Social Networking Invites Targeted Advertising?

One of my favourite authors in the media commentary space, Neil Shoebridge, writes an excellent article in the BRW titled "where ads turn social" that purports two sides of the story on inserting marketing messages into consumers' interactions on social networking platforms.

Shoebridge alludes to a study by research company Nielsen Online which details that "50% of online users are interacting with companies through such sites". This is a significant portiion of the 9 million Australians using social networking sites and it also shows the trend towards what is known as evangelism marketing.

Evangelism Marketing, defined by Wikipedia is "an advanced form of word of mouth marketing" which leads to the proliferation of customer advocacy communities. These communities on the web are an invaluable tool to deploy targeted marketing initiatives through the right medium within the right context.

This point is exemplified through Shoebridge's assertion that "internet executives say consumers will respond to ads on social networking sites if they are relevant, engaging [and] non-disruptive". Additionally, the study shows that 70% of companies have planned "some form of social media activity this year; up from 40% in 2007 and claims that companies "wholeheartedly engaging in social media will spend 5-20% of their marketing budgets on social media campaigns this year".

However, on the other end of the spectrum is concerns that marketing is often interruptive and non-engaging where marketers broadcast their messages like SPAM email - which is often disregarded by the consumer.
Shoebridge also goes on to assert that "not all media and marketing executives are convinced social networking sites are the next big thing", with the CEO of the world's biggest marketing services company, WPP Group, saying sites such as Facebook were "less commercial phenomena [and] more personal phenomena" Invading these social media with commercial messages might not be the right thing".

My lingering conjecture on the issue is that if a media company or brand were able to find their top brand evangelists, tap into their communication channels and networks and leverage the right information at the right time; these brand advocates would then facilitate the message, through evangelism marketing, to other prospective consumers. This is how Nike's capability was proven with its Nike+Ipod range of products which faciliates conversations amongst key interest holders in the running space and encourages them to advocate the brand to other prospective consumers.

Altogether, the challenges that will arise in the social networking advertising space will be hard to overcome. Personally, I believe that the core challenge will be to create sustaining 'virtual communities' of brand evangelists in the first place and support them with the right technologies to support their evangelist activities.