FaceBooks recent IPO debacle, in contrast to Google’s more stellar public release, does not diminish the company’s intrinsic value. Its true value stems from its biggest asset, its more than 800 million registered users worldwide. Essentially it has become the largest direct-mail listing service ever known and does not require the mailing of postcards to deliver a brand’s messaging. Yet, before there was FaceBook, there was another form on on-line social activity developing, the virtual world.
In June of 2003, Linden Labs created a virtual world called SecondLife. In this virtual reality world a person can become any character they can envision. It quickly became a destination spot for on-line gaming enthusiasts and where people gather, commerce follows. An economy quickly developed and even allowed some early merchants like Ailin Graef to generate real world wealth through, of all things, selling real estate! As this world matured more and more real world companies ” Reebok, Nike, Amazon and American Apparel, migrated to it and set-up shop “in-world”. The benefit for advertisers here is that the brand experience can be made interactive, even if fictitious.
Fast forward now to 2012 and we find that people are more apt to consume virtual entertainment, news, sports and all levels of personal (and anonymous) communication on smaller mobile devices and go without an on-line avatar. With apps like Angry Birds generating millions of dollars in both direct sales and advertising revenues these little entertainment and productivity applications have become ubiquitous. Never mind the effect Twitter has had on word of mouth advertising previously found only on on-line product review sites.
All of the above social media technologies have served to fracture mass media’s hold on the consuming public. This creates the dilemma of stretching advertising dollars further than ever before. With fewer and fewer ad dollars being spent on traditional media like print, radio, and television and the fact that consumers’ attention is getting harder to capture the job of marketing professionals is moving beyond engaging message receivers and simply trying to locate where they now reside.
Ultimately, the purpose of marketing is to place the brand in the line of sight of those with an interest in the service or product. In order for marketing to accomplish the goals of emotionally connecting with consumers, eliciting a response, and causing a desired action it must now first locate its intended demographic in an entirely new world of media consumption and do so in fractions of a second. It seems that today the marketing professionals needs to be more “hunter” than salesman.
Resources:
Bianco, A., Lowry, T., Berner, R., Arndt, M., & Grover, R. (2004, July 12). The Vanishing Mass Market: New technology. Product proliferation. Fragmented media. Get ready: It’s a whole new world. Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_28/b3891001_mz001.htm
Edmoston, P. (2009). Google’s I.P.O., five years later. (Dealbook), New York Times.com, Retrieved from dealbook.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/googles-ipo-5-years-later/?pagemode=print
Hamburger, E. (2011, November 2). Angry Birds hit 500 million game downloads worldwide. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/angry-birds-sales-numbers-2011-11
Peterson, T. (2012, May 24). Facebook IPO word-of-mouth win for Twitter: Sentiment mostly positive for Zuck and company. (Technology), Adweek. Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/facebook-ipo-word-mouth-win-twitter-140759
Raice, S., Dezember, R., Bunge, J. (2012). Facebook’s IPO sputters: Underwriters Forced to Prop Up IPO of Social Network; Only a 23-Cent Rise. (Technology), Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303448404577411903118364314.html#printMode
Siklos, R. (2006, October 19). A virtual world but real money. (nytimes.com), The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/19/technology/19virtual.html? _r=2&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx%E2%80%A6
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