Facebook, Twitter and Google May Butt Heads in Mobile Advertising

When you think of Facebook, you think of connecting with friends and playing games.

When Twitter is mentioned, you are overcome with a need to Tweet. But, hear Google and off you go to search for

businesses, products, services or information on the virtual globe.

The one thing that you don’t think about when all three companies share the same sentence is mobile advertising

platforms. According to Investor’s Business Daily and Morgan Stanley (the investment firm), Facebook is venturing

forth into mobile video ads in the next few weeks. Adding insult to injury, Twitter’s recent purchase of

TapCommerce is working behind the scenes with major online companies such as eBay to lock them into exclusive

contracts for their mobile ads.

Wesley Yuhn states that marketers are being enticed by both Facebook and Twitter to take advantage of mobile

advertising through their sources instead of putting the ad money into Google. “The problem with that,” Mr. Yuhn

explained, “is that neither of these companies have a proven track record that they can deliver conversion rates on

par with the big search company.”

Morgan Stanley goes on to estimate that Facebook’s R & D department is ready to spend up to $5 billion to compete

with the search giant for ad money and determining the best ways to target its already phenomenal social network.

Google is serving up a platter of ads through what it calls “enhanced campaigns”. These ads include messages for a

multiple device package instead of the previous method of selecting which device to target exclusively.

Yahoo jumped on board the early train to mobile profiteering last February with its Yahoo Gemini but marketing

agencies are not showing as much interest in this player and many do not believe that Yahoo is a genuine contender

for the market as a whole.

Not to be left holding the empty bag, Twitter is focusing its efforts on delivering mobile ads through apps that

customers already have on their phones rather than trying to redirect them toward new or local businesses with

whom they have no previous interaction.

Twitter’s method of “app re-engagement” – yet another new term to add to your e-commerce lingo – prompts people

to download and open mobile applications on their smartphones. The first step is the tough one – getting them to

download apps that are new to them. Twitter is tweeting its way to the bank.