Social Network Advertising Must Change for Brands

One of my favorite quotes for a presentation I am working on comes from a blogger, Samir Blwani at left the Box. He summarizes much of what has been written about the effectiveness of the current style of advertising in social networks:

“Social Network Advertising is a Waste of Time…”

While he gives a shot to inventorying the strengths of social networks including their larger-than-TV reach, ultimately he arrives at the conclusion that many have come to: the old model of interuptive advertising will not work well on a platform based on communication. But it's not the ad network inside Facebook that is at fault but how it is being used...

Randall Stross takes his own look at brands on Facebook in the NY Times. He questions the meager examples offered up by P&G and the somewhat empty experience of becoming a "fan" or "friend" of many brands. The Crest Whitestrips fan page dwindled from 14,000 back down to 10,000 following the wake of a promotion. Randall wonders if the effort of endless promotions to keep that number up may be prohibitive. Actually, it looks like Whitestrips has a weekly drawing or free product. While not the most inventive promotion, I can actually imagine that being useful to people.

He questions the promise of "social advertising" and the latest shiny object from the Facebook ad sales team, "engagement ads." A microtargeting test revealed a single person who perfectly fit that profile.

Brands are struggling (when experimentation gets "hard" it feels like a struggle) with how to make use of Facebook and other social networks. Some go the advertising route. Some create fan or group pages without much strategy beyond acquisition of fans or friends. Even Victorias Secret which has "acquired" some 790K fans on it's Pink Facebook pages, has not demonstrated the ability to do anything with that list yet.

My favorite anecdote is the contest within Facebook, "America's Favorite Stains," for Tide. The 11 month old campaign sports 18 submissions of people's "favorite places to enjoy stainmaking moments." I have been in those same conversations with different brand managers at other CPGs. Why not create a contest around my brand idea? Because it is not something people care about. This is also one of those cases where the real action was happening on the brand domain contest site. Facebook was merely an "acquisition window" for contestants. At least Victoria's Secret is delivering conetnt right into their Facebook page.

Wrong Conclusion

Mr. Stross concludes that brands can either try to be more intrusive in what will certianly become an escalating race of animosity with consumers - look what is happening with TV advertising. Or brands can spend a fortune creating "genuinely entertaining commercials." Wrong. Brands have a third path. They can shift gears from being the entertainment between the real entertainment to being of-use to people. To truly earn their attention and engagement, brands must provide customers something of value via their marketing efforts. An application that helps them save money or be more productive. Content that helps them do something more than just buy more product. An experience with the product. Or an invitation for customers to contribute what is important to them - content, product ideas, feedback.

There is so much more that brands can do to deliver value beyond the next generation of hyped-up advertising.

Comments

[Canadian Florist]

I am actually a member of the Victoria's Secret group on Facebook. I think that their updates are always very helpful/informative. However, I think that they need to send updates more often and maintain more consistent contact with users. Their on again/off again relationship with members is very unpredictable.

[giles rhys jones]

America's favourite stains - priceless! For all the chat about the future state of marketing I often forget the refined atmosphere we breathe up here at the top of the marketing blogosphere, foothills in my case. Thanks for bringing me back down to earth.

[Drew Gneiser]

I have found the emptiness of Facebook fan pages as well. Creating engaging, helpful information is really the key to a thriving community.

Thanks for the great post.

[John Bell]

Giles - how many times has a client (or us) fallen in love with a "brand idea" that makes no sense for customers? I actually think that the following post on agencies (ours) creating a retail beachhead could help us avoid "koolaid-itis"

[John Bell]

@Canadian Florist and @Drew - I am guessing that you are both right. facebook groups serve a simple CRM function right now - email the group an update. How can they be more? How can they earn a plce in people's personal news feeds?

[Flower Delivery Chicago]

I share the same point of view. I have worked on Facebook for quite a long time and I think it is hard to maintain a popular community or group.

[Jeff Paul Internet Millions]

I just want to add that why the method of social network advertising should be changed this is going perfectly and its quite easy so what else problem you faced should i know that ?

[Egy Azziera]

Facebook is clearly trying to drive more advertisers to use the platform, and it makes a lot of sense now with Facebook allowing you to drive non-fans to specific pages inside your business profile. This is going to add value and interest for users who will make their way to your Facebook page. Brands should embrace this tactic and give Facebook advertising a shot - you won’t be disappointed this time around.