Saturday, January 15, 2011

Social Media Multiplier Effect and the Super Bowl

One of the virtues of better advertising is the "multiplier effect" that comes from people sharing information they find in advertising.

People are social. And we like to talk about what's new. We become closer to each other sharing the very latest fun and useful information with friends.

That is why advertising is best defined as "commercial news."

Now, there are at least two dimensions to commercial news:  what you have to say (the strategic information about the product), and how you say it (the creative component of the message).

In a few weeks, we will be seeing the annual "advertising theater" on the Super Bowl where companies serve up highly creative commercials in hopes for the greatest multiplier effects.

And of course electronic social media play an increasing role in the process.

Venables Bell & Partners, the San Francisco ad agency, has just reported a survey indicating 15 percent of the people who say they will watch the Super Bowl also say they plan to post game-related coments  on Facebook during the game.

The ad agency did some math with the expected audience size and average number of Facebook friends to project there will be 15 million people sending a total of about 2 billion game-related comments during the game.

The ad agency survey also found that about 25 percent of these people say they plan to be commenting on the Super Bowl commercials. That adds up to a projected electronic social media multiplier effect of about a half billion comments on Facebook alone.

With Super Bowl commercial prices holding constant in the 2.8 to 3 million dollar range, the growing multiplier effect from electronic social media is making a substantial contribution to advertising productivity.

For more perspective on psychological theory and the development of persuasive advertising, please see Advertising and the Arc of History.

Copyright © 2011 by John Eighmey. All Rights Reserved.

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