Right? The Nielsen Company just released a report on this topic titled Advertising Effectiveness: Understanding the Value of a Social Media Impression.
Mostly everybody has a Facebook these days. And those of you that do, I’m sure you’ve noticed how much the “like” button is excessively used by everyone. Even this week, they changed the “Become a Fan” option to a “Like” button. This study examines the use of ads on Facebook and how effective they are. Additionally, it examines the use of advertising through your Facebook friends. There are 3 different ad types that are discussed.
1. Engagement Ad
2. Ad with Social Context
3. Organic Ad Impression
Below is a screenshot of the 3 different types.
(Source: http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/social-ads.png)
Have you seen these ads? Of course you have. It’s the new trend. Advertisers figured out that you trust your friends and peers when making purchase decisions. By throwing names of your Facebook friends who like their product in the ad, it doesn’t become just another ad anymore. Now you have a reason to click on it because your friend’s name is there and you trust them. How many of you have clicked on these ads to check the product out because your friends name was underneath it?
Can you imagine something like this for music? I don’t think there is anything out there that does this on a big level, but somebody tell me otherwise if there is please. It would be so epic if something like this could be designed for music. I know that Amazon does “recommendations,” but those are based on only your purchase habits. If you were browsing a music website and one of your friend’s names popped up “liking” an album, I feel that you would be much more inclined to check it out and maybe purchase it. What do you all think? Does this type of marketing have a lot of potential for music?
Bridging the Gap 
