Social networking has become a necessity amongst today’s generation, now we see corporations getting involved. Lets focus on facebook.
Facebook currently has more than 500 million users. The average user has 130 friends, and for each of those users the average number of community pages a person belongs to, is about 80; this includes groups and events. There is no doubt to whether users are connecting with each other on facebook, or how deep that connection is. That can be told by how many times a person interacts with others, how often and the content involved.
The question we should be asking is how effective is the information being provided, and are marketers connecting to users? What does connecting mean? For users, connecting is supplying a pool of personal information to marketers, while they enjoy their online lives. Majority of Internet users know this, so how do they view the advertisements customized for them, based on their browsing habits, emails and facebook likes?
Based on survey's conducted in June of last year, 53.5% of users said they "don't mind them," while 40.3% of users made it a point to say, "I dislike them." It is no surprise that so many people on facebook dislike advertisements in general. What is most interesting is the number of people that dislike advertisements from other sites. A total of 62.7% of users liked seeing advertisements from external websites the least.
So, what does connecting mean for those marketers? Can it really be called connecting if the users don’t like it? This could explain why majority of facebook marketing does not work. Likes are for people, like myself, who are too lazy to write a comment. Which is the attitude held for most interactive ads; if there too much effort required, I will navigate away. Now, if we consider how much data and information a company has on an individual user, it will always be impersonal. Online is impersonal; its convenient and intentional. We go online to avoid going into stores, and because search engines help us cut out the middleman.
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Sources:
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/06/15/facebook-users-survey-results-ads/
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/why_most_facebook_marketing_doesnt_workp2.php
I was reading this blog just now and agreeing with everything you just posted here. I am too lazy to write a comment on some people's pages and the "like" icon is just so much easier to use sometimes. There is no real connection between people who just happen to have met each other once or twice and "like" each other's status a couple of times. We might also "like" something but never go on their actual site or even purchase something from a vendor that we just happen to "like."
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ReplyDeleteI watched "The Social Network" the other day and thought the movie was pretty interesting, specially how it all started. I liked some of the stats you mentioned and I'm amazed about how much Facebook has grown, I mean 500+ million users?? thats insane. I wonder how Myspace is doing... Good Post- :)
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, marketing in social networking sites do not work because usually people are not looking to buy something every time they access their social networking sites like Facebook. However, to answer your question of “how effective is the information being provided”. Well, you provide that information. The way it works is with your profile, if you are a new or existing member you have to give Facebook some of you information things like age, sex, and location. In addition, Facebook gives you the option to add extra stuff that sellers can use things like school you go to, if you are in a relationship, your religion, the music you like, the movies you like, and all those things that are not required to open or to keep your account open but that you can still add. All that information helps Facebook narrow down who you are and what kind of advertisement might work for you. The perfect example, Now that I am “in a relationship” I do not get the “singles around your area ad” anymore, haha.
ReplyDeleteThat’s the Truth,
Mauricio
I’m one of those people that hate’s advertisement on facebook, so I can relate to what you’re saying here in your blog. When I go on to facebook all I really want to do is see what some of my friends are up to, post some pictures, and post a statues ever now and then. I barely leave comments on friend’s pages because after a day my e-mail is bombarded with tones of facebook updates informing me that 10 or more people have also commented after my post. When I intentionally go online to look for products that I am considering buying is the only time that I’m ok with seeing a lot of advertising. An idea that I think would be great for a site like facebook would be to have an ad page. The ad page could be an application like the marketplace. It could have a section for big name brands and one for home business. This application could show a special ad for the week that could link you to that businesses facbook page. I would prefer to use an application like this because it would make it faster and easier to find discounts for specific products that I am looking for instead of receiving random ads on my home page that I never visit.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, you make valuable points in your topic. Nonetheless, I believe that you do not necessarily need a consumer to fully connect with the brand online to increase brand awareness. Every time I see a like on Facebook I notice the brand that is trying to get you to like them. This process overall increases brand awareness, which may aid in a future sale for the company.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement that likes are for people who are too lazy to leave comments. I also agree that we do go online to cut out the middleman and avoid stores; however, being exposed to these advertisements make me more inclined to visit the website that is in my face as opposed to another random site. I am also more likely to visit the website of an ad that I have "liked" since it is already on my mind.
ReplyDeletethe answer is yes. social networking works for business. lets look at some of these numbers facebook has half a billion users . even with 40 percent say they dislike ads that leaves about 300 million(equivalent to about the US population)that may be willing to see an ad on facebook. Thats still a huge market.
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