Social Media the key to Online Marketing Engagement

In a world before online marketing, advertising was based on predictions of interest due to likely demographics of the target audience. Television adverts were targeted in the sense that the advert was run between programs which were watched by a targeted demographic of the population, for instance beer commercials during sports matches, as both sport and beer’s best customers are predominantly male, and in the age range of 18-35.

With early online marketing a similar approach was taken, banner advertisements would be placed on sites relevant to the advert. However evidence suggests that this is not overly effective, with only 0.09% of visitors clicking on the adverts. Other forms of online marketing have proved intrusive, with pop ups often prompting a negative reaction.

Google provided one of the first effective methods of online marketing through the adverts that support its search engine in the sponsored results. The online marketing was targeted to the user as it responds to what the user searched for and displayed results which may be of interest. Social media has taken this one step further, with adverts based on the information a user has communicated about themselves. Furthermore, the way brands interact with users on sites such as Facebook is very similar to how users interact with each other, making it seem less like online marketing, and instead treating the user as more of a fan of the brand, which helps develop loyalty. Stores such as Wallmart now even provide applications to help Facebook users buy gifts for their friends, disguising online marketing as a helpful tool.

The internet also allows more interactive media, with games and contests available to facilitate online marketing and give the user more involvement in the advert. Yet this is not the pinnacle of social media, the growth of location as an element of social media has great potential for facilitating geo marketing as does the migration to smartphones for mobile marketing. Online marketing will only continue to grow with new innovations in the social marketing field.