New standards for social media ads: Who’s joining in?
Posted by Manuela Barreto @ May 20th, 2009 in Social Marketing
As social media is becoming more popular, even more so than email, marketers can’t afford not to join in and make it a part of their marketing communication strategy.
Advertisers today are spending more and more time engaging with customers, expanding their reach and connecting more deeply with consumers who are more difficult to reach in social environments. Equally so, the industry is also witnessing a significant shift in revenue from traditional advertising to online (social media) advertising.
Just recently, the IAB issued a set of standards for social ads. IAB’s definition of a social ad is one that
‘incorporates user interactions that the consumer has agreed to display and be shared. The resulting ad displays these interactions along with the user’s persona (picture and/or name) within the ad content‘.
Because many people want to get involved in social media, it is important that a high degree of transparency be preserved and this can be fulfilled by bringing clear standards to online advertising in order to encourage consistency in the marketplace.
The IAB also stated that
‘this is important in the social media space, where so many people are still unsure of what they want from social media campaigns and what their campaigns are capable of there. However, it is still unclear if the large social media networks will adhere to the standards’.
When consumers take part in social media, they’re required to share profile data which may include social targeting as to deliver a more customized and personal experience. Such shared data is to be fully controlled by the consumer and no one else. It is why the IAB has also included opt-in and opt-out options as part of these new sets of standards as well as complete guidelines for privacy principles.
Read more about the new set of standards for social media ads here.
More on the IAB’s social media ad buy standards on Marketing Pilgrim.
Do you think sites like Facebook will eventually adhere to these standards?
Last 5 posts in Social Marketing
- Twitter's Red Carpet Era- the real and the fake users - March 11th, 2010
- B2B companies increasing interactive marketing spend and using social media - March 4th, 2010
- Small businesses learn from the big guys and adopt social media - March 2nd, 2010
- Online social network advertising spending up, up, up - February 18th, 2010
- Social Media involvement and evolution - February 10th, 2010
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