Advertisers Don’t Get Social Media

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March 20, 2009 | BY Glenn Seaberg
  


Glenn Seaberg
Spyder Trap Online Marketing

“The expected growth in social network spending in 2009 is half of what eMarketer had projected it would be in our previous forecast in December 2007.”

So why is ad spending down especially now when social media is more popular than email? That’s easy – advertising on social media doesn’t work.

Advertising, by its very nature, forces a message upon those exposed to it. Advertisers can carefully target users all day long, but an ad is an ad. We, as social media users, don’t want ads – we want conversation, engagement, and interaction.

I offer simple advice to companies with regard to social media:

Skip the ads and get engaged! If you are going to tap into the power of social media, you have to play by its rules.

Here’s how a company can harness social media:

  1. Don’t buy ads.
  2. Make the effort to participate in the conversation.
  3. Use a “voice” that is not commercial.  Give someone other than your copywriters the chance to participate.
  4. Post links to landing pages containing specific and relevant content (video, blog posts, etc).
  5. Brand these landing pages – if users value your content, they will value your brand. Take advantage of that – that’s money!  After all, you are providing a valued service or product.   From there you can provide links to directly to your commercial web site.

I’m sure there are social media purists who will criticize my advice.  What’s your take?  Is there room in the social media sphere for commercial participation?  Or does corporate involvement threaten the free exchange of ideas and unbiased dialogue that social media facilitate?

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  • http://www.aleurosolutions.com @KSL

    I could not agree with you more. Just this morning I was talking to my business partner about “personal brands”, she’s writing a blog post on the topic. It just hit me funny that we’re still talking about them. I guess I’m passed drawing the line between my ‘real’ life and ‘virtual’ one ( …does anyone even say virtual world anymore?). Its a whole life with real connections to people, businesses, and products, that sometimes happens online. Our brand is our personality, or it should be if we’re “playing by the rules”.

    With product and service providers its the same. Businesses are people too. I tell business folks all the time, when it comes to advertising and social media – stop saying what you are and just be it. Be the best version of yourself or business that you can be, and the people that value you and will propel you.

  • http://www.twitter.com/mikerynchek Mike Rynchek

    @KSL,

    I agree with you as well. It is so difficult to distinguish between personal and professional social media. This is the beauty of social media. Firms can finally show a human side of their business and engage with a perspective audience like never before. I agree with Glenn in that the approach should be considered. Too corporate and you look fake or irrelevant, too loose and you look unprofessional. The key is to identify with your audience and remember if you don’t want the world to know, don’t post it. That’s called the MOM test. If wouldn’t want your mom to know don’t post it.

    Interesting topic.

    Mike