At Least One Big Advertiser Has Faith in Facebook

After the unfortunate timing of General Motor's withdrawal of its Facebook ad-dollars, the social network just got an unexpected endorsement from Coca-Cola, which said it will stick with its precarious model.

After the unfortunate timing of General Motor's withdrawal of its Facebook ad-dollars, the social network just got an unexpected endorsement from Coca-Cola, which said it will stick with its precarious model. "If we can get 40-million plus fans, or even some subset of them talking positively about the things we're doing, ultimately that's a good thing for us," Joe Tripodi, Coca-Cola's chief marketing officer told The Wall Street Journal's Sam Schechner. "I think it's probably a leading indicator of potential sales." Though Coke could get that for free via its Facebook page, Tripodi said he expects advertising spending on social media to grow.

The timing couldn't be better for Facebook, as it still faces criticism over its advertising model. Though, new research showed Facebook drives sales, it still didn't prove that paid-for Facebook ads work. And, it doesn't help that just yesterday billionaire investor Mark Cuban dropped his shares. But, none of that seems to bother Coca-Cola. "If we can't precisely measure it down to the CPM, or using traditional methods of measurement, then at this point, so be it. Sometimes you have to take a little leap of faith," added Tripodi.