Social media advertising is a hot topic, but most marketers are still trying to find out how to use it. Brands who have found success have often created pages for their brand and invited people to become fans or have run banner ads alongside a user’s profile based on their interests, location, demographic, etc.
I often get banners served to the side of my profile about bands that I have become a fan of or about things about my personal demographic profile, which seem pretty well targeted. Whether they are the right product for me, I can see where they are coming from and why I would be in the audience that a particular brand is trying to reach.
But today I saw an ad that besides not being interesting to me personally, was actually contrary to my profile, which could lead to bad brand association. As an environmentally sympathetic person, I am not a fan of bottled water and think that we need to drink less bottled water and more tap water. And on my Facebook page, I am actually a Fan of Tap Water and a couple of organizations that advocate against bottled water. It came to my surprise that an ad served to me was offering to have bottled water delivered to my doorstep. Not only was the ad serving someone uninterested in the offer, but to someone who is actually opposed to their product. From the marketer’s point of view, I can’t help but feel that it was a wasted impression.
I hope that as brands and marketers learn how to leverage the social media space for marketing, it will get more relevant and meaningful to the end user. Because that is in turn, the best way for the brand to get consumers to engage in the brand.
