Facebook Ad Prices Sink To Record Lows

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Facebook To Buy Microsoft's Ad-Serving Business (AdAge)
Microsoft's attempt to find a new home for its Atlas ad-serving business may finally be coming to an end. The company is expected to announce a deal to sell it to Facebook as early as next week, according to multiple people familiar with the plans. The acquisition price is not known, but is expected to be less than $100 million, based on prior bids for Atlas, which have been in the $30 to $50 million range. The acquisition would be the surest sign yet that Facebook has designs on becoming an even bigger player in advertising than it currently is now. Facebook is methodically laying the groundwork for an off-Facebook ad network powered by social data to prove the worth of the data it sits on as well as the effectiveness of its ads. Read >>

Facebook's Cost-Per-Click Dropping (TBG Digital via Inside Facebook)
Average cost-per-click for Facebook ads reached record lows in the U.S. and decreased across other regions in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to data from third-party ad company TBG Digital.

TBG Digital

TBG attributes this to the rise of News Feed ads on desktop and mobile, that have lower CPCs than sidebar ads. In the U.S., where advertisers are adopting this format more quickly, CPCs decreased by 37 percent in the fourth quarter, and that’s on top of a 40 percent decrease in the third quarter. CPCs in the U.S. are now lower than those in Canada, France, Germany and the U.K. Read >>

What Are The Best Days To Share Content On Facebook? (Digital Sherpa)
Here are some other interesting facts to help with your company’s social media optimization strategy:

• Content published on Facebook between 8pm and 7am is 14 percent more likely to attract attention than posts published between 8am and 7pm.
• Companies that make one or two Facebook posts per day have 19 percent more customer interaction through social media.
• Posting too often on Facebook can actually have a negative effect.
• Only 14 percent of Facebook posts are published during the weekend, and these posts are 14.5 percent more likely to generate customer interaction than weekday posts.

Pamorama

It’s probably no surprise that there are peak days of the week for publishing content, whether you are sharing a press release or are posting about a new product offering on your company’s Facebook page. Read >>

Is Pinterest Worth $2.5 Billion Dollars? (The Huffington Post)
Pinterest has the opportunity to become a center for social commerce. The news that Ben Silbermann, the founder and CEO, is raising another round of funding at a $2.5 billion dollar valuation came as a surprise, as some are not convinced that Pinterest can innovate fast enough: the website and mobile applications have not changed and they have been slow to give access to their API. In May 2012, the company raised $100 million dollars at a $1.5 billion dollar valuation. Now, nine months later, Pinterest wants to raise more money at a $2.5 billion dollar valuation? So what exactly did they do with the $100 million they just raised? Read >>

Twitter's Latest Investment Is About TV-Related Tweets (BI Intelligence)

Twitter has confirmed that it purchased social TV data analytics startup Bluefin Labs. BI Intelligence interviewed Tom Thai, vice president of marketing and business development at Bluefin, about the breakneck pace of growth in social TV activity and how smartphones and tablets were helping this behavior go mainstream. The interview was for our new report on how the "second screen" industry will ultimately succeed in drawing significant audiences. We also analyze how they will begin to see some advertising dollars, look at who second screen audiences are, explore the second screen opportunity from the broadcaster angle, and detail the opportunity represented by audience analytics and second screen commerce. Read >>

What Every Executive Needs To Know About Social Media (Dave Kerpen via LinkedIn)
Social media is still in its infancy, and many business executives still don't understand how to leverage it for their organizations, large or small. They're too focused on the talking, and not focused enough on the listening. Whatever your organization does, you can find your customers and prospects on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and everywhere on the social Web, by listening for the right words. The one thing every business executive must understand about social media: The secret to social media success isn't in talking - it's in listening. Read >>

Making Your Blog More Marketable (Hubspot via Social Media Examiner)
Blogs are a form of social media. Through social sharing, comments and guest posts, blogs provide the basis for building a targeted community. In fact, HubSpot‘s research showed that blogs top other forms of social media for effectiveness.

Hubspot

Whether you’re a small business or a Fortune 100 company, blogs should be at the heart of your content marketing because blogs fuel social media, search optimization and the sales process. Read >>

What Type Of Social Networker Are You? (MyLife via Mashable)
You can probably group friends into categories based on their online behavior. According to a social behavior study by MyLife, which was conducted among 890 adults ages 18 and older, there's a good chance you fit into one of these personas. Read >>

MyLife