Media: advertising doom and gloom facebook innovation social media web 2.0
by Josh
Why Social Media is Important, and Will Continue to Be
Time and time again I’ve come across blogs and mainstream media writers discussing one of two things:
- The demise of social media
- Marketers “ruining” social media with advertising
Both of these cause an involuntary raise of the eyebrow, especially when the articles they are writing are bordered by the exact things they decry. You can, of course, visit any of these sites as you find yourself in the paradox of a form of social media supported by advertising decrying the use of advertising in social media. There’s a clear lack of symbiosis to say the least, and it seems both counter productive and counter-intuitive.
A study by Rosetta and released by PRNewswire (09/08) shows that 59% of retailers are using Facebook. And that’s significant, and it also raises certain questions. Why on earth would a business want a facebook and why would “facebookers” want to be friends or fans of these businesses. Well, for one, there’s the phenomenon of brand loyalty that can’t be overlooked. Consumers often want to show their support for a certain brand (I have an apple sticker on my back window…) or group, and this is one way to make a public endorsement of a company. It’s a give and take relationship too. The Apple Students group for example, offers periodic “samplers” for those who are a part of the group. Who complains about ads when you’re getting free music? More importantly, who even notices the “ads” when it’s free episodes of Tina Fey’s material from 30Rock and SNL, or music from your new favorite emerging artist?
What the doomsayers of advertising keep forgetting is that it’s not a bad thing. Yes, it’s pervasive and overwhelming. Yes, sometimes it can be a bad thing. But advertising is not inherently intrusive, and often people actually crave it to be a part of their every day life. As mentioned in the study from Rosetta, “It’s important that retailers don’t just slap up a page because everyone is talking about Facebook.” That’s true. Taking an “everyone’s doing it” approach to promotions will lead to market saturation and will prevent you from making a positive investment and prevent you from fostering client relationships. And that’s the value of companies using social media:
- It creates a way for advertisers to connect with clients/users without appearing as ads.
- It drives innovation. Burger King, while slightly disturbing, has shown that buzz can come from creativity and innovation, even if it might make you cry yourself to sleep at night.
- It helps you communicate new, interesting things to the people who clearly care. One of the most valuable business lessons learned in school is that new client relationships are less cost effective than improving existing relationships. If you can do both at the same time on the same budget through social media, you’ve just created value for all involved.
- It removes the stigma from advertising. I can vote for which ads I’d like to see more of and help Facebook target me for things I might actually be interested in (like new movies or Obama’s inauguration). Why on earth would I complain about news I want to hear? Because it somehow defiles Facebook? As though it had far to fall from “Stalkerbook” status…
- When done well, it gets rid of the chaff. Good ads and innovation force the hands of those taking the cheap route. Brand recognition is one of the strongest forces in decision making, so failing to effectively advertise in an increasingly more difficult environment will mean failure to establish brand recognition.
- Have I mentioned it drives innovation? When you crowd out the market with GOOD advertising and effective communications, you force people to do better work to compete. That’s also not a bad thing, especially when the thing our economy needs most right now is innovation.
