social media advertising | Petrac Marketing

I’m about as passionate about all things marketing as is healthy (and maybe just a little more) – but a recent experience has firmed up the importance of context.

Let me explain.

In trying to determine where is the best place to promote your products or services the conversation must extend beyond just where your customers are. It must also ask ‘why are they there?’

I’ve been subjected to an assault recently when on Facebook by a crowd who call themselves ‘Luv for Marketing’.

Firstly, I’ve (almost) forgiven them for their ‘down with the kids’ name and since they’re appearing on my news feed I’m assuming that even as a 40 year old they do think they have something to offer me.

This is not the problem however.

The problem is that when I’m on Facebook that’s not what I’m there for.

I’m there for lots of other reasons – the vast majority of them recreational. Latest sports news, checking the build up to some upcoming events and – let’s be honest – being nosey.

Luv for Marketing appear on the surface to have got everything right – I’m interested in their subject matter and they’ve crafted concise yet descriptive ads which indicate to me that they’d be worth looking into further.

But the fact is that I’ve seen the ad more than 50 times now and haven’t once clicked the ‘learn more’ button.

Why?

Because in that place (Facebook) at that time (downtime after work) I’ve had my fill of marketing for the day.

If, on the other hand, they’d got at me through LinkedIn while I was updating my company page it’s more than likely that I would have acted on their prompts before now.

While this is just my own personal experience with one particular advertiser I think it raises some interesting questions around context and timing when considering our marketing messages.

Disclaimer:
This post is in no way a negative comment on the services that Luv for Marketing offer or their marketing approach. It is simply my own experience of their Facebook marketing which I hope is working fabulously well for them.

If anyone from Luv for Marketing should read this post – get in touch. I’m interested.

If you’d like some help defining the necessary context for your social media advertising then get in touch.

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Pinterest ‘failing to add value for brands’ according to a report from Forrester

I came across an interesting post on the Marketing Week website(UK) recently in relation to the ‘Promoted Pins’ feature on social networking site, Pinterest. The article revealed that a report from Forrester indicated that the majority of brands that are using the Pinterest ad platform are struggling to get any value from it.

The Promoted Pins feature is soon to arrive in the UK market and I am sure that agencies up and down the country will be rushing to spend their client’s hard earned cash on this shiny new platform.

The article is – in my humble opinion – an indication of a wider problem with the choice of the best social networks to use for advertising. Rather than take the report from Forrester as an indication that Pinterest is of no value to advertisers I think that the problem actually lies with the advertisers themselves putting the technology first rather than their own individual business requirements.

This is not a phenomenon that is exclusive to Pinterest – I think every social media platform is having millions of pounds / dollars / euros wasted on it every day. It’s not because there is no value to be gained from advertising on these platforms – but because the wrong people are advertising.

As soon as the latest trendy social media platform becomes open for advertisers it seems that companies are flocking to their doors to spend their hard earned cash. The problem is that these decisions to advertise on Pinterest and other platforms seem to be based on the fact that Pinterest is the latest hot social media property rather than any meaningful research that suggests Pinterest will represent a good return on investment.

By asking a few simple questions before jumping on the latest social media platform you can eliminate this problem and make sure that you get the best bang for your buck:

Understand the demographics of the users of the social media network – what is the user profile and what are they looking for when they are there?
Understand whether this demographic matches your target audience – all you’ve done at this stage is identify a potential advertising platform. There is still work to do before you can make an informed decision.
Understand why your customers are using the social media network – if you’re selling in a B2B environment be careful. Just because your customers may use the network doesn’t mean that they are in buying mode when they are there. It may be a social thing where they keep in touch with friends and they may not be open to be sold to.
Do your research – find out some case studies for how other people are successfully using the social media network and use this to inform your decisions about how you can design a campaign that will make you money.

Once you’ve done all of this you can be much more comfortable with your decision to advertise. There is no doubt that this process will mean that on some occasions your decision will be not to advertise on the latest trendy offering that social media world has to offer. And that’s OK. Especially when you’re reporting on the return that your advertising revenue is generating.

Read the full Pinterest article on the Marketing Week website – Pinterest failing to add value for brands

(You’ll need to register – which is free – in order to read the article).

If you would like some help building your social media or content marketing strategy then get in touch:

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