Advertising on Social Media

This ClickZ track session on advertising with social media was moderated by Rebecca Lieb and included Gary Stein, Henry Copeland, Bill Flitter and Marc Schiller. I covered a very similar session on social media and advertising at Chicago ad:tech earlier this summer a lot more in depth than this post.

First up was Gary Stein who says social media is a way companies can expand beyond the reach of regular advertising.

Consumers are most responsive when you meet them as equals which is most evident with consumer recommendations. When you start partnering with your consumers and allow them to partner with each other in your presence, is when you can gain real value from social media.

Brands want media and agencies want brands.
Bud.TV
Yahoo sites: Ninetendo Wii.

Principles of web 2.0 and social media.
“bottled water for cats?”

Henry Copeland – Blog Ads

Started selling advertising on blogs in 2002 and currently represents 1300 independent blogs.

Publishers used to control ordered distribution of news, whereas now influentials trade news and commentary in real time swarms.

The best ads fit into blogs hyper linked news and views rich conversation. It must be a compelling image and message.

Ads are content too – experiment with ad sizes. Subtle tweaks can make a big difference. Content rather than hardsell equals more clicks.

With blog advertising, create an interesting and engaging ads and the blog community will start talking about your ads.

Bill Flitter – Pheedo

Use RSS to power marketing programs. Social media introduces new models of value creation.

How do media companies become involved with social media advertising?

Gives a case study involving Citrix Online for a product called GoToMeeting. Used Lockergnome Podcast as the publisher. Media was RSS, Podcasts and website/blogs. Drove leads to GoTo Meeting by demonstrating product during podcast and reading a promo code and capturing data on links and leads. Used the product using GoTo Meeting to see another product on Chris Pirillo’s desktop. Also encouraged people to stay after the show and gave away a free copy of the software.

The show had 800 mentions on other blogs and web sites as a result of not being intrusive and focusing on demonstrating the use of GoTo Meeting.

Regular media compaigns hit a climaz and then taper off. Social media advertising campaigns keep on giving. This is because social media campaigns engage encourage discussion of the ads which generates residual traffic. ie, “the campaign long tail”.

Marc Schiller from ElectricArtists. Games in Second Life.

What is Second Life?
Since the bubble burst, the internet has become a lot more social. McKinsey – 1 in 8 couples married last year met online.

The success ful companies are not only using the web to connect to their customers but to connect their customers together.

Second Life is a set of overalapping virtual communities. It is a true virtual world, and not a game.

“Our goal with second life is to make it better than real life” Phillip Rosedale, Founder.

1.6 million residents
median age is 33
participation is 50/50 male/female
3,000 people making more than $20,000/year

What makes second life unique?
it has longevity – a true functioning economy
some people are making their living in Second Life
all content is made by users
content owners own their IP
buying land is second life is equivalent to buying space on a server – which is how Linden Labs makes their money

Why do brand advertisers want to get into second life?
prototyping
brand re-invention
PR Awareness
ecommerce opportunities

Obstacles:
No direct ROI
Budgeting to make and maintain
Learning curve

Rewards:
New channel of communication
Deeper connections
New connections to a new audience

Starwood Hotels: Aloft, a new type of hotel opening in Second Lift to prototype. Other second life brands involved with Second Life include Scion (car) and iVillage.

QA

What are the metrics for social media?

The goal is not just getting people to try and buy, but to get them to help to make it. maybe a metric would be, how many people did you convert to a partisan. The ads that are working are those that invite participation.