Monday, March 12, 2007

Marketers Pay for Social Buzz

As surely as the Sun will shine (okay, I'm in Oregon, so maybe not today), marketers will attack the social network space and push the boundaries of good practices to get the word out about their product.

JupiterResearch, says that 48 percent of marketers plan to use social marketing during the next year. Social networking websites have a young and skeptical audience that doesn't trust advertisers, so getting word of mouth from "trusted peers" is important.

Most marketers will be up front about their activities, but you know, that just as PayPerPost is offering to bribe bloggers to endorse advertisers' product, so to are the marketers willing to pay people to casually tout their products. For example, see PlatinumMillennium, which has an affiliate program that pays commissions for touting "how to make money" videos on MySpace.

Affiliate programs are legitimate businesses as long as they are banners etc. But paying people to talk about products they don't use isn't right. After 50 years, the music industry is still ripe with payola, and soon MySpace and all of the social networking sites will be awash in the same practices.

Marketers will give away free music, clothes, cell phones etc. to get the endorsements of influential social stars. Has anyone out there been approached by a company willing to pay for a little social love?

By John Gartner at 01:34 PM | Comments (1)

(1) Thoughts on Marketers Pay for Social Buzz

You are so right. There always seems to be a people who take a good thing and push boundaries, but in the wrong way/

I think that social networking sites are powerful tools, but ONLY when used in the right way. People hate to be sold to and can pick up a pitch a mile away.

Thanks for reminding us of this important fact once again.

Comments by Monique Hawkins : Monday, March 12, 2007 at 08:22 PM

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