A cultural icon 11/27/2011
I was on the Metro the other day when I saw a series of ads for different retailers that all incorporated social media icons into the artwork. Genius idea, right? I can just hear it now: "We're geniuses! We are so forward thinking...can't wait till the 18-27s come Fan us on our Fan page and buy our products!" Nice try. Here's the deal: Despite the rise of social media and its (necessary) integration into every facet of a company's marketing communications, said companies still struggle with integrating social media into traditional outlets. There's no question that depending on the strategy, it most likely makes sense to incorporate social media tools into print. But here's the problem: So many advertisers simply put the Twitter, Facebook or other social media on their print ads, without a URL or any other identifier. It's like they think their job is done because a.) they actually have social media tools and b.) they incorporated social media icons into the work. Here's the problem with that: Simply having social media icons on an ad isn't enough. In fact, having just the icons on there is pretty pointless. Here's why: most people aren't going to a.) even remember your ad in the first place, b.) if they do, won't search you on Facebook just because you have that logo there and c.) there's no guarantee that even if a and b actually happen, that your business/product will show up first (or even at all) on the search result. This means wasted impressions, and money. Facebook/Twitter/YouTube could change their search algorithms tomorrow, and you'd be out of luck. But I've always thought that including the entire URL is also too clunky...it's too much text and would be a distraction from the message of the ad. So what's the solution? I discovered it the other day looking at ads on the Metro. Check it out:  Now take a closer look at the lower right hand corner, and notice how they successfully integrated the Facebook logo and the URL, while ensuring that it didn't take up too much real estate or detract from the ad's message.  CommentsHeather 11/27/2011 11:25pm
well done. i agree, advertisers can't just rely on the social networking icon to sell their products for them. props to salvation army, form and function! Victoria S 11/28/2011 11:08am
This is a nice, simple ad that gets the point across! Great observation, Joel. Nice blog format too! Your comment will be posted after it is approved. Leave a Reply |  About Me
I grew up reading every single word of the Washington Post every single day, and I have haven't stopped reading the news ever since. Over the years, this led to my passion for news, politics, marketing and advertising (hey, at one point, the Post had a lot of ads, right?). ArchivesDecember 2011  |
RSS Feed