Monday, April 16, 2007
Social Nets Provide Direct Channel to Consumers
Social networking is the keyboard to keyboard equivalent of word of mouth marketing, replacing distributors (like music labels or retailers) with advertising or commission-based vertical channels.For example, eSnips is one of several social nets that enables artists of the musical and physical realm to upload their work and sell it directly to a target demographic. These networks, such as MySpace or Flickr, work in conjunction with ad networks to monetize the 90+ percent of traffic that doesn't turn into a sale, while enabling direct to consumers sales.
These vertical channels are like shopping assistants, helping to filter out the stuff you don't like and focus on delivering the good things so that you'll be more likely buy. In the case of eSnips, they've added customizable radio stations so that people can find indie musicians to match their taste. The ad revenue pays for the website, while the revenue from any sales will help the musicians to buy their groceries.
Hence the rising importance of vertical ad networks. By winnowing down the list of advertisers to those that appeal to a demographic, transaction rates should increase along with consumer satisfaction.
Posted By John Gartner at 06:10 PM
Permanent Link: Social Nets Provide Direct Channel to Consumers
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