Expert expresses caution over social media marketing

14th August 2008

Social media as a marketing channel is still an unknown entity when it comes to effectiveness, an expert has said.

Speaking to eyefortravel.com, Aer Arann head of sales and marketing Colin Lewis said that while the medium holds much potential for advertisers, it is still difficult to obtain solid monetisation from social networking, m-travel.com reports.

He compared the channel with search and informational websites, where internet users utilise these pages to look for specific information alongside which relevant ads can be placed.

"However, with social networking sites, response rates to ads are much lower as it can be more difficult to target relevant ads," Mr Lewis commented.

Facebook recently integrated the AdKnowledge social ad network into its application platform in the UK, which places targeted ads alongside the website's various apps.

The network is already being used on other sites such as MySpace, Friendster and Bebo.