Faces and tweets - how effective are they?

Melbourne Herald Sun, Thursday March 21, 2013 

The great waves of social media keep rolling in - Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and scores of would-be pretenders. They are part of every advertising campaign, they will flood this year's election space, and as every hand fiddles with phone and tablet and laptop, there is no way to avoid it.

So what a shock when even a sprinkle of doubt is tossed in - by one of the world's richest media gurus. "I get myself in deep doo-doo when I say this," said Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP agency group, but he believes that, "Facebook is more of a branding platform than an advertising medium."

Similarly for Twitter, "I think it’s a PR medium… it’s very effective word of mouth. But – and this is the old fart speaking – I think because it’s limited in terms of number of characters, it reduces communication to superficialities and lacks depth."

In other words, they're fine for announcing and showing off the product, but not for the hard grind of selling it. It doesn't search out the customer and the product the way Google or eBay do.

But what makes Sorrell compelling listening is the fact that he commands $50 billion in media billings world-wide and was a major force behind the ascendancy of social media in the first place.

All this is happening even as Twitter launches its new advertising API software that will automate the running of sophisticated campaigns on the medium. Added to this, rumours have it that Facebook may adopt the hash tag in its own interface (the "#" symbol in front of a group name) to bring its own advertising products into aggressive competition with Twitter.

World-wide, the Ad Knight has caused a stir of controversy as greater portions of the advertising budget are directed towards social media. Agencies in Britain and the US have been working hard to keep up with the social phenomenon, so they don't appreciate such doubt from one of their own bosses.

"It's an odd thing to say," says Kenny Hill, Melbourne MD of M&C Saachi. "These days advertising encompasses so many facets of the market."

He gave the example of their recent launch of Opel - a brand that, in Australia, is little known. "Facebook was a very important part of the communications mix. We launched the brand with a large conventional campaign - using Facebook to broaden the story."

They have an extensive team working on social media: "Everybody in the creative areas has to understand it."

Futurologist Phil Ruthven of IBISWorld thinks Sorrell might be right, "Especially Twitter because it's so short, with its 140 characters," and Facebook because it's a social medium. "We had long discussions about where the advertising is going. My conclusion is you still have to wait for it to work."

At which point Kenny Hill disagrees: "Does it work? Yes. We see response immediately, in real time." He points to their Jetstar campaign, where daily sales offers are sent out over Twitter to their followers.

Ruthven believes Facebook is growing into a tribal site rather than an advertising carrier, and he worries that Twitter is in danger of eventually becoming a pest, wearing out its welcome.

However there are many great minds, and even more great dollars, facing these very questions. Last year Facebook reported revenues of $5 billion, and Twitter now believes that the new advertising API can push it to a billion dollars this year.

With that sort of funding, new uses and novelties will be found for these social media that we do not have the wit to foresee - you'll be pushing buttons for a long time yet.

ray@ebeatty.com