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Monetising Social Networking Sites?
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Having given my digital team the task of experimenting on Facebook advertising for a couple of test clients I have to report back the results have been extremely poor.We have enjoyed much success using the Facebook surveys to guage consumer reaction to different offers and products. Whilst no means as robust as a full survey it does give you a good steer on whether an idea has potential or has no scope for development. This can save us advertising agencies a huge amount of time in our creative think tanks and give our pitches a far greater chance of success with the clients' focus groups.
However when we try and use the same sites for a genuine return on investment the answer from the members is a resounding NO. Why would members be happy to give an opinion on a product, and the opinion is positive but as soon as we attempt to turn that interest in a purchase the relationship fails.
I believe there are clear indication that with social networking the key driver is that everything is free. People are ehappy to swap views and stories but when you try to charge they will simply log off. They visit these sites with a very clear purpose. That is to catch up with their nucleus of friends and contacts not to bounce to other sites in the process.
I sincerely hope the rumours about facebook considering charging for membership are incorrect because I suspect the vast majority would simply move on to the next hot social networking site!
One exception to this is a site I was approached with a while ago and have watched its development with some interest. The site is called www.wishsquares.com and it is due for its lauch in March 2009. However the beta site is functional and well worth a visit.
It is free to join and has a social networking element to it but it has real purpose too. Members can upload a gift idea as an image. They then invite friends to buy squares on the gift image and leave messages on the page too. When the gift expiry date is reached, all funds are forwarded to the beneficiary to go shopping forthe desired gift. It works equally as well for weddings, driving lessons an importantly fundraising.
You can even attach video links! In terms of making social networking pay I think this might just be the first.
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Hi Nick, I work at Facebook UK and would like to talk to you about your experience with our advertising model, and try to help you work better with it. My number is 02070258418. Cheers and look forward to hearing from you. Alex Wright.
Wow - got to say these boys (and girls) are on the ball. I will call and give you real feedback.
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