I recently attended an Internet Seminar put on by a local TV station. The seminar was conducted by a very good presenter. He traveled to all the markets that the media company owned TV stations in to promote leveraging the internet to grow local business. The ultimate goal was to educate local business owners on some internet basics and what is available to them for promoting their web site and business online. Ok the “real” ultimate goal was to give these businesses information that would entice them to want more information on how they could advertise on the TV station’s website.
I do similar seminars myself about the Internet, in particular Social Media, but I love hearing others and listening for new things that I can use with my own clients. When the presenter got to the social media part of the presentation he made some interesting comments. He stated the sites like www.facebook.com are a very good place to promote your business but only with a fan page. He went on to state that the advertising campaigns on social media sites are really an “interruption of the conversation” that people are having and therefore not effective. This made me wonder… are TV commercials not an interruption of a show that I want to watch? Is the TV station’s pre-roll commercial that plays before their news story that I want to watch online an “interruption” to me getting the information I want to see? A lot of traditional advertising is an “interruption”.
I believe social media sites like facebook offer a less intrusive way of promoting a business. Yes fan pages are good for a business but running a campaign on facebook can be very effective too. The paid for advertising does not interfere with the conversation going on. If the consumer sees something that is of interest to them they can choose to click on it or not. Social media sites generally don’t require you to sit through an advertisement to get to where you want to go.
I know this presenter wanted to discredit most all other media in order to paint a picture that put TV station websites at the top of the list for online advertising. It really bothers me that people seeking to learn about social media get misinformed about how they can use it to grow their business. I also believe TV, newspaper, radio stations, and other local media sites offer a great opportunity for local businesses to promote their own website but so do social media sites.
I agree with you Doug.. I have used all other media for advertising ie…newspaper, TV and radio not to mention many yellow page ads with about the same rate of success, not much! The social media is there consistantly not just for 30 seconds of air time or one week of printing. And the charge in comparison to these medias brings a lot more to the table than just some pre-recorded words. Not to mention the vast number of individuals that can be reached at any one given time.
But like any new technology or way of doing business on a daily bases, there are always nay sayers that seem to follow the status quo right out the door instead of jumping on the band wagon with new ideas to see where it goes.
Keep up the good work and those of us who believe in your concept will be right there to back you up.