Let’s face it, the realm of advertising within social media is expanding. Remember when the newspaper was the only way an advertiser got his information out to the public? Yeah, I don’t either. After growing up in 22 years worth of advancing technology I can proudly say I am a techy baby and a slave to consuming every advertisement that is produced within the media.
In today’s world of advertising paper news is obsolete, television can be fast-forwarded, and do people really pay attention to bus stop ads? In our society the only really successful way to get an advertisement noticed is on the web, which is where Twitter, Facebook, and G+ come into play.
Less than eight years ago Facebook, like the Internet, was turned on and it looks as though it will never be turned off. Advertisers had no choice but to jump on the social media bandwagon and start advertising like they did with every other medium, but what advertisers may have not realized at the time is that Facebook is a whole different ballgame when it comes to advertising to the public. The audience actually gets to choose what ads they want to see and what ads are wasting their time by sharing their voice through online communities. This control flip was a slap in the face to advertisers, but like any species they learned to adapt and evolved their strategies to create social media ads that would appeal to the masses.
This communication evolution leads to my point: the expansion of advertising within social media is inevitable. Ad companies are hiring social media specialists just to monitor their ads on the different social media sites. Some agencies may think this is unnecessary, but when a 55 year-old ad executive thinks Google Analytics is obsolete or still thinks Twitter is the name of a family dog, that company is in a boat without a paddle, in a car with no wheels, in a…. ok you get my point.
In the end, technology will be ever changing and advertisers will either have to learn to adapt like they have in the past or burn in the fires of ignorance. I know my choice and I suggest you choose yours.