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Peter Koeppel is Founder and President of Koeppel Direct, a leader in direct response television, online, print and radio media buying, marketing and campaign management. With a Wharton MBA and over 25 years of marketing and advertising experience, Peter has helped Fortune 500 companies; small businesses and entrepreneurs develop direct marketing campaigns to increase profits.

Peter started Koeppel Direct in 1995 and has built it into one of the leading direct response media-buying firms in the U.S. Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/DRTVBUYER

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Social Media Advertising: Its Environment and Impact

Written on
Jan 24, 2012 
Author
Peter Koeppel  |
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Social Media Advertising: Its Environment and Impact

ADOTAS – It’s impossible to think of advertising these days without considering social media: Nightly news broadcasts advertise their Facebook pages at the end of the broadcast, and celebrity tweets are frequently used as direct quotes and source material in newspapers and on cable news programs.

It’s become clear that social media sites are essential to getting an audience – and an essential part modern advertising. Successful social media advertising takes into account the unique characteristics of social media and the paradigm it’s created.

Today, social media sites and related activities make up the largest portion of how people spend their time online. That’s only one of the reasons why it makes a lot of sense to invest time, money and additional resources into social media advertising.

It’s Not Just About Signing Up

There’s a push for businesses to be on social media, so many make the mistake of setting up profiles and then leaving it at that. For better or for worse, though, it isn’t enough to create a Twitter profile or a Facebook fan page and be done with it. Unlike traditional advertising, social media advertising is not a broadcast medium. Social media is all about creating connections and community. It’s not a place to shout about accomplishments or push products or services. Businesses need to develop and implement strategic initiatives like advertising, in ways that  help build that connection, through engagement and presence.

It’s All About Engagement

Social media has shifted the paradigm of how we relate and how people respond to advertising – and interruption-based advertising just doesn’t fit into that picture. Social media usage should be focused on sharing, engaging, listening and responding:

• Sharing helpful information – unique and branded content that is designed especially for their needs.
• Engaging – creating videos to share on social media and YouTube and adding social sharing buttons to website content, for example.
• Listening – reading replies to the content or doing research on what the market wants to
learn.
Responding – replying to comments promptly to show fans and followers that the company is engaged.

It Ties to Other Advertising

Social media platforms are frequently used as sounding boards for other media platforms. Advertising that doesn’t strike the right chords with an audience will definitely get a response on social media.

For example, a few years ago a Motrin ad targeted stressed-out moms with an ad they probably thought was clever and on point. However, the ad suggested that babywearing – the practice of carrying an infant around in a sling – was back-breaking and annoying and increased stress. In response, the natural parenting/attachment parenting community took the company to task on Twitter and Facebook and across the blogosphere. Motrin received so much negative backlash from the ad on social media, it was quickly pulled.

When a company is creating other forms of advertising, they should consider the reactions the may receive on social media.

It Can Be Measured

One of the biggest myths about social media advertising is that ROI is unachievable. The return on investment from social media is not a matter of growing a large number of likes, friends or followers – although that is where many companies place their emphasis. Social media ROI should be evaluated by the number of qualified leads a company is receiving, incremental sales increases and brand awareness. When a business can layer these metrics over the increase in social media, it becomes easy to find the ROI.

Social media has forever changed the way that consumers interact with companies. By understanding the new paradigm and applying best practices, businesses can make social media work for them.





Reader Comments.

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Posted by JAZMINE JONES | 7:12 am on April 27, 2012.

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