Each of those touch points adds some value. Calculating exactly how much they actually add is at the bleeding edge of problems
And that may be a big part of the problem: short of direct engagement (i.e. clicks), it can be very difficult to determine whether FB or any competitive channel is helping you to "build awareness". I think the relevant and objective metric of effectiveness, then, has to be the CTR (with conversions secondarily providing a measure of traffic quality).
That is, if you know you're getting, say, a 3X click-through rate from Adwords and the same conversion rate on both, then you don't have to guess as to whether FB has the near-impossible-to-measure quality of "building more awareness". Of course, Adwords could also be building that awareness, in addition to the very real value that you can easily quantify.
So, perhaps at some future point FB will be able to quantify this more elusive "awareness" metric and additionally prove its value over Adwords in that department. But, it's a tough hill to climb and the value of the awareness also has to supersede the very real and tangible value of the additional click-thrus realized through other channels.
Until that day, I can't see the value of continuing to invest in Facebook. There's just no discernible ROI.
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And that may be a big part of the problem: short of direct engagement (i.e. clicks), it can be very difficult to determine whether FB or any competitive channel is helping you to "build awareness". I think the relevant and objective metric of effectiveness, then, has to be the CTR (with conversions secondarily providing a measure of traffic quality).
That is, if you know you're getting, say, a 3X click-through rate from Adwords and the same conversion rate on both, then you don't have to guess as to whether FB has the near-impossible-to-measure quality of "building more awareness". Of course, Adwords could also be building that awareness, in addition to the very real value that you can easily quantify.
So, perhaps at some future point FB will be able to quantify this more elusive "awareness" metric and additionally prove its value over Adwords in that department. But, it's a tough hill to climb and the value of the awareness also has to supersede the very real and tangible value of the additional click-thrus realized through other channels.
Until that day, I can't see the value of continuing to invest in Facebook. There's just no discernible ROI.