Study: Social Networkers Prefer Opt-In Vs. Random Ads

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 10:54

Posted in category Internet, Internet advertising, Web 2.0, social media, social networks

Listen to this article

What ad models most effectively reach social networkers, today? According to the social networkers themselves, opt-in advertising works best, while behavior-based campaigns and randomly generated ads are far less successful.

About 40% of social networkers condone the practice of opt-in advertising, according to data being released today by market research firm InsightExpress.Meanwhile, according to a survey of 1,593 respondents at the end of the year, only 20% of these social beings gave behavior-based campaigns the green light.

Only approximately 23% of LinkedIn, Facebook, Classmates, MySpace, and Reunion profilers said randomly generated ads are acceptable. (However, about 43% of CafeMom, Twitter, and Flickr users classified random ads as acceptable.)

“Recognizing the rapid growth of social networks and social networking audiences, advertisers have focused on creative engagement and how to apply their brands within a new environment,” said Drew Lipner, vice president and group director of the Digital Media Measurement team at InsightExpress.

“The broad and exciting acceptance of social networking also reinforces the distinct need to develop targeted and relevant campaigns for this channel with the help of advanced measurement tools.”

Overall, InsightExpress found that 43% of the online population reports using a social networking site. And, at least for the time being, a full 71% of those social networkers claim to maintain profiles on two or more such properties.

Not surprisingly, Facebook and MySpace were found to be the two primary “starter” social networks, serving as an entry points for networking forays on other sites with more targeted memberships.

Of the social networkers who have created only one profile, 46% are on MySpace and 36% are Facebook.

Of those who have two or three profiles, 78% can be found on MySpace, 71% on Facebook, 22% on Classmates, and 11% can be found on LinkedIn.

Among individuals with four or more profiles, 92% have Facebook, 89% have MySpace, 60% have Classmates, 40% have Reunion, 33% have LinkedIn, 11% have Flickr, and 10% have Twitter.

–

Source: MediaPost

Posted by: Geoff Caplan

Geoff Caplan.Com

social networks social marketing online advertising