SDSol recently conducted an experiment in the social media advertising realm. For lack of a better term, let’s just call it the “get a free toaster when you open a checking account” approach. In an attempt to attract new IT customers, our marketing team launched a Facebook advertising campaign in order to get rid of some soon to expire gift cards. We at SDSol were shocked by the response – or lack thereof.
Periodically, Google will send companies like SDSol complimentary gift cards to lure new advertisers to their Adwords service. SDSol had a bunch that were just sitting in a desk about to expire. Being that it is the end of the summer, and IT business has been a bit sparse, we thought it would be a great idea to give them to the business community in South Florida. We targeted business owners in Coral Gables, offering the following: “$100 gift card with every tech support estimate. Only 10 gift cards left.”
This writer did not expect to get rid of all 10, however, after 2 weeks, we had not received ONE call or form fill for tech support! We were happy to get several new followers on our Facebook page…but not one call or form fill?
The campaign reached over 60,000 pairs of eyes in the Greater Miami area. So SDSol would like to pose the question, why didn't the experiment work? Was it not the right venue or website to advertise in this way? Was it not directed at the right demographic? Does the ad play like a cheap ploy?
Bottom line is, this is a reflection of not only an economy in the dumps, but a general "advertising is not cool" opinion that has, and always will be part of the public marketplace. The preceding quote is even one of the most memorable lines in "The Social Network," ironically about Facebook's attitude towards advertising. For now, SDSol will seek other methods to market its gifts to prospects and customers.
