More Money Going to Web Ads and Social Networks in 08
Will the trend toward advertising on the Internet continue in 2008? You betcha, especially if budgets tighten. Why? It’s the “channel’s inherent measurability,” says a MediaPost article.
You know the old adage, “Half my advertising is wasted, I just don’t know which half.” Enter web advertising and that notion flies out the window. The beauty of a 360 degree trackable medium is that you can know from start to finish just how a campaign performs. With the need to target advertising to reduce waste, the Internet is a marketer’s dream. Has been for a long time and will continue to be in the new year.
The second part of the article discusses the future of social media as an advertising medium. “Social media was a major focus for U.S. advertisers in 2007, and eMarketer is pegging that trend to continue, with spending on social networks slated to top $1.5 billion in 2008,” says the piece.
The one line that struck me most was the prediction that the Facebooks and MySpaces of the world will give way to niche social networks. There is ample evidence that trend is already in place. Ning, a DIY social network creation software platform, has in excess of 100,000 and the number continues to rise.
This reminds me of what was happening during blogging’s golden age, which experienced a meteoric rise in the number of blogs created. What with “white label” software solutions that are imminently easy to use, creating social networks is a no-brainer.
As a result, the audience for a given social network will continue to fragment and advertisers will have to work harder for their ads to be seen. A similar problem was faced by the blogosphere not long ago. Serial entrepreneurs like John Battelle saw this as an exploitable opportunity and Federated Media was born; same with Henry Copeland and Blogads, the forerunner of all the blog advertising networks.
I see the creation of niche social networks to be a major trend in 2008. If so, there will be a need for ad networks similar to Federated.
These are heady days for Internet advertising. Take advantage of the opportunities the medium affords.
Filed under: Advertising, Marketing Trends, Social Media Marketing
[...] Sick Of It wrote an interesting post today.Have a look for your self, Here’s an excerpt, read the full story at the blogWill the trend toward advertising on the Internet continue in 2008? You betcha, especially if budgets tighten. Why? It’s the “channel’s inherent measurability,” says a MediaPost article. You know the old adage, “Half my advertising is … [...]