GM in talks with Facebook to resume advertising
General Motors is in talks with Facebook to restart advertising on the platform, according to a report.
GM publicly embarrassed Facebook back in May just before the Menlo Park company’s IPO by announcing that it was dumping its paid advertising on the social network, $10 million worth, after not finding them effective.
That hurt Facebook, which remained far below its IPO price of $38 and below $30 for quite some time because of heavy criticism and questioning of the effectiveness of its advertising.
But since then other companies, includingCoca-Cola, have gone to bat for Facebook and vouched for its importance in the advertising realm.
And now the Wall Street Journal reports that GM may be on the verge of changing course and bringing back money to the social network for paid advertisement.
The Journal says sources close to the two companies have confirmed that high-level executives on both sides have been meeting and talking, including Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, the company’s chief operating officer, who spoke with GM CEO Daniel Akerson.
Facebook’s people have been reassuring GM that they will be provided with more data on how they can turn their ad money into revenue, but they won’t be getting special treatment, according to the report.
The two companies began talking again last month at an event in Cannes, France, and while GM hasn’t committed to buying Facebook ads again, the company has begun meeting with digital ad firms to get ideas on how it can create content for Facebook using the Pages features as well as applications.
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