Permission Marketing: Thoughts On How Social Media Leverage Their Potential On Advertizing

I wrote not so long ago an article about how people were blocking ads on social media, and why it was a threat to the ecosystem. Don't get me wrong, I still believe the same way. But I am a high consumer in Youtube videos, I use to listen to shows and/or music online. And since several months, I am spammed by massive number of commercials. It is nearly impossible to have over 5 minutes of content without a commercial popping out.

Another issue, is that most of the time, it is continually the very same commercial that pops out. It has been for weeks Engie, the new merger between GDF & Suez, but also commerciales about clothing soaps, among others.

I point out two issues:

• The number of ads proposed, which doom the user experience
• The fact the threshold effect is reach so fast, as it is the very same commerciales showing on...

Social media and online advertizing was supposed to be the age of customized and rich content, with retargeting technique, and accurate message at the right time. None of that.

In a race to be considered as a key social media company, a lot of global corporations are spending massive amount of money to flood the web with their commercials. They use the same techniques online than for a TV campaign. And that worries me. 

1. Worries me as a user, because I can't enjoy a good experience
2. Worries me as a marketer, because I believe we are far from the permission marketing and one to one marketing as it should be done with social media
3. Worries me for the social media eco system companies like Twitter, Facebook or Youtube needs in order to keep growing and developping their amazing products.

I believe social media have a part of responsabilities, as they are the ones who permits announcers to publish commercials. They therefore should take a good care of their user experiences, because if not, maybe people will turn to other social media.