Thanks Nick, for consolidating your thoughts for us. You've hit the nail on the head, that advertising just isn't the same in social media as it is in other forms. Click counts don't measure the true impact of engaging in social media. Impact on reputation is more to the point. Of course that's hard to measure. I'm sure this capability will mature, Radian6 seems to be doing a good job at this.
I also think advertisers fail to consider one important aspect of online advertising--intent. They get context, and both contextual ad networks and social media can deliver that. But meeting consumers at the corner of context and intent (when they are explicitly looking to find and act) seems to only occur consistently in search marketing. I think that's why your conclusion is right on.
Chris Brogan just decided to table his consideration of adding an ad banner to his blog in view of this reality. I think that's noble. He could get a few bucks, but he knows the value to the advertiser is so low (and that there is a small inconvenience to the reader) that it's not worth it (http://www.chrisbrogan.com/the-old-advertising-...).
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I also think advertisers fail to consider one important aspect of online advertising--intent. They get context, and both contextual ad networks and social media can deliver that. But meeting consumers at the corner of context and intent (when they are explicitly looking to find and act) seems to only occur consistently in search marketing. I think that's why your conclusion is right on.
Chris Brogan just decided to table his consideration of adding an ad banner to his blog in view of this reality. I think that's noble. He could get a few bucks, but he knows the value to the advertiser is so low (and that there is a small inconvenience to the reader) that it's not worth it (http://www.chrisbrogan.com/the-old-advertising-...).