Skip to main content

Advertisers Flock to Social Networking Sites

Business Week reports that social networking sites are attracting a rising number of major advertisers. Most of them come from the entertainment sector, although consumer products companies are active.

Target, NBC, and Procter & Gamble have run ad campaigns on MySpace. Interscope Geffen A&M Records has launched new albums from Beck and other artists there. Social networking sites have some natural advantages for advertisers. Even if the environment can be a bit wild, it creates an opportunity to develop powerful affinity groups and to collect a mother lode of demographic data about its members.

That can be used to create carefully targeted promotions that go way beyond the common text and display ads found on the Web. "It's a challenging environment to get your message across, because there is a lot going on, like in a teenager's bedroom," says Troy Young, executive vice-president of Organic. "But there's an upside, because people reveal a lot about themselves when they use social networking sites. That can allow you to target messages in pretty sophisticated ways."

Procter & Gamble used MySpace to launch 'Secret Sparkle,' a deodorant for 16-to-24 year old girls and women. It linked the product to the home pages of musicians that used MySpace and appealed to the same demographic. When users listened to new songs by The Donnas and Bonnie McKey, they were exposed to ads for Secret Sparkle and offered a chance to participate in a Secret Sparkle sweepstakes.

Popular posts from this blog

Why 2025 Will Redefine Mobile Connectivity

As international travel rebounds to pre-pandemic levels in 2025, the mobile communication roaming market is at an inflection point. Emerging technologies and changing customer preferences are challenging traditional wholesale roaming agreements between mobile network operators (MNOs). The global wholesale roaming market is projected to more than double, from $9 billion in 2024 to $20 billion by 2028. This surge will be fueled by the expanding deployment of 5G Standalone (SA) technology, which enables real-time roaming connections and activity monitoring. But beneath this headline figure lies a complex landscape of regional variations and technological mobile service disruptions. Global Mobile Roaming Market Development Western Europe dominates inbound roaming connections, largely thanks to its Roam Like at Home (RLAH) initiative, which eliminates roaming charges among member countries.  Meanwhile, the Indian Subcontinent is emerging as a growth hotspot. Between 2024 and 2029, inbou...