Are Social Media Consumers Better Advertising Targets?
February 26, 2008
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One of the theories around social media marketing is that you need to drop your hook where the fish are. Tech-savvy consumers, particularly younger tech-savvy consumers, eschew traditional marketing vehicles (like TV) and are generally so annoyed by advertising that they have tuned it out. Everyone knows that, right?
Data from Forrester Research’s North American Technographics Benchmark Survey (which they released on January 7, 2008) left me scratching my head because it challenges at least some of those assumptions.
- More likely to refer products to their friends (60% to 46%);
- Less likely to say that the volume of advertising annoys them (58% to 60%);
- More likely to be influenced by what’s hot and what’s not (18% to 10%); and
- More likely to say that advertisements help them decide what to buy (16% to 13%).
So, while it is also true that YouTube users watch less TV and read fewer newspapers, that does not mean that they are immune to, or averse to, marketing. In fact, from the sounds of things, they are curious about new things and open to hearing about them through marketing.
To me, this doesn’t mean people (SEOs or PR people) can pollute the blogosphere with nonsense and have it still work, but it does mean that you can reach intellectually curious social media consumers if you put out relevant information in the first place. That’s good news.
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3 Responses to “Are Social Media Consumers Better Advertising Targets?”
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However advertising on YouTube is still hard because a majority of the hits are from the front page videos and top videos of different categories. The likelihood that it will be found at all is very low. I guess the key to your blog is to “put out relevant information”. YouTubers and Social Networking foke alike can weed out spam like a bloodhound finds its first meal in the morning. They’re used to it, so relevant informative material is key.
@Jon. You’re right, advertising on YouTube is very hard (although the new ad platform has increased click-thrus 10-fold, according to what I’m reading).
However, that wasn’t my point. My point was that social media consumers are not as anti-marketing as maybe we thought they were. And therefore social media marketing generally has a better chance to work than others maybe appreciated.
I’ll have more stats on that coming in the next couple days… ~Jim
I agree with this post entirely. Based on these statistics, advertising to those individuals who are into social media is a good choice, as opposed to the general public.
You made a great point, and backed it up with relevant statistics. Thanks for the post!