Instead of creating stand-alone web sites to support new advertising campaigns, some major advertisers are showcasing campaigns via fan and friend pages on existing social media sites.A marketing official for Unilever tells New Media Age: 'You’ll see fewer brands creating a site for one campaign and then throwing it away. Certainly we won’t do that at Unilever any more'.
Unilever, Coca-Cola, Kellogg, Procter & Gamble and other smart marketers see consumers flocking to YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites . . . and they realise that instead of trying to drive traffic to a stand-alone campaign site, it makes sense to take the campaign to popular sites that draw crowds. Coca-Cola is particularly interested in viral marketing via social media and crowdsourcing content as well.
This shift toward existing social media sites is not just a matter of money, it's a way of winning hearts and minds in the battle for brand preference. Kellogg's Pop Tarts brand has more than 1 million Facebook fans. That's a LOT of fans who want to read the brand's news feed.
