| Advert failure on social networks |
| Thursday, 26 November 2009 05:56 |
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Boosting your sales with an affiliate partner as an alternative to social network advertising.
Boosting your sales with an affiliate partner as an alternative to social network advertising. Social networks are more popular than ever before. Recent figures from online researcher Hitwise have revealed that the average amount of time users spend on websites such as Facebook and LinkedIn has risen by 71% in the last year alone and with social networks now playing an increasingly influential role in the way that people interact and share content online, this trend looks set to continue. This rise has opened the door for companies looking for fresh opportunities to connect with consumers and to advertise their goods and services online. To be successful in this less traditional marketing space, brands need to make sure that they not only capture the attention of networkers but are also able to sustain it by placing adverts that encourage browsers to engage with their company and its offering.User engagement with social networksTo find out which types of online adverts are most successful as direct marketing tools we recently carried out an in-depth consumer study to see how browsers of social networks are interacting with brands online. We surveyed 2,000 internet users and found just 4% had ever clicked through on a banner advert displayed on a social networking site. In addition, only 5% reported that they considered adverts placed on professional social networks, such as LinkedIn and just 9% on personal social networking sites, such as Facebook, helpful in assisting their purchasing decisions on the web. These low click-through rates reported by consumers raise questions about the current effectiveness of social networking adverts and also about the quality of adverts used by brands to target users online. Ironically, our research came hot on the heels of news announcing that the majority (83 out of 100) of the top US brands are now choosing to invest in Facebook to promote their products. So what do our findings mean for companies expecting a reasonable return on investment from the adverts they place on social networks and why exactly are click-through rates so low? Engaging with consumers onlineLow click-through rates could be down to a number of reasons. Our research also showed that less than a fifth of respondents (18%) considered adverts on social networks an interference to their activity online. This indicates that the adverts may not stand out sufficiently to capture the attention of users. Poor audience interaction could also be down to adverts not being targeted at the consumers they are intended to reach. To ensure adverts are directed at the right types of consumer and that brands secure a reasonable return for their investment on the web, adverts need to contain information that interests the demographic they intend to appeal to. Considering that click-through rates are presently falling short of industry expectations, there is clearly an opportunity for brands to up their game and to improve the quality of adverts and the success of their internet marketing campaigns. Types of promotion onlineWhen asking consumers the types of adverts that they are most likely to interact with, our findings showed that vouchers, promotions and special offers were the most effective way to encourage internet users to click on banner ads. These type of adverts were also considered the least invasive form of online marketing at 11%. A resounding 59% said they thought that the promotions and offers available online were useful and only 19% of people had never responded to a voucher advert online. Looking at other online marketing tactics employed by brands to engage with consumers, interactive ad banners such as pop-ups and roll downs were considered the most intrusive type of online marketing, with almost two thirds (62%) viewing this tactic as an interference when browsing the web. This was followed by direct mail (48%) and advertising displayed before and during video content (46%). Affiliate marketing for brandsIf brands are to engage with consumers they need to develop tailored campaigns which convey information that not only captures their attention but that also goes some way to enhance the overall online shopping experience. By teaming up with an affiliate partner, brands can make in-roads into previously untapped markets and can also reach consumers that prove difficult to access. Affiliate marketing is an established and rewarding e-marketing tool that works by providing advertisers with a cost-effective and measurable way to influence shoppers during their online research and decision-making processes by increasing their presence across a number of sites. To be successful in this online channel, brands need to join forces with an affiliate network that will not only provide the technology needed, but also select the right affiliates which will generate the most click-throughs to their website. A network like LinkShare works with publishers to create strategically placed online promotions and voucher codes to entice customers into making purchases, which is proving for many to be a timely approach in the current economic climate. In addition, affiliate marketing enables marketers to directly link their budgets to online performance which remains a key requirement for brands with limited budgets wanting to correlate click-throughs from social networks to their website. ConclusionAlthough our research suggests that adverts on some of the mainstream social networks are not living up to industry expectations when it comes to click-through rates, this may not ring true for ads placed on other types of social networks such as community shopping portals and forums. With this in mind, companies should take into account that users logging on to sites like Facebook and LinkedIn are there to network and not necessarily in the right frame of mind to start shopping. It is still early days for brands investing in social networks and rather than being disheartened by low-click through rates, brands should use this as an opportunity to fine tune their current strategy and to make their adverts stand out from the crowd. By joining up with an affiliate partner, brands can make sure their adverts are placed on the right sites and reach the consumers they want to influence in a cost effective and measurable way.
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