In a society where online social media is becoming integral to each individual person, advertising must follow suit. In order to be relevant to the consumer, advertising must speak in the same medium as the customer is listening in. Advertising strives to be original, interactive, more then just a brand. Online blog advertising offers this and more to clients.
Click through advertising offers clients trackable data for each ad space they buy. It can tell them how many people saw the ad, how many clicked on it, how interested it was, how long they stayed there. This sort of data is new to the advertising world. It was always known that half the advertising dollars were wasted, now we can track which half (and when it started to be a waste, and for what reason). This data opens up new worlds of exploring how consumers interact with online media, and the proof is in the numbers. Blog advertising offers effective clients the chance to put ad space in specific niche markets so it can be certain the target market will see the ad. Effective banner ads are few and far between but as more creatives are actually putting thought into creating them, the better they will become. The medium is new and the groundbreaking ads are on the horizon.
Bloggers offer clients the ability to take their product and showcase it in the hands of a trusted spokesperson. Bloggers build up a network of people with similar interests, and tastes. They become more then an abstract online persona, they become a trusted source of information. An influencer is someone a company always wants to spark the attention of and if that influencer has an online following they will be of great value. For the cost of one product a company can send the blogger their product and watch the hits to their website increase as well as the mind share of the customer. Once a product is in their hands they are just like every other customer, except their voice is louder and thousands of people tune in to read it. A blogger is not a spokesperson for any company, they are a customer and friend first. This is the reason their opinion is held with so much accountability.
At the moment, blogging is an inexpensive way to get your product into the hands of influencers. There is no set up and tear down, display costs, no fonts to analyze, or building permits to contend with. In the short term future I foresee bloggers becoming more aware of what they can offer to products and as a result would charge more. It is important to realize that high profile bloggers with many returning readers daily are not readily available, so in turn the demand for them is high. It takes years to build up a following of readers and because of this they are sought out by companies looking to give their product an edge.
As more people read blogs for pleasure it is likely they will get their own space on the internet to record their opinions. This may change the supply and demand ratio but I feel that these social networks are ideal for companies to market their product in. The more bloggers the bigger the networks will become and the more power they will have as a whole. Writing words on a screen has never been cheaper and yet the generation y demographic responds more to this then any high cost billboard.
I look forward to seeing where blog advertising goes as it currently lies far below the surface for many ad agencies. In order to make an impact on the customer, advertising is always looking to be relevant, interesting, and speak to the consumer on a level they are familiar with. Blogs offer these key ideals as a platform for any advertising. If there are customers who would be interested in your product in a magazine, they can be found online. And most likely in a higher concentration and the ability to network the product if it catches their attention. An ideal situation for any product or service.
No comments:
Post a Comment