• by Tim Hawthorne , August 13, 2013

Brand response TV advertising (BRTV) and social networking play particularly well together, due to the direct and highly proactive nature of each. Through short- and long-form commercials, BRTV speaks directly to consumers, urging them to take action. Concurrently, social networking inspires people from all walks of life to share interesting new tidbits of information with each other, usually as soon as that new info becomes available.

Today, every serious brand marketer in the game has integrated popular social networking sites, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,to help embellish their advertising dollars. Whether they are “tweeting” 140-character updates on Twitter, posting photos from recent company events on Facebook, or responding to customer comments on Ning, companies have realized the value of these broad-reaching, affordable mainstream media venues.

According to new forecasts from local media analyst firm BIA/Kelsey, U.S. social networking ad revenues are projected to grow from $4.7 billion during 2012 to $11 billion in 2017 – this is nearly a 19% compound growth rate. Driven by Facebook and Twitter, U.S. social networking mobile ad revenues are also on the rise, having approached $600 million in 2012. These revenues are expected to grow to $2.2 billion by 2017, per BIA/Kelsey.

In many cases, social networking serves as a viable and inexpensive adjunct to BRTV campaigns, which have historically been supported by retail- and Web-based extensions. With Twitter and Facebook added into the mix, Brand marketers that create short, online videos from existing infomercials and short-form spots and link them into their social networking messages and updates, can stretch their original investments. Thus, BRTV’s value proposition has become that much stronger.

A marketer puts their video content on these popular sites, and then shares it with “friends” or “followers” who, in turn, become viral marketers by sharing this content with their own contacts. Aside from the time it takes to originally create their content, and then upload that information, there’s very little left for the marketer to do – or to invest in.

Unlike traditional TV, magazines, radio, or newspaper advertising, social networking is a two-way street. It engages customers in real conversation. It also expands a marketer’s horizons for personalizing important business components like customer service; helps marketers conduct focus groups in an affordable, fast manner; and seamlessly links into omnipresent mobile marketing.

Integrating social networking into an aggressive BRTV campaign takes some work. It’s not enough to simply create a Twitter or Facebook account then sit back and expect significant sales increases. For social media to work, marketers must persuade fellow networkers to follow them, link up with their sites/profiles, view their information, photos and videos, interact back with them, and then share this original content with their own networks and followers.

Establishing a successful social networking presence takes creativity and a willingness to put a good deal of time into “getting social” on a regular (usually daily, and in some cases hourly) basis. The ultimate goal should be to solicit customer feedback and customer interaction. By producing content that is engaging, interesting and “share-worthy,” brand marketers can quickly become pros at getting the attention of their target audience.