HOTELMARKETING.COM

Social media future bright, challenging

December 19, 2007 | Internet Marketing

The long term financial viability of even the largest social media sites depends heavily on the ability to develop targeted advertising techniques that are as yet largely unproven, or may ultimately be thwarted by privacy regulations.

Social networks are attracting marketers’ attention for a reason. eMarketer estimates that by the end of 2007, 38% of all US Internet users age 3 and older, or 72 million people, will have used social networking at least once a month.

By 2011, one-half of all Internet users, nearly 105 million people, will use social networking regularly, and that’s just in the US.

eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson said that marketers could also miss the mark by using a one-size-fits-all mentality with social networks.

“Though the temptation for some marketers may be to look at the large audience of a social networking site and launch a mass branding campaign, that strategy also fails to take advantage of the engagement possibilities,” Ms. Williamson said.

Get the full story at eMarketer

Visit our sponsors: