Adotas

Where media buyers start online

Featured Author

Author Photo

Jere Doyle is Prospectiv's founder, president and CEO. Doyle founded Prospectiv in 1999 and provides the visionary leadership that has established the company as a leader in the online customer acquisition industry. Prospectiv, based in Wakefield, MA., provides customer acquisition solutions to leading pharmaceutical, consumer packaged goods, retail, education, personal finance and travel brands helping them to build an in-house list of consumers interested in their products and services.

More articles by Jere Doyle





Features

Social Networking + BT = Success

Written on
June 30th 2008
Author
by Jere Doyle  |
Feed
   XML Feed

target1.jpgADOTAS EXCLUSIVE — There has been a lot of wringing of hands and a lot of fuss about whether or not advertising has a place in social networking environments, but the answer is very basic – it all comes down to targeting.

In a recent consumer survey conducted by Prospectiv (caveat: the company I founded), nearly 800 users of social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Hi5 and others were polled, and the majority of respondents say that ads and offers they currently see don’t speak to them. Predictably, consumers are therefore not responding to these ads. But additional poll findings point out the opportunity for brand marketers seeking to reach consumers in these niche online communities. Fifty-six percent polled said their online experience would be improved and they’d welcome ads and offers from their favorite brands and products if they were targeted to their specific interests and preferences.

What consumers want from advertisements

According to the survey, consumers said the types of tailored ads and offers they would respond to are:

•    One-off coupons and savings offers from the brands and products they buy (62%)
•    E-newsletters featuring coupons, discounts, information and tips about favorite brands (24%)
•    Invitations to join interactive email groups, online forums and social networks for sharing and communicating (14%)

Consumer opinions of current advertisements

Although members of social networking sites are open to receiving offers and promotions from marketers, the majority of the advertisements currently on social networks are not speaking to their needs, preferences or specific interests. The survey has shown users responding with the following answers:

•    Very few ads match consumers’ interests and preferences (58%)
•    None of the ads match consumers’ interests and preferences (29%)
•    Most ads match consumers’ interests and preferences (13%)

Because ads are not matching consumers’ interests, consumers are not clicking on them. The survey has shown that more than half (54%) of consumers never click on advertisements on social networks, 39% of consumers occasionally will respond to ads and only 7% will often respond to ads.

Additionally, 85% of consumers said they are more likely to join a free social networking site supported by interactive advertisements and offers targeted to their interests rather than a paid social networking site without commercial advertisements.

So the question is not — Does social networking need advertising? – but rather – How can social networking publishers improve advertising targeting to enhance the user experience? A lot of the discussion for solving the targeting problem has revolved around viral marketing and the use of automated ad serving technologies such as behavioral targeting.

These approaches can help, but to get to what consumers who belong to social networking sites really want, social networking publishers would be best served working with a customer acquisition company that uses sophisticated targeting technology in point-of–action areas of the site with valuable ads and offers that consumers would like to see. Get your visitors to raise their hands and you’ll be able to serve them exactly what they want. Social networking sites are ideally suited to this approach because there is almost always a registration/welcome step to joining, and it is possible to identify which brands the consumers want to hear from right out of the gate.

Point-of-Action offer providers run customer acquisition campaigns for major brands and specialize in these specific integrations, allowing all types of publishers to build new revenue streams. Social networking sites in particular can benefit from what these offer providers have in the way of experience, established relationships with the leading brands, and the complicated technologies for delivering and optimizing these ads and offers. No more need to wring your hands about monetizing your site traffic. There are reputable, highly sophisticated companies that can do this at no cost to the publisher.

This model works for all parties: Brand marketers get to reach individual consumers who have expressed an interest in their brand and products with intent to buy; Social networking publishers can bring in big brand advertisers along with significant ad revenues, and Consumers get access to free offers that match their interests and can opt-in to further details form brands they know and trust.

It’s really that simple. Social networking sites are just another form of published content, and in order for publishers to provide the vehicle, they need advertising to support their business models. Consumers are accustomed to advertising in publishing environments, and many times find these advertisements useful and informative. It comes down to the basics from the advertising perspective. The same marketing and advertising principles that drive all successful campaigns apply to social networking — target your ads to the specific interests and preferences of your audiences, and everyone gets what they need.



No Tags
Article Sponsor

More Features

Reader Comments.

I absolutely agree.

People like valuable offers and if they are relevant it should be a hit, even in social networks.

Clearly a win-win situation where consumers get valuable offers and brands enjoy their word-of-mouth

Posted by Udi Barone | 8:55 am on July 10, 2008.

Leave a Comment

Add a comment


Spotlight

HipCricket: SMS Is Still the Wave of the FutureADOTAS EXCLUSIVE — HipCricket, a mobile marketing company, has been changing the way advertisers think about reaching their audiences since [...] more...

Adotas Partnership