Facebook tells brand advertisers to forget about clicks

CLICK IS NOT KING: A study by Facebook says that a fewer than 1% of in-store sales tied to brand advertising campaigns on site comes from people who clicked on an ad. - Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook Inc, stung by doubts that advertising on the social network delivers enough bang for the buck, is preparing to unveil data to counter its critics and show that “clicks,” the current metric of choice, tell only half the story.

The world’s No 1 social network — embarrassed just days before its initial public offering in May when General Motors declared it was pulling the plug on all paid advertising on its network — will argue that big-brand marketers should abandon the industry’s obsession with numbers of clicks and focus on more effective advertising techniques.