Are Social Networkers Immune To Ads?

Maybe not entirely but social networkers do shop and relate to the Internet differently than non-networkers do. That means online marketers cannot count on traditional advertising to draw in social networkers.

by Kristina Knight

A Compete study notes that, especially social networkers, are growing immune to banner ads and other traditional online advertising methods.

The solution to the problem, according to the study S-Commerce: Beyond MySpace and YouTube, is to create a new kind of e-commerce system that integrates how social networkers use the internet and how etailers and advertisers use the web.

Social networkers spend 1/3 less time watching television, reading newspapers or magazines than those who aren’t logged on. This new brand of consumers is also more likely to rely on word of mouth and peer reviews to make a purchasing decision than the latest ad campaign.

Social networkers join to meet other people (78%), find entertainment (47%), learn (38%) and influence others (23%). They also have about 20% more discretionary income as non-networkers and spend 25% of their income online. Relatively, non-networkers spend only 17% of their income online.

Online marketers that are integrating customer forums, peer reviews and branded micro-sites are having the best results in bringing in users than those relying on the more traditional online advertising like banner ads, search result ads and pay-per-click advertisements.

Tags: social marketing, social networking

Comments (1)

Email to a friend