Lawrence Gee | Marketing, Internet, Creativity, Strategy

Is Social Network Advertising Special?

Lagging a bit behind rivals Google and Microsoft who already have advertising deals with Facebook and MySpace, Yahoo! just announced plans to sell ads on popular UK social networking site Bebo.  This marks the first time that Yahoo! has agreed to supply advertising for a social network. 

While these social networking sites offer tons of traffic (especially teenagers, college students, and young professionals), the bigger question remains if this type of traffic can translate into sales.  Typically these sites offer a location to keep up to date with friends, send short messages, and give the ability to share personal content such as photos and videos.  Are they there to purchase products or even learn more about them? Probably not.

Looking in the future for marketing on the web, I foresee today’s generation becoming increasingly numb to online advertising (especially banner and text ads).  But is this really any different from ”traditional” media like TV, radio, and print?  I feel that the same issue of consumer apathy applies to all.  In regards to social networking sites, marketers are trying many ideas from traditional display advertising to widgets to dedicated pages to elicit some form of response.  While the tools to reach our target market might be a little bit different, the challenge for us as marketers remains the same – how do we cut through the noise, engage customers, and make them care.

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