Zarządzanie Kulturą, tom 6 (2013), nr 4 / Culture Management, vol. 6 (2013), no. 4
Sławomir Skwark (Opole University) ROI IS WORTH TRASH, I.E. THE VALUE OF ADVERTISING IN SOCIAL MEDIA The article was written for the 60th anniversary of Radio Opole.
Key words: ROI, ad, social media, advertising campaign, Facebook, Internet, CPM, CPC, CTR, CPV. Abstract: Worldwide Social Network Users Report: 2013 Forecast and Comparative Estimates reports that by the end of 2013, every fourth person in the world will be an active user of social networks. Forecasts also suggest their continued dynamic development. Social media create new possibilities for advertisers due to the specific forms of advertising and access to a broad range of various target groups. The author debates whether in the case of advertising campaigns and activities in social media the use of the popular ROI indicator is justified and discusses differences between the traditional and social media, drawing attention to the specificity of communicating and advertising in the latter. The author also states that it is difficult to reduce all the effects of being active in social media to traditional numerical values and advertising effectiveness indicators used in web portals.
It might seem that today when the budgets of even the largest corporations are planned to the last penny, return on investment (ROI) must be one of the most important markers of advertising campaigns. It should therefore follow those advertising channels whose effectiveness in reaching target groups is hard to measure ought to be marginalised. In fact exactly the opposite is true. Where does the boom for spending large budgets on social media come from? Global brands, political parties, politicians, smaller firms and classic media, i.e. television, radio and the press spend more and more money on their presence, promotion and advertising in social media. Why is that? Traditional vs. social media Social media differ from traditional media at their very foundation. The basic condition and sense of their existence is in the upward creation of information by users who, in case of the classic media, are only recipients of information having no direct involvement with it at all. Publication of information is, in a strict sense, a beginning of the media process, which ends only when users are no longer interested with the issue under discussion, meaning that an initial news item can be modified ad nauseam.1 What’s also important is that contrary to the classic media, in social media content is distributed through interactions among users. The more intense the interaction, the higher distribution of information and, what follows, of advertising. One of the main differences is that a professional journalist, a person directly involved in the subject matter or an observer can be involved in the process of the creation of information. Each one of them can measurably influence the direction in which information develops. Talking of the “magical” ROI. as well as the measurable and calculable advantages that campaigns in social media bring to advertisers, it is worth noting that the presence of mainstream 1
D. Kaznowski, Networked Digital Age, Definicja social media [Social Media http://networkeddigital.com/2010/ 04/17/definicja-social-media (accessed on: 04.02.2013).
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