'Give rewards through social networking'
Friday, 11, Jul 2008 01:02
Those considering using social networking as an online marketing medium to target teenagers should provide "gifts" to the "what's in it for me?" generation, it has been claimed.
MediaPost's Performance Insider said the younger generation have been conditioned to expect online services and products for free, and as such are unlikely to click on a link without receiving some kind of return for doing so.
One way the publication mentions as useful for engaging teenagers through social networking is creating Facebook "gifts" which can be sent from one user to another.
These have already been employed by brands such as Sunkist and the Sex and the City film.
Allowing users to send real-life money-off tokens through social networking sites and enabling them to earn points towards a premium service through trialling or rating services were also suggested.
Jeremiah Owyang, an analyst from Forrester Research, has said on his blog that social networks are attractive marketing tools for advertisers because links between users are based on trust.
