Social Media and Advertising
Friday, October 15, 2010
As social media like Facebook and Twitter grow, banner ads are becoming less common.
Banner ads are usually rectangular and placed above, below, or on the either side of a Website.
Even though these ads may be annoying to the average consumer, a good chunk of money is spent on them each year. Last year, $23 billion was spent on Internet advertising with one-third of that being spent on advertising involving banner ads.
Twitter and Facebook are affecting banner ads quite a bit because from my personal experience I haven't seen many banner ads on those forms of social media.
One thing that social media has been a helping hand with is the ability to customize ads based on the user's interaction or interests.
Have you ever noticed how the ads, usually on Facebook, involve your interests?
Google's managing director for media and platforms for the Americans thinks 75 percent of ads will be "socially enabled" by the 2015.
That means that the new advertising formats would allow for "on-the-fly" customization while the user currently interacts with the site.
I find this to be interesting because now social media isn't simply just for personal use. It's becoming a tool for companies as well.
Even though banner ads aren't doing so well right now there will be a new generation that evolves from that failure.
You can go to Dorian Benkoil's blog, "As Social Media Grows, What Will Become of the Plain Old Banner Ad?," for more information.
