Brand Dots

Posts Tagged ‘consumer behavior’

The dawn of social networks has undeniably created new opportunities for marketers. Consumers have an opportunity to share opinions about anything and everything they purchase. A reported 50 million Facebook users are currently sharing their thoughts about brands on a regular basis.

According to Reuters, earlier this year social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook, were struggling financially. They have been trying to find a way to capitalize on their massive and rapidly growing consumer base. Like most websites, advertising revenue seemed to be the most logical way to generate a profit.

This week, the NY Times reported that Facebook is now selling advertisements that display people’s profile photos next to commercial messages that are shown to their friends about the brands that they purchase or register an opinion about. Consumers that participate will have the opportunity to share their online purchases with their friends. For example, if you buy a new CD from iTunes, you can add it to your Facebook profile and let everyone know how you feel about the new album.

From a marketing perspective, this is the perfect marriage between understanding consumer behavior and advertising. Every profile contains demographic information about each consumer. This tool could shed light on who is really purchasing products and why they make the purchase decisions that they do – marketer’s dream!

But not so fast; the Federal Trade Commission sees the risk associated with protecting the privacy of consumers. So for now, Facebook has promised to keep these details to themselves.  Oh…to be a fly on the wall at Facebook.