Comments on: AOL’s Falco Gets Something Right

By: Social Networks’ Failed Advertising Strategy - The Seminal :: Independent Media and Politics

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:08:04 +0000

[...] it was Sergey Brin in Google’s January analyst call. Then AOL’s Randy Falco in an internal memo. Now Facebook’s new COO Sheryl Sandberg has made it unanimous. No one has a clue how to make [...]

By: Stacey Higginbotham

Stacey Higginbotham — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:49:30 +0000

@Scott, I’m saying that the existing modes of advertising don’t work for social networks and the prize will go to the company who figures out how to make advertisers comfortable on social networks. I’m not assuming the model in place for AOL and GigaOm will work there.

By: Pierre Bellanger

Pierre Bellanger — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:23:30 +0000

I have created and run the social network skyrock.com. Skyrock.com ranks 17th in the world in terms of page views (Comscore February 2008). We are profitable and expanding. Our way to monetize our audience is through “haute-couture” advertising. That means working with advertisers to create unique conversational marketing operations on our social network. It works for Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Unilever, Nike, Puma, Adidas, Apple, Johnson & Johnson, Nokia, etc … We are profitable because we believe in listening to our advertisers and building with them operations that enhance user experience. The integrated social webagency is the solution

By: Marc Porcelli

Marc Porcelli — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:19:28 +0000

For larger organizations like AOL Tim Warner to appeal to larger advertisers in the social media space you are 100% correct - the inventory must be relevant (and engaging)for advertisers and users.

I frequently discuss social media advertising on my blog. Readers of this post, likely will find the content relevant.

Regards,

Marc
(link)

By: Scott Rafer

Scott Rafer — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:08:08 +0000

Both Falco and you are assuming that the same media strategy that works for non/semi-social properties (e.g. AOL and GigaOm) is also right for social networks. The market seems not to bear this out. The CPC and CPA worlds may well dominate social networks permanently. If social networks have cost structures and valuations that match performance-ad eCPMS, only the traditional brand advertisers will be frustrated.

By: GigaOm: Social Networks Not Advertiser-Friendly | Games & gadgets, the blog

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:15:01 +0000

[...] have not been able to make the experiences relevant to users and marketers alike”, says GigaOM. Falco hits the nail on the head: social nets want marketers to foot the bill for content [...]

By: Jeff Sable

Jeff Sable — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:15:26 +0000

We're (Chitika) doing some very interesting work right now with targeting ads. We're leverages our large pool of advertising and PRECISELY matching ads with end user self selected interest at that particular point in time. Effectively we're providing personalized ad content through our Premium Listings ad units and so far the results are terrific.

jeff at chitika dot com

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:00:04 +0000

The opportunity for social networks is not in coming up with clever ways to insert videos ads, banners or PPC for that matter. That’s 1.0 thinking. The opportunity is in blending the needs of the advertiser and the user to provide true value to the user that also markets a product or service. That’s 2.0 thinking.

By: Stacey Higginbotham

Stacey Higginbotham — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:21:44 +0000

John, I think they’re in a highly competitive space, but if they can win corporate clients, rather than startups hoping to make a buck from advertising, they’re betting on a familiar business model.

By: John

John — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:10:40 +0000

What do you think about a company like Ning, which is trying to build a legitimate business via premium fees?