Thanks for the spam Mr Lim

-Social networking site Facebook has appointed iHub Media as its regional advertising sales representatives.

ihub Media will market the range of advertising products available through Facebook Ads and offer homepage and integrated ad units as well as video and skyscraper ads across Facebook pages.-

“Social networking will prove to be more than a cost-effective advertising option or a tool for small players to level the paying field. It will also be a critical element in every mainstream marketing programme that companies large and small cannot afford to ignore,” said Kyle Lim, CEO of iHub Media.

Seriously Mr Lim, social networking advertising will never be associated with "cost effective" as long as click tru rates for banner advertising stays as relevant as sunblock on a rainy day. We don't go on facebook to watch ads, we don't "somehow" ingest banner advertising while we update photos and post comments. As the CEO of an online ad interactive agency, i would expect Mr Lim to be slightly more intuitive in his insight of online advertising. Or is he?

Let's assume he is and like most profiteers, is merely raking in the middle man agency fee while local marketers scramble to get a piece of the facebook advertising action. Well then, no one really to blame then except to point the all mighty finger of ROI at these ill educated marketers who are creating this demand.

The beauty and potential of social advertising is the ability to profile and serve relevant ads. Now , the question therefore is "when are ads relevant?". I dont know about you, but it's been a looong time since i saw an ad and i went " oh my! oh relevant"

I believe that the above statement is true that advertisers will eventually understand how to use data to serve relevant advertising. But i also believe it wont be in the form of banner ads and skyscaper units. The next obstacle we need to overcome is to correctly redefine our tired mindsets on how advertising should look like.

If we are all correct to say communication and conversation and authenticity is the key to engagement of audience and potential customers, then "advertising" must happen in the midst of a 2 way process. When channels are truly open, authentic needs for superior services should become part and parcel of the communication strategy. Banner ads to me constitute as much relevancy as email spam. Marketers need to stop thinking about how to push advertising on facebook and think about what they are trying to accomplish with these adverts and if a social networking platform is the right place to do it.

Mr Lim i'm sure has an inkling to the actual click tru rates and conversion ratios that banner advertising offers. But he knows that many marketers don't and that's why i'm going to be spammed the next time i log on. Spam book..