Facebook Ads Change Game — For Better or Worse?
Facebook’s social ads launch this week was above all an *advertising* announcement — meaning: the most interesting thing about it is how it helps marketers reach consumers in new ways.
Service providers certainly need to keep an eye on advertising trends, but this isn’t as much a direct competitive gambit as many other Web 2.0 efforts. But I wonder if the ripples across the pond won’t end up being significant and far-reaching.
The premise is simple: Facebook Ads let companies build their own Facebook pages. Users on Facebook can link to those pages as “friends” (yes, brands as friends). The compan
y then sends messages (ads) to that person which are visible through that person’s network of friends. (Curious what a company Facebook page looks like — click on the Verizon page, courtesy of Read/Write Web).
At first blush, it’s an odd construct. Second blush too. Why would anyone do this? Why would anyone do many of the things we all do online?
The power, however, is that it takes the very power viral marketing idea of the “endorser” and puts it on Web/social network steroids. Suddenly, it becomes very easy to recommend commercial products to my friends. And it becomes just as easy to find out what my friends think about certain products.
The system also lets me create “content” about products and share that with my friends. Again, an odd concept. But in this context, content means things like lists or reviews. So for instance, Blockbuster is planning to use the system to enable people to share their list of favorite rentals with their friends, and use that Web of connections and information to drive more rentals.
“Nothing influences a person more than the recommendation of a trusted friend,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, in announcing the new system. “When people engage your page on Facebook, that’s going to spread information about your brand virally through the social graph.
More than 100,000 companies launched Facebook pages Thursday. Companies launching specific advertising campaigns tied to their new pages included Coca-Cola, Verizon and Blockbuster. In an ad campaign, an advertiser buys the right to append an advertising message to use recommendations and deliver more typical banner ads — but with the twist that the ads will include personal recommendations from Facebook users.
In addition, advertisers can leverage information from a user’s profile — including interests, location, relationship status and more — to further target their pitches.
Forrester Research analyst Jeremiah Owyang has taken to calling these social network recommenders “fansumers” — a play on “fan” and “consumer.” The power for advertisers is that “as consumers share their affinities, brands can advertise using trusted social relationships,” according to Owyang.
It remains to be seen how Facebook users take to having commercial products injected into their friend- and -conversation stream. It may not be as far-fetched as it seems. Consider how we all read Amazon comments or read blog reviews before buying new products today and extrapolate it out across the social network world’s so-called “social graph.”
If Facebook can combine user recommendations with social networks in a way that “fansumers” find interesting and delivers results for advertisers, it may just justify that much-touted $15 billion valuation just yet.
Related Topics: Social Networks, All stories
