Comments on: Debunking the Myths of Social Media Advertising

By: Ad Whore

Ad Whore — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:24:07 +0000

“Social media has revolutionized advertising in countless ways”

Name one.

By: Anu Shukla

Anu Shukla — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:12:12 +0000

Hi Scott,

Thanks for your kind words. I agree that the incredible CTR sounds almost implausible, but you have to keep in mind that we’re not comparing apples to apples here.

The CTR I’m referring to isn’t about users clicking on a banner ad alongside some irrelevant content. It’s the CTR for users that visit our offers page inside of social applications and online games. When users visit our page, they are already highly engaged with the application/gaming experience, and they are there specifically to search for ads they find interesting and relevant, of which there are many. Thanks to our targeting and optimization engine, those users typically find at least one, and oftentimes multiple, offers they’re interested in, so they end up clicking through to learn more.

The difference is that CTR traditionally measures how effective an ad is at getting a user’s attention. In our case, we already have their attention, so our CTR is a measure of how compelling and relevant the offer is.

Thanks,
Anu

By: Scott Pannier

Scott Pannier — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:14:39 +0000

Hi Anu,
First off, congrats on the article I read in the Sacramento Business Journal highlighting many of the widget and application development companies that have been successful raising money and doing very well revenue-wise. You wrote right after Myth #1 that “the average CTR for offers embedded in the user experience through offer-based platforms is closer to 25%”

Twenty-five percent? Really? I guess I could see 2.5% or that even .25% would be better than the industry average .1% but your percentage seems pretty inflated.

By: andreas.wpv

andreas.wpv — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:14:03 +0000

Good post.
I have done ‘social media marketing’ since around 2000, for example for the German national Ice hockey league.
The key is always to generate a story that triggers the target groups reactions. So this must be specific per topic and target group and then any campaign can fly – social or not. So, even in social media, content is king.

By: Anu Shukla

Anu Shukla — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:40:16 +0000

TheCosmonaut — thanks for your comments. You raise an excellent question, to which there really is no set answer. Yes, some applications or web sites certainly experience a swift rise and a corresponding decline, but others have been able to maintain their user base for an extended period of time — more so now that the industry has matured. It all depends on how engaging, viral and addictive the experience is.

In terms of the numbers we’ve provided, there is certainly a subset of the audience that you’d consider the “addicts,” who are helping to bring the numbers up overall, although I don’t know that I’d describe it as “drastic.” Certainly as an advertiser or a publisher you’ve got to make sure to cater to these users, but the middle-tier users are just as important. Someone who engages with our ad interface for 5 minutes per visit rather than 10 and comes back say 7 times a month rather than 14 is still extremely valuable.

Thanks,
Anu

By: TheCosmonaut

TheCosmonaut — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:11:04 +0000

Are there any figures on the longevity of social networking games and their virtual currencies? Just from anecdotal experience on social networks, it seems like a game will sweep through like wildfire and then be quickly forgotten. There are a couple fanatics that remain playing afterwards, but the majority of people move on.

I guess what I’m asking is: in the metrics that you provide, do you find that the majority of the people who visit your games display the levels of interaction you cite (10 minutes per visit, 14 visits per month), or is there a smaller pool of fanatics who are raising the overall averages dramatically?

BTW: Great article – thanks much for sharing actual data!