但營銷人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，欲在該網(wǎng)站上與受眾建立切實聯(lián)系難如登天。

????世界廣告主聯(lián)合會（World Federation of Advertisers）于3月份發(fā)布的一項調(diào)研報告顯示，盡管未來一年商家計劃投資于社交媒體的資金超過以往，但不足四分之一的被訪公司對其投資回報率感到滿意。comScore公司對在線廣告的分析顯示，盡管在全部廣告流量中，F(xiàn)acebook和 MySpace的份額只占近20%，但這二者的平均千人成本（CPM）亦只有56美分，比整個互聯(lián)網(wǎng)廣告成本低了近2美元。與此同時，Webtrends公司最近發(fā)布的一份報告顯示，平均點擊率已降至行業(yè)標準的一半左右。

????面對這一切，人們不免想探個究竟：對于許多公司而言，如果只將目標客戶定位于使用谷歌（Google）搜索引擎的人群，是否投資回報率反而會更高？如果這些公司并非一天到晚做白日夢，幻想著上千名狂熱的年輕粉絲，在Facebook帝國里爭先恐后地在其公司頁面上流連，那么或許答案是肯定的。不幸的是，粉絲們并非都那么狂熱。

????睿域營銷（Razorfish）最近進行的題為2011 Liminal的研究指出，消費者在處理與公司的關(guān)系時，看重幾件事：他們希望得到些許信任，感到受重視，自己能夠掌控局面，而且他們還希望整個溝通過程高效、連貫并且與自己生活密切相關(guān)。那么，當消費者想與某個品牌建立關(guān)系時，他們會選擇去哪兒呢？

????睿域營銷調(diào)研發(fā)現(xiàn)，盡管人們花大量時間（八分之一的在線時間）泡在Facebook等網(wǎng)站上，但當他們希望與某家公司建立聯(lián)系時，他們并不用Facebook。調(diào)研顯示，占壓倒性多數(shù)的消費者喜歡直接訪問公司官網(wǎng)，去找那些他們眼中的“業(yè)內(nèi)人士”，或者直接接洽公司銷售代表。

????與各家公司在Facebook上建立的頁面相比，他們直接發(fā)送給消費者的電子郵件，會讓后者感到更受重視。而且，睿域營銷的調(diào)研還顯示，在建立品牌知名度方面，“無論從重要性還是使用頻率看，Twitter和Facebook甚至都未進前九。無語?！笔聦嵣?，無論被訪者屬于25~34歲、35~44歲還是45歲以上年齡組，F(xiàn)acebook的排名均落后于平面廣告、客戶服務(wù)短消息以及電子郵件新聞信等方式。再次無語。

????當然，你不能將這一切都歸咎于Facebook。作為社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)手段，它表現(xiàn)極為出色：既能幫助組織埃及的群眾示威游行，還能幫助山姆與蘇保持聯(lián)系，亦能讓馬德琳向全世界展示她的愛貓們，詹姆斯也能得以解釋為何他會拿油炸蟲子當午餐。

????維珍美國航空公司（Virgin America）、索尼公司（Sony）、蓋璞公司（Gap）、紅牛公司（Red Bull）以及花花公子公司（Playboy）等企業(yè)好像達成了營銷目標。“不少商家使用Facebook 廣告（Facebook Ads）、Facebook 頁面（Facebook Pages）以及為營銷活動設(shè)計的社交插件，取得了巨大的成功，這點確鑿無疑。” Facebook發(fā)言人辛迪?史考特?里茲博格表示。她還指出，經(jīng)Facebook直接鏈接到亞馬遜（Amazon）的流量一直以來均呈增加之勢；同時，還有大量跡象表明，未來幾年，銷售商及企業(yè)都計劃繼續(xù)向Facebook投資，在該網(wǎng)站上繼續(xù)其營銷努力。

????但是問題在于，在社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)上公司與粉絲之間的關(guān)系極不穩(wěn)定，在此情況下，如何巧妙地宣傳自己，對于企業(yè)而言是件頗為微妙的事。消費者往往十分善變。他們雖然喜歡打折和促銷，但接二連三的新聞消息卻令其感到厭煩?！?011年精準目標及聯(lián)合發(fā)帖》（2011 ExactTarget and CoTweet）報告的幾位作者表示，“企業(yè)要在Facebook上維護各類關(guān)系，面臨的挑戰(zhàn)可謂艱巨?！彼麄兊拇朕o實在委婉。

????超過半數(shù)的Facebook用戶表示，在他們首次登錄某個品牌頁面，并且點擊了“喜歡”之后，便很少再訪問該頁面了；還有55%的Facebook用戶前一分鐘“喜歡”某家公司，下一分鐘便決定不再喜歡該公司了?！岸喟肭闆r下，消費者不會直接向公司提供反饋意見，表示他們不想再看到該公司的帖子了?！痹搱蟾嬷赋??！斑@就有點兒像遠距離戀愛，你的愛人已經(jīng)不愛你了，但卻忘了告訴你?！?/p>

????而且，企業(yè)還可能成為自己的死敵。在健怡可樂（Diet Coke）那樣的頁面之外，也有很多公司頁面毫無動靜、孤獨無依（甚至連有些Facebook投資者也沒有認識到其中的價值）。而另外一些公司則發(fā)帖過于頻繁，以致惹惱了用戶。Facebook用戶抱怨說，有些品牌頁面亂糟糟的，不夠優(yōu)雅，或者自我重復(fù)。還有少數(shù)幾家公司頁面看起來殺氣騰騰?！拔覀儾聹y，目前Twitter和Facebook未能對多數(shù)客戶產(chǎn)生影響的一個原因是，諸品牌并未通過這兩個網(wǎng)站向消費者提供其想要的體驗?！?2011 Liminal研究報告的作者們指出。

????原因何在？許多公司一股腦兒地扎到Facebook等社交媒體站點上，之前都沒想清楚他們?yōu)楹卧撛谶@些網(wǎng)站上做廣告，以及自己到底希望達成什么樣的目標。相應(yīng)地，他們在Facebook上的頁面暗淡無光，粗制濫造，并且缺少像樣的、貼切的自我介紹。

????諾拉?甘尼姆?巴恩斯教授是馬薩諸塞大學達特茅斯營銷研究中心（University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research）的負責人。他表示，公司官網(wǎng)更是萬眾矚目的“爆破目標”?；萜展荆℉P）的網(wǎng)站既時髦，又易于瀏覽，還辟有專門介紹新產(chǎn)品的網(wǎng)絡(luò)日志，以及銷售翻新設(shè)備的Twitter訂閱源。 另一方面，卻有網(wǎng)友指責Verizon隱藏自己的社交鏈接；而?？松梨诠荆‥xxon）則花了大量時間在無人之地撰寫網(wǎng)絡(luò)日志——巴恩斯介紹說，2010年，這家巨型跨國公司一開始根本無法將自己的網(wǎng)絡(luò)日志與公司網(wǎng)站鏈接。

????“你不會拿著把改錐圍著自己的房子打轉(zhuǎn)，嘴里還嘟囔道：我到底該拿這玩藝兒修什么，對不對？”巴恩斯表示?！吧缃痪W(wǎng)絡(luò)也不過是些工具?！币虼耍覀儗acebook的認識和評價才會不斷改變，不斷擴大。也許，一旦企業(yè)搞清楚如何使用Facebook，我們也會最終明白這個目前身價高達500億美元的工具到底價值幾何。

????譯者：大海

????The advertising firm Interpublic Group invested $5 million in Facebook five years ago and now has roughly $250 million to show for it, at least on paper. The question is whether Interpublic's clients, or the rest of the companies throwing money at marketing efforts on the site, have the same rosy glow.

????About $10 million of Interpublic's (IPG) client advertising dollars was plugged into Facebook's advertising network as part of the 2006 deal. While Facebook's stock has proven to be a jackpot for early investors, marketers have found that reaching a new audience on the site has been a decidedly more challenging occupation.

????A World Federation of Advertisers' survey released in March notes that, while marketers plan on spending ever more money on social media in the next twelve months, less than a quarter are happy with the return on their investment. According to comScore's analysis of online advertising, while Facebook and MySpace accounted for about 20% of all advertising traffic, they also carried an average cost per thousand impressions of 56 cents, almost $2 less than the Internet at large. Meanwhile, a recent report by Webtrends shows the average click-through rate declining to about half the industry standard.

????It all makes one wonder if many companies might be better off just targeting customers searching Google (GOOG). And maybe they would, were these firms not daydreaming of being crowd-surfed across the Facebook empire by thousands of rapaciously eager young fans. Unfortunately, the fans aren't all that rapacious.

????Razorfish's recent 2011 Liminal study points out that consumers prize a few things when engaging with a company. They want a modicum of trust, a feeling of being valued, a sense of control, and they want the experience to be efficient, consistent and relevant to their lives. So, where do consumers choose to go when they want to "engage" with a brand?

????The Razorfish survey found that despite the gobs of time people spend on places like Facebook (1 out of every 8 minutes online), they don't use Facebook when they want to connect with a company. Overwhelmingly, consumers were inclined to go to company websites, seek out people they feel are "in the know," or talk to a company representative.

????Companies' emails made consumers feel more valued than companies' Facebook pages, and the study says that in terms of engaging with brands, "Twitter and Facebook didn't even make it into the top nine in terms of importance or frequency of use. Gasp." In fact, Facebook ranked lower than the print ad, customer service instant messaging and the email newsletter, whether the demographic surveyed was 25-34, 35-44, or 45-plus. Gasp again.

????Of course you can't blame it all on Facebook, which appears to work wonderfully in its natural state as a social networking device that can help organize mass protests in Egypt while also allowing Sam to keep track of Sue, Madeleine to show the world her cats, and James to explain why he's eating fried worms for lunch.

????And some companies, like Virgin America, Sony (SNE), Gap (GPS), Red Bull, and, err, Playboy, seem to hit the marketing mark. "We've definitely seen marketers have a lot of success using Facebook Ads, Facebook Pages and social plugins for marketing campaigns, says Cyndi Schott Reseburg, a Facebook spokesperson. She notes that Facebook referral traffic to Amazon (AMZN) has been increasing and that there is plenty of evidence that marketers and companies plan to keep spending on Facebook in the years to come.

????The problem is that insinuating yourself in that relationship can be delicate for a corporation. Consumers are a fickle bunch. They like discounts and promotions, but become annoyed with the constant messages informing them of what's new. When the authors of the 2011 ExactTarget and CoTweet report say "[c]ompanies have a considerable challenge when it comes to maintaining relationships on Facebook," they are putting it mildly.

????More than half of Facebook users say they seldom visit a brand's page once they tell the rest of the world it's a keeper, while 55% of Facebook users have "liked" a company one minute, then decided they don't the next. "[M]ore than half the time, the company receives no direct feedback about the consumer's desire to stop seeing their posts," says the report. "Kind of like a long-distance relationship where your beloved forgets to tell you they've moved on."

????Companies can be their own worst enemies. For every Diet Coke page there is another corporate presence sitting static and orphaned (even some Facebook investors apparently don't see the value). Others post so frequently that users become irritated. Facebook users also complain about brand pages that look cluttered, lack polish or are repetitive. A few corporate pages have seemed combative. "We suspect … that one reason Twitter and Facebook don't deliver for most customers right now is that brands aren't using them to provide the experience that people want," note the authors of the Liminal study.

????Why? Many companies jump onto social media sites like Facebook without looking at why they should be there or what they hope to accomplish. Their lackluster and ham-handed presence on Facebook is an extension of their lack of presentation closer to home.

????Company websites are "ground zero," says Professor Nora Ganim Barnes, who heads the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research. HP (HPQ) has a snazzy, navigable website with blogs about new products and Twitter feeds that sell refurbished items. On the other hand, Verizon (VZN) has been accused of hiding its social links while Exxon (XOM), at first, spent a good deal of time blogging in the wilderness -- Barnes says that in 2010 the massive multi-national originally failed to link its own blog to its corporate website.

????"You wouldn't run around your house with a screwdriver and say what can I fix with this?" Barnes says. "These are tools too." This leads us to Facebook's fluid but ever-expanding valuation -- maybe if companies figure out how to use Facebook, we'll finally get an idea of how much that $50 billion tool is actually worth.