AdWeek runs a kind of post-mortem on the two nearly identical Facebook back-to-school campaigns by Target and Wal-Mart. Nothing really new here; Target's was apparently successful, and Wal-Mart's became a board for voicing broader anti-company concerns. This quote about Target's effort is funny: "Target also wanted to communicate in the students' vernacular [...] Instead, words such as "awesome" were used with some frequency." Wal-Mart would've been crucified if it openly tried something like that. Actually, it was: "Students immediately perceived the inauthenticity of Wal-Mart trying to give fashion/style/taste advice and called them out on it." The reputation-rich are getting reputation-richer.
Some numbers. The article says Target is rumored to have spent some $500K on the sponsored page and banners on the site from mid-July to October 1. In return, it got "7,176 members, 409 photos, 483 posts and hosted 37 discussion groups." Which makes $70/member, or $1222/photo, or 1035/post, or $13.5K per group.
