NYT: Case Study of Procter & Gamble’s Experiments With Facebook
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Randall Stross at NYT chronocles Procter & Gamble’s experiments with Facebook and is left unimpressed –
Members of social networks want to spend time with friends, not brands.
When major brands place banner advertisements on the side of a member’s home page, they pay inexpensive prices, but the ads receive little attention. When advertisers invite members to come to pages dedicated to their products, they can attract visitors only by investing in expensive creative material or old-fashioned promotions like prize contests.
And when they try to take advantage of new “social advertising,” extending their commercial message to a member’s friends, their ads will be noticed, all right, but not necessarily favorably. Members are understandably reluctant to become shills. IDC, the technology research firm, published a study last month that… described social advertising as “stillborn.”
While it’s unfair to dish social advertising on the basis of one brand’s experience, advertising on social networking sites is indeed something of a mystery. I think we will see some significant headway in social advertising in 2009, driven by the desperation to crack social shopping. Stay tuned.
