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In many ways, social media advertising is still in its infancy… but there are strong signs it's finally growing up.  The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has set measurable standards; mainstream companies have sprung up around it; almost all the major social networks not only have it, but have made a series of rapid changes just within the 18 months.  Facebook changed its privacy policy (secretly at first) so it could do whatever it wanted with feed, content and photos posted by users; then changed it again after the secrecy blew up in their face.  Twitter is still figuring out ways to advertise. Bebo and Flixster have hired New York ad megafirm Lotame to administer their platform.

And, of course, now that it's a teenager, there's a storm of hot opinion and data flying about, now and again, as people debate whether or not social advertising really works.

Predicting the Future of Social Media Patterns

Parties on both sides have brought forth persuasive and often equally valid arguments: Noticing the shift to where ad money is going will give you the ultimate clue. And yes, spending on social media advertising has been increasing so rapidly over the last 2 years that eMarketer has moved all its former predictions on social advertising's future forward to this year – 2010!  Facebook in particular is hitting 350 million participants, knocking MySpace out of the water.

It doesn't take a physicist or a psychic to predict that social media advertising will have a huge impact on local business too, thanks to  the geographically targeted ads it's possible to create on some media (most notably, Facebook). That system has its flaws – it's not available in many countries; and on Facebook, if you live outside the US, you can target only by country, which may render that option less viable. But it wouldn't be a stretch to predict the Facebook developers are working on that as we speak.

Some Things Never Change

By all means keep up with the news and watch trends change in social advertising – but there are 6 principles and facts that will remain the same. Namely:

1. Social media advertising is worth it, even if the percentage of engaged viewers is still small… because for every one active social media viewer, there will be anywhere from 6-14 brought into the fold by that single person. Think of that exponential increase factor – targeted viewers or readers brought in for you by members of your own market.

2. If you are unsure whether the user base is more male than female, or if you know both sexes are represented equally – market to the women. Not only do women nowadays have 80% of the buying power, according to countless net sources, men will usually be influenced or guided by the significant females in their lives. A man will often walk into the store and buy the same soap he's bought for the last 7 years; the woman is the one who will try something new – especially if you make a personal connection with your ad

3. Tracking, of course, is still king. Check whatever social network you're considering using, to see what their tracking provisions and choices are. If none exist, set them in place yourself; or else move on to a better network.

4. Don't forget the double-edged sword of word-to-mouth recommendations in social advertising. Make sure you deliver what you promise – and if you blow it and get a lot of flack, take it on the chin, acknowledge it – and fix the mistake. (You can turn disasters into an advertising opportunity, as Maple Leaf and Toyota recently did).

5. Remember that the one critical factor your ads all need is a social context. Make sure they are preceded by and linked to social network pages, videos, groups, content.  Give your fans a place to congregate, vent and enthuse.  Hold contests and polls, ask for feedback, offer virtual gifts. Engage. Otherwise, your ads are guaranteed to be seen as annoying banners everyone should ignore.

6. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater: Meaning… don't neglect all your other advertising venues – video marketing, email, offline flyers, mobile phone marketing – and track and tweak them all.  Social media advertising is best used to compliment these other campaign components, in most situations.

Follow these 6 tips, and you'll ride out the storms while others are still waiting to decide which social networks to use. Better still, let us do it for you!!
 

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