There is cause for complaint. And it can be hard for marketers to
digest the fact that direct marketing is highly dependent on users’ own
network — not the advertisers’ and certainly not social media staffs’.
As was noted by Forbes last month when Facebook’s COO requested users to
‘click on a few ads.’ This mild ‘joke’ was asking for trouble.
Interpreted for desperation, the statement mirrors a general concern
shared by social media: that financial returns for their free services
are negligible.
Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has admitted to mobile incorporation
as being a challenge for Facebook. What is worrying for social media is
whether monetization will increase on mobile, because so far, it hasn’t
had much luck on the PC platform. Greenlight, a marketing company survey
reported 44 per cent of Facebook users “never click on sponsored ads,”
and a bare 3 per cent did so regularly. Depressing
as these figures are, advertisers and marketers seem to forget the complexity of the primary need for a user, which is to be social.
There is a dual-pronged expectation at play here accompanied with a sense of urgency: i) providing full access of social media on mobile and ii) to gain revenue from mobile advertisements. The first point is not too far from achieving. Facebook Timeline has been recently launched on mobile platforms and users are already waiting for third party applications to be included. Speaking of apps, Facebook’s integration with mobile is going to get deeper. Developers can now download the new SDK for iOS to create Facebook applications which comes complete with a tutorial, links to native apps and ‘Reference Docs’ for coding.
Advertisers need to start thinking like users. When a user is ‘highly engaged,’ advertisements in any form can be interruptive, or the user barely notices them because of his/her sole focus on the content. So the tactic of placing ads with great content is not a guarantee for revenue either, no matter how ‘engaging’ the content. A complete renovation is required for marketers to target their ads if they want to see success on the mobile platform via social media.
If it was really up to the users, a majority would simply do away with ads entirely. Unless they were to be incorporated into user content. Complicated as it sounds, what is required is a high level of creativity to use the users in a way that will benefit content plus promote the product simultaneously, not separately, as is the case with PC ads.
Whatever forms of advertisement on social platforms, whether notifications, Sponsored Stories and incentives, limitations can be turned to advantages on mobile adaptation and the experience will be far richer for all parties–first, second and third. Then there won’t be much cause for complaint.
This Blog originally appeared on Avenuesocial
as these figures are, advertisers and marketers seem to forget the complexity of the primary need for a user, which is to be social.
There is a dual-pronged expectation at play here accompanied with a sense of urgency: i) providing full access of social media on mobile and ii) to gain revenue from mobile advertisements. The first point is not too far from achieving. Facebook Timeline has been recently launched on mobile platforms and users are already waiting for third party applications to be included. Speaking of apps, Facebook’s integration with mobile is going to get deeper. Developers can now download the new SDK for iOS to create Facebook applications which comes complete with a tutorial, links to native apps and ‘Reference Docs’ for coding.
Advertisers need to start thinking like users. When a user is ‘highly engaged,’ advertisements in any form can be interruptive, or the user barely notices them because of his/her sole focus on the content. So the tactic of placing ads with great content is not a guarantee for revenue either, no matter how ‘engaging’ the content. A complete renovation is required for marketers to target their ads if they want to see success on the mobile platform via social media.
If it was really up to the users, a majority would simply do away with ads entirely. Unless they were to be incorporated into user content. Complicated as it sounds, what is required is a high level of creativity to use the users in a way that will benefit content plus promote the product simultaneously, not separately, as is the case with PC ads.
Whatever forms of advertisement on social platforms, whether notifications, Sponsored Stories and incentives, limitations can be turned to advantages on mobile adaptation and the experience will be far richer for all parties–first, second and third. Then there won’t be much cause for complaint.
This Blog originally appeared on Avenuesocial
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