Marketers--the Invited (or not so invited) Guests To The Social Networking Party

I often liken using the online social networking world to reach customers and market to them to wandering the streets of the Barbary Coast during the Gold Rush days. Many made great fortunes, and others got Shanghaied.

In the social networking Gold Rush, advertisers are looking for ways to make themselves heard in the busy social hangouts, without making it feel (to consumers) that their domain has been taken over by marketers. In other words, marketers need to join the conversation--quietly and without altering the core socializing activities that are going on there.

It is estimated that MySpace and Facebook have 100 million customers in the U.S. alone. It is an audience that many marketers would love to interact with.

On the surface, it seems like fertile ground for advertisers. With users posting detailed personal information on their profile pages, including age, sex and hobbies, social networks provide an opportunity to reach very precise demographic groups.

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

"They are reading about it a lot, their children are using it," said Ian Schafer, CEO and founder of Deep Focus, an ad agency that created Facebook campaigns for HBO, Coca-Cola and New Line Cinema. "And they are finding that the social media networks are too big to ignore."

In March, retail giant Sears Holdings Corp., which pioneered the mail-order business with its catalog more than a century ago, rolled out a prom-dress campaign, asking high school girls to share their selections with friends on Facebook.

Last month, one of the largest packaged food companies, ConAgra Foods, partnered with San Francisco's Slide, developer of the Fun Wall and Top Friends applications, to promote its Slim Jim brand.

And this week, Visa, the world's largest credit card processor, said it will invest $2 million in advertising on Facebook and introduce social-networking applications for small businesses to help them find new customers.

You get the picture.

But despite a growing number of subscribers, marketers need to figure out HOW to market to these audiences in this new medium. Users are on these sites to socialize, not look for information or be marketed to. In other words, marketers face an uphill battle of getting these users "in the mood."

The folks at Slide, an agency focused on the space, say "As an advertiser, you want to have your brand inserted into the online conversation that is already taking place."

The Chronicle reports that many businesses are experimenting with widgets that allow them to spread their message across social networks quickly and virally with the help of virtual hugs, horoscopes or games. An example is a campaign for Slim Jim which launched its Facebook campaign with Slide's "Super Poke" application. Users can poke each other to show off their "spicy side," based on the premise that everyone has a smaller, wilder version of themselves that goes crazy after eating a Slim Jim.

Slim Jim isn't the only company trying to get an invite to the social networking party. Sears, Visa, Microsoft, Victoria's Secret, HBO, Coke and New Line Cinema are just a few willing to take the plunge.