iMedia: Many people have observed that social networks are the virtual equivalents to a private party or a conversation. What does that mean for advertisers and what advice can you give them to keep from being perceived as intrusive or obnoxious by users who may not be keen to hear their pitch at the moment?
Steve Patrizi: It's important that we don't just lump all social networks together and assume that the same rules apply to each. Some social networks are specifically designed to facilitate private, intimate conversations, and in fact are all about just sharing some details of your life with a small, select group of friends. Obviously, that does raise some tricky challenges for marketers, given that there's not only some risk associated with the types of content your ad could be adjacent to but also that it's hard to know how to be relevant to what that conversation is all about.
LinkedIn is almost the polar opposite of that. People set up a profile on LinkedIn to broadcast their professional assets to the world in an effort to attract customers, business partners, potential employees and employers, so they're being very "professional" in the types of content they're posting.
When we talk to marketers about how best to use LinkedIn, we always suggest giving a lot of thought in terms of how you can add value. Microsoft did something very smart earlier this year when they sponsored the Information Technology category on LinkedIn Answers (a forum for professionals to ask questions and gather advice from other professionals). Since they knew exactly why people were using Answers -- to look for solutions from their peers -- they created a custom ad unit titled "Still Looking for Answers?" that dynamically served relevant and related solution-content from Microsoft's TechNet Knowledge Base. They knew why the user was using this feature and positioned themselves as a peer looking to help that person out. Smart.
iMedia: What advice can you give to agencies who say their clients are apprehensive about advertising on social networks?
Steve Patrizi: Well, first, again, recognize that not all social networks are the same, and the conversation should be more about "should we advertise on this particular network" vs. "should we advertise on them, period." Also, recognize that in some cases, some social networks may not be a great fit for your client, and the risks of being associated with poorly fitting content may outweigh the benefits.
That said, there are conversations happening about your brands and, at the very least, agencies and their clients should be actively listening to what their customers are saying. For example, in the past six months, "Cisco" has appeared in 683 questions posted on LinkedIn -- people are talking about Cisco, so it makes sense to keep a close eye on those conversations, and it would probably make a lot of sense to message against some of the themes through advertising. And of course that doesn't just apply to the company name; the industries and categories should be monitored as well. But, I'd say again, spend a lot of time understanding why a particular audience is using a particular social network. The more time you spend thinking about that answer, the better advice you'll be able to give your clients about whether they should or should not advertise there.
Advertisement