Social Networking Sites and Advertising

As tougher regulations mean that it’s harder than ever for advertisers aiming at young children to get their message across on traditional media like print and TV, marketers are choosing to make the most of new technology instead. While this might include setting up a website and sending out email alerts, marketers are also discovering the effectiveness of social networking.

It’s hardly surprising that marketers are choosing to follow children online. After all, commentators believe that there are over 100 social networking sites aimed at young people, many of who would be receptive to the right advertising campaigns.

Beating Age Limits

Every social networking entrepreneur wants to emulate the success of market leaders Facebook, MySpace and Bebo – sites that are aimed at university graduates, teens and school-age children respectively.

In theory, age limits set by the sites’ creators should stop children using them in the first place (for instance Bebo users have to declare they’re over 13 before using the service), however it’s not too difficult for technologically-savvy kids to copy their older siblings and set up an on-line profile.

Banner Adverts

Children love to communicate – and it’s for this reason that social networking sites are so popular with youngsters. However, while these sites let children communicate with their friends – they also open the flood-gates to marketing messages from advertisers.

On the crudest level these marketing messages may include banner ads. One of the most basic kinds of advertising on the Internet, banner ads attempt to entice children away from the page they’ve visited to an advertiser's site. While some banner ads are static, others use music, animation or film clips to appeal to children.

Brand Ambassadors

For sophisticated advertisers though, banner ads are just the beginning. By cleverly using social networking sites advertisers can bypass traditional advertising methods altogether by making their target audience effectively do the advertising for them.

In 2007, a well known sweet brand paid Bebo to set up a profile based around their most popular product. Very quickly the confectionary company made over 3,500 online ‘friends’.

This canny kind of advertising means that the brand will show up on potentially millions of kids' profile pages, marketing the brand to their friends across the site. It also means that, by accessing the children’s profiles, brands can learn exactly what kind of young consumer they currently appeal to.

Safe Social Networking

As well as the many issues around privacy and young people that social networking stirs up, many parents are concerned that their kids are easy prey for online advertisers. Still – with few simple steps it’s more simple than you might think to protect your kids.

1. Keep your child’s profile private. When they initially sign up with most social networking sites children have the opportunity to set a privacy setting. If it’s too low advertisers have easy access to a child’s details. Set privacy to the maximum setting to be sure.

2. Try and monitor exactly who you child is networking with. Check their profile page and talk to your child about names that sound like they might be brands in disguise.

3. Make your child aware of why advertisers want to be friends. Make them realise just how sneaky advertisers can be!

The Future

The bad news for concerned parents is that the future may be even worse as far as kids and advertising on social networking sites is concerned. New hand-held mobile devices are coming onto the market that have social networking at the heart of their designs. This may mean that parents (and the regulators) will quickly have to become as computer-savvy as their kids in order to stop advertisers getting an easy ride.