What Ads Influence Purchases
emarketer has a huge post on social networks. As I was reading through the report I was struck by the type of advertising that influences a purchase data and how many ad agencies are focused on the wrong medium!
When marketers look at what ad placements most influence consumers to make an online purchase, for example, only 1% of respondents in a DoubleClick Performics study cited ads within social network sites.
However, while social networks such as MySpace and Facebook get the majority of the media attention, they can also be seen as prime examples of what might better be termed the “social Internet.” Customer reviews on company Web sites, which influenced 10% to 18% of Performics’ respondents (depending on age), are another example of the social Internet.
Some numbers jump out of this chart. One is that customer reviews on company web sites have a greater influence on the buying decision than any other form of advertising. While social elements like customer reviews are now common across the Internet, there are a lot of companies who are reluctant to put reviews on their site in case they are negative. The data shows that these companies are missing out on sales.
The second interesting point is that ads within social networks do not influence buying decisions. This is not new to anyone who has advertised on MySpace or Facebook. I think that this type of data shows that traditionally banner ads on social networks do not grab users attention, because they are not looking to buy something when they are on these types of sites. Instead advertisers should look for way that they can engage and converse with social network users instead of just hitting them over the head with ads.
Tags: advertising, Facebook, MySpace, social networks
Filed under Brand Marketing :
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Jun 6th, 2008
