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It works. I have a friend who works for a small but stable independent company selling a consumer goods ( imagine 10 people selling hats online). 90+% of their

It works. I have a friend who works for a small but stable independent company selling a consumer goods ( imagine 10 people selling hats online). 90+% of their revenue depends on marketing. Almost nobody goes to "coolhats.com" to see if there is a sale, and nobody stops by to casually browse hats and see if there is something interesting. Instead, you have to put a cool hat in front of someone on facebook or reddit and show them. Ideally someone who recently conducted a related keyword search or has otherwise been profiled as a likely buyer.

nine_k 2y ago
Since you mentioned Facebook, I find their ads most precisely targeted (seeing as a target audience member regularly presented with relevant ads). They are also not obnoxious, even though not very modest either. Sadly, many websites and ad networks do a much worse job, which, to my mind, should produce infuriation and make a negative brand image, rather than awareness and sales.
- logicfiction 2y ago
  In a similar vein, Instagram was the first platform where I actually took a pause and realized someone had actually figured out how to give me appealing advertising over the internet. I don't use Facebook to know how they differ, it may be practically identical. My experience is that I use my Instagram account not to interact with my social group but to engage with content I like (primarily art content like sculpture, painting, light/projection, music, etc). It's actually a really pleasant experience and I'm doing my best to protect my groove in the recommendation algorithm. I basically get an effortless feed of art events in my area without me needing to subscribe to a newsletter. And it also engages me with a lot of independent artists selling unique items that I like.
- chuckadams 2y ago
  FB’s ad relevance is somewhat helped by the detailed psychometric profiles they build up over years of surveillance.
theshackleford 2y ago
100%. HN users will sit here and tell you all day long ads don’t work, having worked ad’s adjacent, I can assure you, they do. I do contract work for a bunch of ecommerce customers and for everyone one of them AdWords is 95+ percent of their traffic and sales.
- FridgeSeal 2y ago
  Do they “work” because they’re actually effective, or do they “work” due to being in so many places, that it’s basically inevitable that you end up in some conversion pipeline. If someone searches for “your_site.com” and the top 3 results are: an ad for “your_site”, “a competitor” and then the link to your site, and someone clicks the ad, and purchases something, that conversion will 100% look like the ad worked, but realistically the user was going to your site anyways.
  - s1artibartfast 2y ago
    In my friends experience, they have done advertising in waves. Turn off the adds and traffic and sales disappear. This is a pretty strong signal. The thing is that without ads, nobody is searching for your site, they don't know your product exists, and they don't want it.
  - Mindwipe 2y ago
    They work because they work. You stop the advertisising and the sales stop, instantly.

nine_k 2y ago

Since you mentioned Facebook, I find their ads most precisely targeted (seeing as a target audience member regularly presented with relevant ads). They are also not obnoxious, even though not very modest either. Sadly, many websites and ad networks do a much worse job, which, to my mind, should produce infuriation and make a negative brand image, rather than awareness and sales.

logicfiction 2y ago
In a similar vein, Instagram was the first platform where I actually took a pause and realized someone had actually figured out how to give me appealing advertising over the internet. I don't use Facebook to know how they differ, it may be practically identical. My experience is that I use my Instagram account not to interact with my social group but to engage with content I like (primarily art content like sculpture, painting, light/projection, music, etc). It's actually a really pleasant experience and I'm doing my best to protect my groove in the recommendation algorithm. I basically get an effortless feed of art events in my area without me needing to subscribe to a newsletter. And it also engages me with a lot of independent artists selling unique items that I like.
chuckadams 2y ago
FB’s ad relevance is somewhat helped by the detailed psychometric profiles they build up over years of surveillance.

theshackleford 2y ago

100%. HN users will sit here and tell you all day long ads don’t work, having worked ad’s adjacent, I can assure you, they do. I do contract work for a bunch of ecommerce customers and for everyone one of them AdWords is 95+ percent of their traffic and sales.

FridgeSeal 2y ago
Do they “work” because they’re actually effective, or do they “work” due to being in so many places, that it’s basically inevitable that you end up in some conversion pipeline. If someone searches for “your_site.com” and the top 3 results are: an ad for “your_site”, “a competitor” and then the link to your site, and someone clicks the ad, and purchases something, that conversion will 100% look like the ad worked, but realistically the user was going to your site anyways.
- s1artibartfast 2y ago
  In my friends experience, they have done advertising in waves. Turn off the adds and traffic and sales disappear. This is a pretty strong signal. The thing is that without ads, nobody is searching for your site, they don't know your product exists, and they don't want it.
- Mindwipe 2y ago
  They work because they work. You stop the advertisising and the sales stop, instantly.