Mele’s Musings

Why Marketers Love Small Social Networks

50% of US adults will use social networks by 2011 (actually, the numbers may already be that big), but the challenge is finding the right places and the right ways to connect with them.

picture: imeem.com

Article excerpt:  Marketers who think bigger is better may want to reconsider, at least when it comes to social media. Ad spending on those sites is predicted to top $1.6 billion this year, according to eMarketer. However, much of it will be plunked into smaller, emerging social networks. While My Space and Facebook get all the attention, social media focused on topics as remote as knitting or bird watching can be a strong branding target these days, said Anthony Acquisti, strategy supervisor with emerging media at OMD, New York. His running tally of emerging social networks, now up-wards of 7,000, is evidence of an explosive market. These more focused audiences should be popular with brands because “relevance,” he said, “trumps size.” By 2011, eMarketer estimates, half of all adults in the U.S., and 84% of online teens will use social networks. That’s both a golden opportunity and a colossal headache for brands trying to nail down the best new network for their campaigns.
the rest: brandweek.com

Musing:  “The real way of getting into social media is you don’t advertise, you participate,” says a software engineer from Zappos – and I totally agree with him.  Banner ads on social networking sites have their place, but real connection means genuine communication.  It’s not an easy thing to do, and some of the sites are pretty restrictive about what they allow companies to do.   The challenge is that communicating well on social network sites, particularly small ones, is hard, and spreading the connection to small sites will take a lot of time, energy and effort.  It is probably worth it, but it is not to be taken lightly.  How will brands authentically communicate with lots of small sites without generalizing the message?