Dec 10, 2008 – Social networks and other types of social media are increasingly capturing consumers’ leisure time and this trend shows no evidence of going away. The total audience numbers are staggering: MySpace boasts 246 million users worldwide – up from 100 million users two years ago. Originally founded as an exclusive college-only social network, Facebook has grown from 12 million users in December 2006 to over 110 million users as of October 2008.

Many advertisers are now thinking of how they can leverage social networks to build their brands and drive sales in the same way they have used the traditional media (i.e. magazines, television, and websites) to further secure their business objectives in the past.

While some in the advertising industry have suggested that social networks can’t be used as an effective advertising medium, our experience working with some of the world’s largest brands on their social network advertising strategies indicates that when done properly, advertising on social networks can be extremely effective. Buddy Media’s research shows that our most popular social applications or “app-vertisements” have engagement times that are 75 times greater than the time consumers spend interacting with traditional banner ads.

In fact, social network advertising can often be more effective than traditional advertising and provides the best bang for the advertising dollar, creating loyal brand advocates who consistently evangelize products and services to a growing circle of social contacts.

Traditionally, brand loyalty has been defined by consumers’ commitment to purchase and repurchase a brand, their word of mouth advocacy for a brand and their prolonged engagement with a brand. However, brand advocates in social networks display “social brand loyalty,” the intense adoption of, commitment to and interaction with a brand that drives interest far beyond general awareness. Because the “app-vertisement” becomes a unique attribute of a person’s profile of interests, the person exponentially interacts with the brand inside the social network and shares this interaction with other like-minded social contacts.

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