Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Targeting the “Influencers” of Facebook – Does it really work?

The most “vocal” users of Facebook are those who often provide opinions about certain products by liking or sharing ads with friends on the site.  Not surprisingly, marketers are realizing that they should target this group of Facebook users, the “influencers,” when launching social ad campaigns.  
Facebook’s quiet period ended on Tuesday, and the company wasted no time in releasing a study that attempted to demonstrate the value of marketing on its site.  The study released by research firm comScore Inc., stated that the likes and shares received from Facebook users cause more people to purchase these specific brands, products, etc.
Despite Facebook’s efforts to prove that marketing on its site is very effective, I have to wonder how many people in our demographic actually react to friends’ likes and shares on the site.  Personally, and perhaps I am an anomaly, but I tend to completely overlook friends’ likes and shares of advertisements of certain products (and this is true regardless of how many likes an ad receives).  GM obviously was among the marketers that felt that too many people were overlooking its ads on the site.  Maybe this type of digital marketing only lends itself to certain products?  For instance, if something similar to the video of the Gorilla Drummer was going viral and was being shared all over Facebook – I would definitely watch the advertisement!  However, when people simply “like” a product’s page, or a link to an ad or a coupon for a store, etc., I am not likely to pay much attention.  How then should marketers rethink their ad campaigns to not only target the influencers, but to also ensure that influencers’ friends are paying attention to the ad as well?

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