Want to advertise using social media? Try this

Every business wants to find a way of using social media to sell products. Yes, it’s good to engage with your customers, and yes, it’s great to find out what people want, but isn’t it even better if you can sell more units?

A business called SocialMedia.com thinks it has found the answer. According to this report, it has come up with an advertising technique called Word of Mouth Impression, or WOMI. WOMI campaigns present users with a multiple choice question – and then take the user’s answer as a starting point for the same question to the user’s friends on the same social network.

The report explains:

“If an ad for Star Wars had a call-to-action asking if I was on the Light Side or Dark Side of the Force, it could take my response and then present my friends with an ad that said ‘Jason is on the Light Side, how about you?’ In turn, their responses are passed on to all of their friends, making this among the first kind of advertising with a viral element.”

It sounds good – but will it catch on? The problem facing advertisers is that many users are sick of adverts, and will deliberately block them. While WOMI has the advantage of attracting users’ attention through the popular gimmick of a quiz or a game, some may just regard it as one more online irritation.

You can see the SocialMedia.com pitch here.

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One Response to “Want to advertise using social media? Try this”

  1. Says:

    In response to your Tweet.
    They say, quizes, games, polls etc can stir up interest and think this is a great idea. Good viral way of building a mailing list and visitors to site.

    Nice article, have RT’d

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