Social Media Ads: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly.

While the jury’s still out on the ROI on social media, there’s no doubt that a presence on these platforms has some sort of benefit to marketers. The question then becomes: What should that presence entail?

Sponsored ads might not be the answer. According to Nielsen’s “State of the Media: The Social Media Report 2012,” approximately one-third of social media users find ads on social networking sites more annoying than other types of Internet ads. And to be honest, I can relate to that sentiment. I can’t tell you what it is, but something really bothers me when I open my Facebook and Twitter feeds only to encounter an ad rather than friends’ updates. I immediately [x] them out of my view.

Additional stats Nielsen found that marketers should take into account as they strategize for the social media landscape include:

• More than a quarter of social media users say they are more likely to pay attention to an ad shared by one of their social connections;
• and more than a quarter of consumers are OK with seeing ads on social networking sites tailored to them based on the information on their profiles

While Nielsen presented these statistics in a positive way, they’re still somewhat discouraging. They both mean that 75% of social media users were either indifferent or disliked seeing ads in those formats.

That said, what doesn’t work for one company might work for another, so monitoring and analyzing what a company gets out of its efforts is always crucial before moving to the next step.