The
quandary for those who run social networks is how to monetise activity
on them without antagonising and thus losing users through distracting
ads? The answer, for Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, is to slip in some
stealthy ads camouflaged to look like posts from listed contacts.
Each
of the networks has in-house teams whose job is to think up ways to
advise brands on how to sneak their marketing into members’ feeds.
At
YouTube, owned by Google, the effort is called “Zoo”. Instagram uses
the “Creative Shop” of its parent company Facebook. Twitter’s name for
it is the relatively straight-forward “Brand Strategy”.
The strategies adapt to the specific requirements, formats and behaviour on each of the social networks.
Hiding in plain sight
In
the case of Instagram, the four-year-old site which boasts 300 million
users worldwide who share filtered photos and videos, the advertising
push has now extended to France.
The
network long resisted introducing sponsored messages, aware that many
of its fans were creative types — artists, photographers, architects —
against having screens of pure images corrupted by tawdry commercial
intrusions.
But
after Facebook bought it for $715 million in 2012, Instagram started
putting in ads. They started in 2013 in the United States, then
Australia and Canada in late 2014 and, from mid-March this year, in
France.
They
hide in plain sight: presented in the same square format, with the same
“vintage” filter as user-generated pictures. Only the mention
“sponsored” reveals that it’s there to sell, not share.
“The
brand has to express itself as if it’s a person and respect the
community,” explained Cedric Atlan, of Facebook’s Creative Shop. “You
have come upon the brand the same way you would a friend or someone from
your family. The advertising needs to be integrated and not disturb the
user.”
Teams scattered around the world
The
specialist teams are experienced, well versed in advertising and
marketing, often having been snapped up from ad agencies. Each count
around 100 employees, scattered around the planet. The job requirement
is to have a deep and nuanced knowledge of local markets and to stay
abreast of the latest trends.
“There
are no borders. It’s a global team that communicates from everywhere in
the world, 24/7. If you want to know what’s happening with mobiles in
Asia in such and such an area, we can get an answer in an hour,” said
Mailine Swildens, director of YouTube’s Zoo for southern and eastern
Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
In
2014, Zoo lent its talents to the Italian fashion company Fendi and the
result was the first fashion show filmed with drones and broadcast live
on YouTube.
“There are innovative areas where you can mix geolocalisation, mobiles, technology,” Swildens said.
Rivals to ad agencies?
Laurent
Buanec, brand strategist for Twitter, said: “Sometimes, we get ideas
that aren’t really feasible or which miss the point. Our role isn’t to
give scores but to accompany agencies and brands.”
One
campaign rolled out with the help of Twitter was for Nissan France.
During a UEFA Champions League tournament, the car manufacturer turned
its Twitter feed into a football-stat spouting source during the matches
— to emphasise the brand’s sponsorship.
While
it makes sense for the social networks that depend on advertising for
their revenues to take on this consulting role, Nicolas Levy, who
handles strategy for the Marcel advertising agency within the French
Publicis group, said they may end up in competition with the big ad
agencies.
“Right
now, it’s in everybody’s interest. But in the longer term, Google and
Facebook — which are the most innovative and the biggest — are
potentially rivals,” he said.
“The
solution for the big advertising group is to grow, especially in the
data field, so that they don’t leave client understanding to the social
networks,” Levy said.
Posted by : Gizmeon
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