Alternative Social Advertising Panel at Social Graph

Here are notes from the final panel at the Social Ad Summit.
Mike Lazerow, Buddy Media (moderator)
Alex Blum, KickApps
Clara Shih, Salesforce.com
Ari Gottesmann, Sightix
James Gross, Federated Media
Matt Sanchez, VideoEgg

KickApps: Trademarked ‘widgad’ – programmable experience that’s virable that drives traffic to branded site or delivers any message.

Salesforce: Developed Faceforce that integrates Facebook with Salesforce CRM. [Clarification: Clara wrote me after to note she developed Faceforce on her own, independent of Salesforce.com.]

Federated Media: 2 huge things brands want from us: 1) community, and then 2) where’s the international reach.

Moderator: Where do you see video advertising going?

VideoEgg: We’re looking at video as communication tool for social media, not just ad vehicle.

Moderator: (question for KickApps)

Kickapps: Agencies are using tools to create these types of ad units, and average publisher can create these experiences. Important to have experiences – you want your ad unit to be a living organism, do more than just present a brand. Can be programmable and viral. Charging on a CPM for impressions by widget vendor. All tied back to social graph.

Moderator: What are the most successful things Federated’s seen that have long-term viability? What worked and how do you scale it?

Federated: With Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect, campaigns will be able to continue to last on. Campaign for Dell – what does Dell mean to you? Used Graffiti app, can replay artwork one creates. Had 12-15K graffitis drawn. Winning graffiti – had over 1 million votes. Created graffiti replays as video ad campaign, which continues on and also lives on their regeneration.org blog, and all is social media optimized.

Moderator: Why make search social?

Sightix: Problem is Google has data no one realizes they have. Google makes $60/user, Facebook makes $11/user.

Moderator: Facebook sounds pretty good.

Sightix: Try to give social networks business model that mimics Google. (Audience laughter rampant during this part.) Ads targeted to social graph based on search terms (yes, i’m confused too). Target user not the page. Ads delivered ads on my search term, and also target people in the social graph. (okay, I’m getting there).

Moderator: A lot of that seems scary to me. (More laughter.) One idea is a personal CPM – is there any validity?

Sightix: We’re trying to maintain privacy and info they put out and enable people who have a lot of traffic to create value not just for themselves but their friends.

Moderator: How can we make advertising not suck?

KickApps: One secret to KickApps approach is we’re only using info people openly declared themselves. Must be respectful to publishers and users.

Moderator: VideoEgg, explain your targeting.

VideoEgg: Fundamental premise is spending time with your brand. Different than response-based advertising.

Moderator: Genius move of Federated is how they looked at individual vertical markets. Are you seeing demand for social?

Federated: Brands want to figure out social. Long tail fills out amplification if you create something of value. Something sorely missed: we’re forgetting about brands when we refer to social. Also important to tie into search – are you coming up in search, and how are you winning the conversation around your brand?

Moderator: What over the next 12 months will lead to massive shifts in revenue monetization and revenue generation?

Salesforce: Trend where PR consulting firm or other party not traditional software provider builds apps and monetizes not just through advertising but actually selling the app itself. Accenture is example – has consulting practice around insurance. Selling these apps to manage aspects of their insurance.

Q&A: Talk about virtual goods in ecosystem.

Kickapps: There’s a lot to learn.

Moderator: What’s requested most of VideoEgg that you don’t offer?

VideoEgg: The theme is just fresh ideas and new thinking. (Typical job interview type of response – What’s your biggest weakness? I’m just too much of a perfectionist!)

Federated: We’re launching Social Media Toolbox to translate (something something – acoustics here stink) to do more (something) and not just one-offs.

Moderator: 2 predictions for next 12 months? Moderator’s: 1) Facebook will be MONSTER business. 2) Despite saying to contrary, behavioral targeting WILL work within social networks, most likely not a company we know of today.

KickApps: 1) There will emerge multiple ad networks that will not only tackle behavioral but will combine BT with social graph data set to have powerful combination. One or two may emerge as leader of monetization of social media. Will offer elegant alternative to Google. 2) There will be much broader understanding of opportunity around social media.

Salesforce: 1) We’ll see social graph permeate entire customer lifecycle from acquisition to service. 2) We’ll see enterprise apps become more social.

Sightix: 1) We’ll see more people reaching out to what’s close to them (couldn’t quite get this). 2) Social graph will accommodate many, many more things. Transparency will be more important in everything we do. (Ed: why does he hate privacy so much?)

Federated: 1) Brand advertising will keep getting bigger. 2) Google will get into brand in a big way and will pioneer international branding.

VideoEgg: 1) Standardization coming. Monetization will happen around key data sets. 2) (Something about someone not winning World Series)