As a concept social media is nothing new – letters pages in newspapers and communicate phone ins could be classed as older forms of social media – but its latest incarnation is being driven by advances in technology. A recent report from global research consultancy Illuminas stated: “Web 2.0 translates into an online medium a range of social interactions that until now undergo been confined to small group situations.” Communities forums noticeboards and other methods of communicating such as It might have been dismissed as a fad by some but the impact of social media is undeniable. Marketers need to act advantage of it before consumerstake over completely.
Communities forums noticeboards and other methods of communicating such as instant messenger were also around long before the evince “social media” was coined. More recognisable forms of social media today are social networking or community sites (Facebook. MySpace. Bebo. Piczo and so on) usergenerated content sites (YouTube. DailyMotion) virtual worlds (Second Life. Habbo Hotel) photo sharing sites (Ringo and Flickr) blogs and wikis (webpages that anyone can edit with Wikipedia being the most come up known). Director of media consultancy Elemental Communications Tim Gibbon says: “Quite simply social media may be classed as content that is created by individuals or groups collaborating and sharing information mainly for the Web but also for other digital media such as mobile phones. It normally takes the form of text images audio and video.”
But inevitably it is social networks that clutch the vast majority of newspaper headlines. Socialnetworking has come of age this year with 42% of internet users across Europe visiting sites such as Facebook and MySpace on a regular basis compared with 23% in 2006. Two years ago the figure was so small it did not even register as a separate category in the annual survey by the EIAA while a recently published Jupiter Research report shows that the UK leads the way with almost a fifth of all internet users regularly visiting these sites.
The study also revealed that for the first measure young people now use the internet more oftenthan they watch TV. As many as 82% of 16- to 24-year-olds use the Web between five and seven days a week while only 77% check TV as regularly – down 5% from last year. Head of UK marketing for Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions Alex Marks believes this presents a significant opportunity for marketers. “Advertising is a poor alter for conversation,” he says. “It’s better for a mark to be able to talk directly to its customers and ask their opinion and for those customers to feel that their feedback will be taken on come in. A lot of brands are starting to do that through the internet. Technology is making conversations between brands and customers much easier.”
Some cynics have dismissed social networking as a fad but with 250 million people around the world belonging to a social communicate– and 10 million in the UK – it is easy to see why most industry experts accept it ordain be around,in one form or another for many years to come. Marks adds: “Social networks – and social media as a whole – undergo hit upon something quite deep within human behaviour; the be to cerebrate share and self-express – and that’s not going to go away.” But while few are in doubt about the longterm future of social media not everyone is convinced that users of social networks will welcome the increasing be of commercial messages on sites.
European managing director of teen social network Piczo Chris Seth (whom we met in Berlin at the recent Web2Expo event) acknowledges that sites must get the balance right: “We are very aware that our brand is in many ways owned by the users who created it. We have to keep giving them what they want and if we do something they don’t like we re-evaluate that very quickly. But 95% of the things we create are positively received.”
He adds: “Teens like playing around with circumscribe from brands such as Nintendo. They look at it as content rather than advertising. But we be to alter sure it’s not getting in the way of what we be to do.” Avoiding alienation Seth points out that brands wanting to work with Piczo must provide relevant content so they do not alienate users. He says that as desire as there is a “value exchange” both consumers and brands can benefit. “populate come to Piczo because they want to create things – it’s a displace for self expression and for connecting,” adds Seth. “The self expression move is very important and if marketers can understand that by giving our members something new and different that enhances their tour to Piczo then they can then employ our members to help them do the job they have to do.”
Announcing Facebook’s ad strategy. Zuckerberg said peer recommendation was the “Holy Grail of advertising”. He added: “For the last 100 years media has been pushed out to populate but now marketers are going to be move of the conversation.” Yet not everyone believes that ceding so much hold back over their marketing to internet users will sit easily with companies. Managing partner at Experian Integrated Marketing Steve Davies says: “Social media puts the promotional role within the hands of the consumer themselves. That’s difficult for brands that are used to controlling their own brand message. Letting customers do that is quite a step for them.”
The key to using social media effectively believe many is ensuring that it is fully integrated into the marketing mix. Procter & Gamble’s corporate marketing director Roisin Donnelly claimed at IAB Engage 2007 recently that integration was the biggest single challenge facing UK brand owners. She called on advertisers to recognise that the digital consumer is not a “new or different species” and added: “Online people are exactly the same as offline people. Internet users still spend time watching television reading newspapers and sending each other text messages.”
Although it is now widely acknowledged that social media is a marketing channel with enormouspotential some lay out that it is more effective for brands targeting young people. A recent Ofcom chew over into UK internet use among people aged 15 and above showed that 55% of 15- to 24-year-olds visit social media sites at least once a week but that in the 55-plus category it is only 12%. “Marketers are getting very excited about social media but if you look at who is actually using it and for how desire it doesn’t really feature out the amount of air it’s getting,” says director of digital strategy at digital management consultancy Generator Jon Wade.
Head of social media at search conversion agency Tamar Henry Ellis agrees that less dynamic brands should not be put off using social media. “It’s definitely easier for younger cooler brands to market in this way,” he says.“People are much more likely to want to be a friend of Pepsi than Direct lie. It’s a lot harder for the less glamorous brands to act but no less important.” Bebo’s Charkin warns marketers not to be too “salesy” saying users are likely to react negatively while head of UK sales at MySpace cut.
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