Social Ads for Social Media

Facebook does not have many ads on its site, but the ads that they do have are different from most banner ads because they are strategically targeted to an individual's profile, and they are socially interactive.  This type of interactive ad makes sense with the demographic of people on Facebook who already consider the Internet very social.

The ads sometimes give viewers the option of "Like-ing" the ad, becoming a fan of the product or company on their Facebook page, or sending an online RSVP to the Facebook event being advertised.  This might not be that different from the usual click-through ad except for one rather unusual feature.  If you choose to get rid of the ad by clicking the small gray "x" in the upper right corner, you are asked to comment on why you do not like the ad.

Comment box that appears when you try to remove an ad on Facebook.

This comment box serves as a useful tool to create a database of customer preferences and conduct market research.  As Facebook tells it, "Over time, this information helps us deliver more relevant ads to our users."

Facebook already uses a lot of its users' information to segment its advertising like, location, age, sex, keywords, education, workplace, relationship status, relationship interests, and languages.  You can find out more about how Facebook segments its users on the Facebook advertising page.

I know from personal experience that the ads on my Facebook page are very responsive to changes I make to my profile.  Once for April Fools Day I changed my relationship status to "engaged" and I was immediately barraged with ads about wedding rings, dresses, photographers, venues, caterers, and more.  Also, when I was studying abroad in Barcelona last spring, my Facebook advertisements were mostly in Spanish or Catalan.

Facebook's interactive advertising style with the opportunity to remove ads, comment boxes, "Like" buttons, "Become fan" buttons that link to the advertiser's Facebook page, etc., is a new type of online advertising that works well with the site's already interactive nature.  It also reflects a general increase in Web sites integrating "social" options that make interaction between companies and consumers easier.

Social Media and Flip Video: The Perfect Marriage

Traditional media was once the only way people could spread information to mass audiences but new technology and social media have changed all that.  Cheap digital cameras and social networking sites like YouTube and Facebook have enabled common Internet users to become their own media outlet and share information with their social networks.

Just as traditional media shares information with the public, social media shares information with social networks.  The new Flip Video™ digital camcorder is perfectly suited for social media because it empowers people to take and share video more easily.  To maximize on this connection to social media, Flip Video™ has created a "community" using many forms of social media.

Their Facebook page allows Flip Video™ users to share their favorite videos and ask technical support questions from other fans.  Their MySpace page has exclusive videos from the Vans Warped Tour '09, forums, and comments.  Their YouTube channel has videos of "example Flip-able moments" like a flash rave on the beach, two babies playing together, a giraffe, etc.  Their Twitter account posts special offers, discounts, and contests.  They also send out a newsletter to more than 465,725 fans that you can sign up for from their Web site.

Some British girls use the Flip Video™ to record their weekend shenanigans.

Without social media, the Flip Video™ would probably not have as much success.  Social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook enable people to share their videos easily, so a simple, highly portable camcorder like the Flip Video™ just makes the video sharing process easier.

In addition, social media has created a culture of people who like to share information about themselves with their social networks and the public, so they will be more interested in being able to shoot video wherever, whenever.  More private cultures and individuals would probably not be as enthusiastic.

Verizon Jumps on Vampire (and Social Media) Bandwagon

In an effort to tap into the vampire frenzy that began with the Twilight saga, Verizon Wireless partnered with MTV to launch a cross-platform murder mystery miniseries about students at Valemont University who turn out to be (spoiler alert!) vampires.  A girl's brother is murdered at Valemont, and all she has is his old Verizon Wireless phone conveniently packed with tons of video footage, text messages, and emails to help her solve the mystery.

Mini episodes of Valemont play each week after MTV's The Hills and The City and are then posted on MTV's Valemont Web site.  You can help solve the mystery by signing up with Verizon to receive text clues to your phone or by "enrolling" on the Valemont University Official Web site where you can send and receive messages with the show's characters on a virtual Verizon Wireless phone.

You can also interact with characters and other fans on the Facebook page, character Twitter pages, flikr page, blog, interactive forum, and more.  For the few hundred or thousand people that are interested, these Web sites and social media platforms offer lots of opportunities to get to know the characters and get involved with the story.

According to the 2008 Multiscreen Cross-platform Media & Advertising Engagement Study conducted by MTV Networks Research in collaboration with Harris Interactive and MauroNewMedia, viewers of The Hills who interact with the show both on TV and online are more responsive to the products advertised across those platforms.  They found that "advertising retention and associated value increases as a user is more engaged and experiences more platforms.  Advertising across platforms results in exponentially more interest in buying or considering the product advertised." (slide 20)

According to this research, fans of The Hills and The City who engage with the shows across platforms (TV and online) will be more receptive to the Valemont advertising across platforms.  So the cross-platform fans of The Hills and The City may be engaged, interested targets for the Valemont Verizon campaign, but I still do not think the Valemont miniseries is an effective strategy to sell phones.

This miniseries is pretty cool (and I can't wait to find out what happens!) but I do not think it was very strategic of Verizon Wireless.  As Al Ries said in his article, The TGIF Revolution is Nothing Without a Marketing Strategy, on AdAge, throwing social media at a communications problem does not always fix it.

Do people buy phones because they are prominently featured in online murder mysteries?  Will this Valemont miniseries actually lead to a shift in consumer behavior?  I find the Web sites and episodes entertaining, but I am not going to buy the Valemont Verizon Wireless phone or change my cell service provider, and I do not think many people will.