iMedia Connection - ad:tech blog

Scott Rosenberg’s Wordyard post should be read in full (http://www.wordyard.com/2010/09/02/in-defense-of-links-part-three-in-links-we-trust/), but this excerpt bears repeating verbatim:
“Given the overwhelming power of links, Writing on the Web without linking is like making a movie without cutting. Sure, it can be done; there might even be a few situations where it makes sense. But most of the time, it’s just head-scratchingly self-limiting. To choose not to link is to abandon the medium’s most powerful tool — the thing that makes the Web a web.”

Links are what make the web a web.  Simple, powerful, true.
Isn’t it strange, then, that while links are arguably the defining attribute of the web and the basis for the monetization of Search, Social Media has largely eschewed Links in favor of unproven metrics such as Sentiment, Friends, Followers, and Social Impressions.  As far as Marketing is concerned, the early years of Social Media can be described simply as a fruitless quest for organizing principles and – a currency.
Perhaps by embracing an attribute that has the benefits of:
-          Established commercial value
-          Ease of scalable measurement
-          Powerful Marketing Relevance (when consumers share a link, they send Marketers a signal)
…Marketers  and Social Networks might finally solve the Monetization challenge posed by... Read more

Much has been made of the convergence of Search and Social of late.  Generally the frame of reference is somewhat limited – the implications for Digital Advertising.  The challenge to Marketers, though, is bigger than simply to adjust allocations of the 1%-8% of total ad spend that might flow to Digital.
Search + Digital constitute Digital Power tools for consumers – and game changers for Marketers trying to reach them.
Can you imagine buying a car, planning a vacation, shopping for a new Fridge without tapping the on-demand expertise afforded by Search and Social platforms?  It’s a question we don’t even consider, because Search and Social Media are woven right into our buying process.  If I was in the market for a baby stroller 20-years ago, I would have polled neighborhood parents and friends with young children, formed an opinion, reviewed Yellow Pages listings, and visited a store or two.  Today, I’d still talk to friends, but I would also visit a half-dozen of the top parenting social sites and immediately access the expertise of the planet rather than rely on the smarts of my immediate community.   And while I’d certainly launch a few Search queries, I’d be far more interested in... Read more

Humor achieves an artistic arc when it tugs at the truth as well as tickling our funny bone.
In this season when many of us take a brief vacation break, it seems fitting to share a laugh.  But as Stephen Colbert so often does, there’s insight in his amusements.  Social Networks – and Facebook chief among them – face a revenue problem.
To the extent that they pursue income at the expense of consumer privacy, they chase a diminishing return – building a flawed economy.
Have a laugh at the genuinely hilarious clip below:
http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2010/08/stephen_colbert_social_media_guru.html
…and when you return from Summer Holidays, give a thought to the underbelly of the beast: Social Media will only ever become a meaningful marketing outlet when and if a scalable monetization mechanism emerges that is not predicated on trading Personally Identifiable Information for dollars.
Remember: as far as marketing dollars are concerned, Googlemania was launched by AdWords – not an algorithm.  Similarly, the innovation required in Social Media is a fundamentally new economic model. Selling ads -- and selling out users -- is not Facebook’s path to riches.