Birds of a Feather

It’s funny that social networks can’t seem to monetize themselves, especially since the data they have on connections and interests are so valuable when it comes to selling in products.  I think about social networks and think “How can they not make money?”

When we think about how we target and buy the majority of advertising these days, we base a lot of generalizations on age and gender surrogates for who we really want to reach.  The supposition is that people of similar age and gender have similar buying habits.  To me, it’s tenuous at best.  I’d rather target advertising to groups of people that share the same affinities, particularly if they’re connected to other people with the same affinities.  When you think about it, isn’t that what social networks are good at?

This week’s piece on iMedia deals with the use of social data to target advertising.  Here’s a quote:

I’m connected on Facebook with some people in my ATV riding group. I’m also connected to a few hundred people in the online marketing business. It would be ludicrous to suggest that I’d turn to the online marketing folks for advice on which tires to buy for my ATV, or to my riding group for advice on which ad networks I should consider for a particular effort. A lot depends on the context of the connection.

The article goes on to reference two companies we’re keeping a close eye on here at Underscore: Lotame and Media6°.  There are a variety of insights to be gained from the products these companies are putting out, particularly in the area of customer insight.  There’s plenty of opportunity in the ad targeting realm as well, and we’ve brought some of it to bear on client initiatives.  Ping us if you’d like to learn more.