Will Brands Buy Facebook’s Pitch?

And it is seductive. Microsites have long been an expensive add-on to campaigns. Drawing people to them has been a chore. And once there, what’s in it for them? Facebook offers a more effective, and on its surface, much cheaper alternative. Build pages on Facebook, gain connections (likes) from the millions already there and keep up an ongoing connection with these people. There’s a pollyannaish view of all this, with echoes of Google’s rise a decade ago. Facebook wants to improve advertising and its brand pages are its benevolent way of nudging brands into engagement rather than blasting out messages.

The question for the marketer and publisher is: at what price? Facebook is in position to be the new gatekeeper of digital media, filling a role that was served singularly by Google for a decade. Google exacted a stiff tax for its role. Best Buy had to pay Google a tribute every time a user searched for its website. Why? Because Google was the gateway. You can imagine something similar as Facebook plays that gatekeeper role with the social Web. Sandberg and Everson want marketers to build marketing programs on their platforms, with a nice slice of the value coming their way. After all, Facebook has that kind of symbiotic relationship with Zynga, from which it extracts a hefty 30 percent tax on virtual currency.

Even more, when you’re building these connections on Facebook, you’re renting, not owning. Facebook not long ago changed how brand pages appear. This came as a surprise to most marketers. Using Sandberg’s own figures, the way they communicated with the majority of theic customers through social media changed overnight — without notice, much less consultation.

Finally, Facebook likes have uncertain value. The entire like action is very low-involvement. That’s why brands pile up so many of them. I pressed the CMO of Virgin America, Porter Gale, on this subject recently in regards to the value of a Facebook like versus a Twitter follower. She said the more valuable connection is good old-fashioned email.

This is not to say Facebook isn’t critical to marketers. It is and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. The question is how much marketers want to hitch their wagons to Facebook at the expense of going it their own way.