Online Advertising is Changing (Again)

Online advertising is slowly but surely hopping on the band wagon of social networks and blogs, writes Spencer Kelly of the BBC’s Click! program. I’m never cease to be amazed by how slow those self-proclaimed creative agencies and mainstream news programs on everything Internet are, in spotting the latest trends. Socialnetworks like MySpace and blogging are nothing new by Internet standards, and they are - as most guerilla marketeers will probably tell you - an old hat.

Snakes on a Plane, the new movie with Samuel L. Jackson, has created a lot of buzz online even before it was made. Bands like The Arctic Monkeys came to light because people on MySpace’s spread it through word of mouth by recommending them to their peers. Spencer Kelly writes that you cannot pay bloggers to push a product without loosing their credibility, which although true is not entirely correct. Many underground marketeers, especially brand strategists employ bloggers and key people in the groups the brands target. They have done so long before the Internet gave us blogs, podcasts and social networks. They are doing so carefully however, as not to destroy what they seek to build.

You simply cannot just pay someone to promote your product or brand but you can sponsor events, websites and integrate consumers into their brands definition. By empowering people to openly criticse your brand and dealing with this feedback constructively you can build strong, well respected brands with a large community following. You don’t “pay” community leaders to advertise, you just give the communities what they are interested in. Be it servers to play their games, help organise on/off-line events with them or simply create products and services they want, the way they want it.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/5304892.stm