The world of social media is changing faster than you can say your own name. More and more businesses are launching growth engines inside social engines. It is all part of the realization that we must get closer to where the customers are. Traditional media are shriveling like a flower under a heat lamp while new social media and social networks are making the personal connections. Take this one as reported by B2B Magazine:
Visa announced it has launched the Visa Business Network on Facebook. The application is designed to connect businesses on the social networking site. Visa also partnered with AllBusiness, Entrepreneur, Forbes.com, Google, Inc., Microsoft Corp. and The Wall Street Journal to provide small businesses with news, commentary and tool kits to help them manage their businesses. As part of the launch, Visa will award the first 20,000 U.S.-based businesses that join the Visa Business Network a $100 Facebook Ads credit.
Visa's program will be one of more than 24,000 applications that have been built during the past 13 months by developers who want to reach Facebook's rapidly growing audience. Most of the programs are for fun, offering ways for Facebook's 80 million users to play games, share photos, rate music and track their friends' activities.
But while the array of applications have helped make Facebook even more popular, few programs are producing revenue for the site, and Facebook still hasn't proven that its social playground is an effective advertising forum.
Finding the right advertising approach also has been a challenge for other social hangouts like News Corp.'s MySpace. Even Google, which runs the Internet's most lucrative ad system, has had trouble marketing on social networks.
In theory, the information that Facebook has amassed about the demographics and personal interests of its users should make it easier to target certain ads to certain people. But some advertisers fret that Facebook's audience will resent commercials amid all the site's frivolity. Others are leery about their brands showing up on Web pages featuring racy or unsavory content.
Visa's service could turn into a financial catalyst for Facebook if the businesses receiving the ad credits are impressed enough with the results to continue marketing on the site.
Courtesy – Dale Wolf, Perfect CEM
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