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The
eyeballs have it
Marketers still struggle with wrapping their heads around
the value of social media, and how to best connect their
brands with communities. Because the online world moves
at near light speed, our tendency is to jump in, or endlessly
noodle over, the latest media trends and technology. The
thing is – it takes time for these hatchlings to mature.
But according to Forrester, 75% of Internet users now participate
in social networking at some level, so if you were waiting
to see if it's a flash in the pan, I think it's safe to
say social media isn't going anywhere.
Social
media ad dollars are also on the rise, with just over $1.4
billion estimated this year. While this is just a small
fraction of the $24.9 billion online spend, it’s up
55% from last year. MySpace and Facebook snagged the largest
portions of the advertising pie, but Twitter, Tagged, and
Ning lead the race in audience growth (Nielsen
Online). And it’s not just the youngsters anymore
– Forrester found that 35 – 44 year olds are now
jumping on the social bandwagon as well.
Despite
Facebook’s “Beacon” faux pa earlier this
year, a recent Forrester report shows 29% of users prefer
targeted ads, while only 13% of users are worried about
sites tracking their behavior. The trick is to not cross
the “creepiness” line, which Facebook did by broadcasting
shopping behavior without permission.
The
thing is, consumers might be OK with trading their information
for relevant ads, but perhaps advertisers and media providers
are still missing the definition of “relevance.”
While it's remotely relevant that I surfed game design schools,
it’s not something I care about. By contrast, social
networking sites have access to a bottomless well of demographic
and psychographic information, some “declared,"
other "inferred." But lack of sophisticated targeting
algorithms, or perhaps lack of a quantity of quality advertisers,
still results in members getting ads that have nothing to
do with their interests.
Who
has the targeting information that could actually provide
a relevant advertising experience users want? My money goes
to the “known and trusted merchant.” Amazon knows
everything I want – it’s in my wish list. IMDB
and Netflix know my movie interests. Expedia knows where
I like to go, and L.L.Bean knows I only shop with them at
Christmas. If technology could provide a solution to integrate
the advertiser data into the targeting equation, consumers
might begin to actually feel "engaged." TruEffect
continues to develop solutions to create the most optimum
engagement between advertiser and consumer, anywhere they
meet on the web.
So,
what of the wonderful opportunity to intimately engage with
your customers on social media? It still has a way to go,
but in light years……. It might not be such a long
wait.
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