By James Wanless
President & COO of Talkster
A lot is being written on the implications for advertising and marketing within the context of social media. I read an article written by Joe Marchese of socialvibe. We both share the view that social media can be leveraged for targeted advertising, but there is a difference between knowing something about you, the owner of the profile, and the people who visit your profile. I would say that this distinction goes further. The knowledge of you and what marketers should target to you is not only a function of your profile but of your entire social graph which includes your relationship to your friends.
In this example, knowing that Joe and his girlfriend are getting married, visitors to her profile should get wedding gift ads. This can be further refined based if something is known about the visitor to the page.
In short, this highlights not only how to use information in the individual but the combination of knowledge about two individuals and their relative positions in each others’ social graphs. Take it a step further. Knowing that other friends on the same proximity on the social graph had already clicked through on certain gift related ads, this could also be relevant to visitors to her profile.
The most complex part of the equation for marketers is how to use this information judiciously. If you know just enough, then the ads become relevant and of interest. If you know too much then they become “scarily relevant” and will turn your targeted consumer against you as they perceive that you are invading their privacy. A whole new industry will evolve around marketers looking to strategically use this wealth of information that previously they could only have dreamed about. Done right, it will positively change the face of marketing forever. Let’s hope that a few don’t abuse the privilege of accessing the information and negatively skew public perception.
