Social Advertising for Dummies
Posted on May 30, 2008
Posted by Tom Turnbull
We had a great discussion around the definition of “social advertising” today.
It turns out that it’s pretty darn simple.
A traditional destination website (e.g., ESPN.com) is a public forum. The basic way to advertise there is to post a sign (i.e., a banner ad). That banner ad might be well targeted, or it might be loaded with rich media, but it’s just a sign.
Ads on a blog are no different. Although blogs are broadly considered a form of social media, they are nothing more than destination websites with commenting (which is not a knock on blogs).
Social advertising happens in sites where people are linked together in some way (e.g., as “friends”). The obvious examples are Facebook and MySpace.
[I refuse to use the buzz word “social graph.”]
However, not all ads in social networks are “social ads.”
For an ad to be social, it has to be just that, social. This means that the ad is there because it has been invited. It has voluntarily been taken across the threshold and allowed into the inner sanctum of the profile page, just as a teenager might hang a picture of a Nike sponsored athlete on her bedroom wall.
Social ads are those ads allowed “in the circle.” All others are “outside the circle.”
Ads get invited inside the circle for one of three reasons:
1. The ads are tied to great content
2. The ads have utility, and/or
3. There is an economic incentive.
Most examples fall under category #1 (e.g., SplashCast’s Converse campaign). The art and science around these three factors will be the secret sauce of social.
Additionally, some ads, if not explicitly invited are accepted. For example, a music application tied to a sponsorship is social.
So, why should marketers care about all of this? The reason is simple: the power of word of mouth. Social ads create a powerful form of recommendation within the context of friend-to-friend connections found in social networks. This type of advertising is far more rich and authentic than other forms, and, ultimately, far more valuable.
Conversely, ads that haven’t been invited inside are “anti-social.”
For example, banner ads, however well targeted, appearing on a social network page are anti-social. They are, therefore, typically rejected (as evidenced by their comically low click-through rates and CPMs). Anti-social ads are like the junk mail that you would rather not invite into your house.
See, it’s all that simple.
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