Don't advertise; engage in conversation

December 9, 2:48 PMInternet Business ExaminerEric Elkins

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What? Internet skill levels have increased since 2000? Wow, really?

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother receiving eMarketer messages in my inbox. They're so polished, and they have crisp, digestible graphs, but, like, 78% of the time, their "study" results feel like common sense. 9% of the time, their takeaways are either skewed, over-simplified, or just plain wrong. 5% of emails I get from them are useful at some level, and, um, 8% of the stuff I get is irrelevant or boring.

Maybe I'm just cranky today, due to lack of sleep and unexpected client fire drills, but crap like this actually makes me kind of angry, because it misses the point entirely.

"Only 57% of social network site users said they clicked on an ad in the past year, compared with 79% of all Internet consumers." Um, yeah. Most users of social networks are fairly immune to banner advertising. And though some highly targeted campaigns are worthwhile to a limited degree, buying ads on social networks is not usually the best way to spend your marketing money.

And this just kills me:
"Search continues to be the most lucrative advertising strategy. Users are specifically seeking information in that arena. On social networks, people are primarily concerned with communicating with their friends, not looking to buy items or services.”

You don't say. See, they're talking about two completely different sets of tools. Work with me on this analogy - you have a set of tools to tune up or repair the mechanics of your car, and you use a different set to, say, do body work after an accident (don't ask why this is on my mind right now). Both sets of tools are used to fix your car, but they have very different functions.

Social networks — all social media, really — require a different set of tools from those used in traditional or online media (and let's not go into the value of search vs. discovery. Maybe another day).

The best way to leverage social networks is to engage with users, fans, groups with similar interests, etc. It could be through creating fan/group pages, it could be from creating an interactive application, it could happen through authentic outreach to other groups and friends and friends of friends.

"With the country in recession and online ad spending growth slowing, social network ad spending will be affected even more heavily." But you can bet that cost-effective spending in harnessing social media strategies, which, more and more, prove to be the best way to create conversions, will not slow down anytime soon.