Members of social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and certain blogging communities are not the same as audiences of television or radio.  Yes, the person on Facebook probably owns a television as well, but their expectations and gratifications for using television or Facebook are going to be wildly different.  As such, marketers must take a hyper-focused approach when targeting online communities.  Targeting your message is not enough, targeting your product in relation to the audience you wish to attract is equally important.

It is no revelation that targeting your audience is one of, if not the, most important features of a successful marketing campaign, but social media requires more for at least two important reasons:

1.)    Social media is typically thought of as a “user’s medium” whereas television, radio, and others are typically thought of as an “industry medium.”  What does this mean?  Audiences of television, radio, and other “traditional media” have come to expect advertisements and promotions to be interwoven into the consumption experience.  Social networking, however, is a relatively new form that has not been fully infiltrated and influenced by the marketing industry.  Social media audiences do not expect marketing messages to play as big a role on their websites as on other traditional media.  As such, marketing messages must not only be focused towards the audience, but as Sarah Hofstetter mentions, you must find the right kind of asset to target to these audiences.  Because this is an audience that is not accustomed to the bombardment of marketing messages, the types that do appear will only be affective if the message is well targeted and the product or service that is being presented is also well targeted.

2.)    The social media audience is media savvy – very media savvy.  And several members of social networking sites relish in their ability to negotiate and resist traditional marketing messages.  Trying to develop a successful marketing campaign by simply creating a targeted message will not be enough.  Because of their ability and eagerness to dissect and resist marketing messages, your campaign will be unsuccessful without a product or service that speaks directly to their needs.  This is an age where the audience has been exposed to the gamut of marketing messages, and only those offering assets that speak to their respective values, lifestyles, and attitudes will succeed.

So take into consideration this key point – that the social networking audience has different expectations from their experience than with their television, magazine, or newspaper experience.  This is a medium that has not been fully infiltrated by marketers largely because marketers underestimate the ability and eagerness of this audience to resist targeted messages.  Finding the right product or service that relates to the audience through research is the second, critical element for succeeding in the new media environment.