How Social Media changed advertising

Social media has changed advertising. Advertising has, since its inception, held a dubious position within society. For example, when we watch TV or view a web page we consider it "what pays for the stuff we like". However, there are those of us that buy magazines just for the ads and the Sunday paper is filled with shopping specials. But, by and large, it is what is passed by for more interesting content. I have written a number of blog posts on this topic. I have over the past several years written several blog posts about advertising's diminishing effectiveness with consumers.

Advertising is diminishing in effectiveness largely due to explosive growth of Social Media and Social Networking. Never before have consumers had such control over brands. And consumers do this without constraint. Social Networks allow for free and unhampered communication and connection. How can advertising compete with all that fun stuff flying about?

nielsen-landscape-online-audience-utilities-video-social-media-unique-audience-february-2009.jpg via kwout

Well, Rich Cherecwich of Imedia Connect has an interesting solution; make advertising look less like advertising. This is a good step forward. At Prosperity Research we have avoided the advertising dilemma by been using video based social media marketing strategies with our clients for years. Consumers appear to be very willing to engage with brand messages provided those messages add value to their lives and are interesting. it is all about being relevant.

How about the value of video based social media. Well a recent article from Clickz.com made the generous statement that video was a good bet in a recession -- probably one of the most effective and affordable methods to reach and retain your consumers.

Much success,

Doug

Data Driven: What Men, Rich Women and China Love

Men love sex . . . and the Internet

Rich women love to shop online

China's loves the Internet

Men, Sex and the Internet
Unremarkably, Break Media reported that men prefer sex to most anything else. That is not terribly remarkable, but they also reported that for the first time men spend more time online than watching TV -- that is remarkable!

breakmedia-men-time-spent-internet-september-2008.jpg via kwout

Women love shopping . . . online
Another unremarkable set of data reported by the New York Times shows that women love to shop. Wow, that is a show stopper. What is remarkable is that affluent women love to shop online. The urban myth has always been that ladies who lunch prefer to do their shopping in person. Whereas it is very important to see and be seen, who wants to be seen squeezing your size 8 bum into a size 6 pair of jeans? Some secrets are better left to the privacy of home I guess.

Affluent Women Dramatically ‘Multiply’ Major Purchases with Word-of-Mouth via kwout

China loves the Internet
Unremarkable is that online ad/ marketing budgets are gaining an increasingly larger percentage of total spend. Even in these uncertain economic times, digital budgets are increasing because they have a a more accurately measured ROI. What is remarkable is that China is exploding!!! A 40% year on year increase in online budget spend tops anything imaginable. Go China go!!!

China's digital ad spend to rocket to $5.2bn Media guardian.co.uk via kwout

Data Driven: Stocks down, video up, online ad spend up, social sites up

As the financial crisis worsens more and more businesses are turning to online advertising for better ROI. They are especially finding the use of video and social networks to be the most beneficial. Print media is taking a hit and TVC is losing ground. The budget tightening requires more precise targeting, higher conversion and visible metrics that traditional marketing channels do not provide.

Online Video Ads Are a Good Bet in a Recession - ClickZ via kwout

Internet Ad Revenue Up 15.2% in First Half of 2008 via kwout

Consumers Await on Social Networks - eMarketer via kwout

From Print to Pixels or How Facebook Saved the Rainforest

How did Facebook save the rain forest?

Remember the idea of the paperless office? The technology that was supposed to transform the modern office into a ecologically friendly “green” office actually increased paper consumption by 40%, ouch! And like the office, print media continues to be the mainstay for most marketing campaigns, thereby creating a vast amount of waste that is difficult at times to justify. It appears our addiction to print is insatiable; or is it? A revolution is taking place that seems to be doing what no government, corporate or ecological initiatives could accomplish: Make our world paperless and green! What is driving this revolution? Simply, it is Social Networks.

“Facebook Saves the World”

The introduction of Social Networks has created unprecedented numbers of interpersonal connections and communications. People chat around the globe with strangers they now call friends. Social Networks are not a digitized form of old paper processes. Social Networks are not a virtual extension of their real world counterparts. They are their own creation and exist unto themselves. The methods of communicating, sharing and saving information are not based on paper driven models. This is the key to their success. Since Social Networks were created in the virtual world they do not have real world requirements to survive and flourish. It is this distinction that is bringing the printer to a stand still!

So what to do without paper?

Not surprisingly people seem to get on just fine without a big trail of paper. And not surprisingly, most businesses don’t seem to make the transition well. This is especially evident in their approach to advertising and marketing. The biggest mistake that businesses make, often under the advisement of advertising agencies, is to cut and paste their traditional “paper” model of advertising into Social Networks. It usually is about as subtle as a stripper in church and about as welcome. So what to do?

Suggestions:

• Recognise the new space and design your content accordingly
• Create content that people want to engage, share and interact with
• Remember that what you have to say is probably the least important part of the conversation
• Social Networks have very fluid boundaries. Create your content to evolve, move and change

Well, maybe Facebook did not save the rainforest. At least not yet, but in my humble opinion Social Networks are the first real progress made towards cutting back on paper consumption for communication. And that is undeniably a good thing.

Online Activity Dominates Our Lives

8 video myths debunked - iMediaConnection.com via kwout

Just 10 Sites, Apps Averaged at least 500MM UK Online Minutes per Month via kwout

A new online game in China every 10 days; 79.5 million Internet users via kwout