One of the most basic problems with advertising is also one of the most challenging to overcome: supplying relevant information to a receptive body. Of course, Craftsman will always have a television audience during a NASCAR event, and there are a plethora of beer commercials on during any football game. But commercials are the most expensive form of advertising and chances are your product or service isn’t as well known as Budweiser or your budget as large. So, how do you avoid wasting your money on an Ad you don’t even know will reach your intended customer-base?

Social Networking has provided a simple solution without even attempting to solve the problem. Facebook and other Social Networking services are filled to the brim with users who list their interests, location, gender, age, and even political leanings knowingly and willingly. Facebook realized the value of this information and now offers targeted advertising to users who fit your product or service’s specifications.

Facebook Flyer, an extremely inexpensive and potentially groundbreaking form of advertising, has begun to pick up steam in small-market advertising. Now, if you’re a Left-wing, Socialist publication printed in Seattle, you can slim down your Ad criteria to target only liberal youth within a certain distance of your city. You can even target those users who have Social Justice as one of their interests. The Daily Marx Journal should take off in no time.

For a measly 10 dollars a day, or a certain fee per click, your company can constantly target its intended audience without the ramifications of wasting valuable resources and funds attempting to attract people without the predisposed need or want for your product.

MySpace has announced they will provide a similar service which will be available in the near future. I expect the rest of the Social Networking sites to come onboard between now and the first quarter of 2008.

As a user of these services, it’s simply a fact of life, something else to get used to. For an advertiser, this may very well change the way we approach the business in the future.

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