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Social Media Marketers Compared to Normal People

Social Media Marketers Compared to Normal People

There has been a recent debate about whether social media markers can even relate to normal people. An Australian study titled AdNation 2017 has a lot to say about advertising agencies. Apparently, agencies are “out of touch with the general public”. The survey concluded that people are more likely to trust and get entertainment from a television commercial compared to social media. Let’s look at some other findings of those surveyed.

These surveys were conducted by Think TV. Think TV is an independent research group funded by the Nine, Seven, and Ten networks and Foxtel’s marketing arm, Multi-Channel Network. Their survey sample was made up of professionals from different marketing areas (AdLand) and the general Australian population. They then compared the answers between the two groups to see if these marketing professionals really know normal people. The findings are pretty surprising.

The survey concluded that “AdLand” professionals are way more likely to use social media on a given day than normal people. Those same professionals also answered that they thought normal people spent almost 25% of their online time on social media when the fact is they spend less time on social media than that. “AdLand” professionals spend significantly more time on social media than the people they are trying to reach.

There can be a few errors in these results. For starters, “AdLand” professionals work in social media and advertising, so of course they would be spending more time on it; however, that doesn’t change the fact that these professionals have a skewed understanding of normal people. But then again, how alike is the Australian audience compared to the United States when it comes to social media. The two markets probably aren’t identical, but they can’t be too much different either. These findings might be alarming but they can be a helpful message as advertisers move forward, especially since we are predicting that online ad spend will surpass TV for the first time in history this year.

According to these findings, it is important that digital advertisers don’t forget about data. Use data for all your content and marketing needs to keep in touch with normal people. Don’t assume that you know something about your market because “AdLand” professionals don’t always know as much as they think they do. It is key that advertisers produce quality content that is trustworthy, entertaining, and memorable for the everyday social media user. It really is all about effort and social media advertising needs the same effort that goes into television to be effective.  Read more about Australia’s AdNation 2017 report and take a look at the data charts.

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