The good news about virtual goods
By Simon Fuller. Good gifting. Giving’s a simple enough thing, but when what’s being handed over are branded virtual goods, then it’s an open door to a whole raft of benefits for brands.
US-based AdNectar has been integrating brands into social networks using virtual gifts since last year. After getting involved in campaigns for Malibu Rum, in which the company served up a drinks cabinet worth of goods based on Malibu’s Get Your Island On theme, and for Fisher Price, promoting the latest Tickle Hands Elmo product, it figures that the outfit might be able tell us a thing or two about the advantages these branded virtual gifts offer over other forms of promotion.
For a start, while virtual gifts are popular enough, if they also carry a brand name, then that’s even better – AdNectar research suggests that users sending branded gifts outnumber those picking non-branded equivalents by a factor of 10 to one.
“[Branded virtual gifts] are a sign of quality… and a means of assigning value,” says Nir Eyal, CEO at AdNectar. “There is chocolate, but then there’s Godiva Chocolate for that someone special. Sure, there’s generic rum, but Malibu Rum has a different identify and feeling… and users want to participate in that.
“Virtual gifts break through the latent distrust consumers have for advertising… because the items are sent between friends,” he adds. “Marketers can leverage this credibility and trust to engage new prospects, and develop a dialogue with existing fans.”
And social networks are just the place to do this. “AdNectar sees over 4% interaction rates on its branded virtual goods… 100 times higher than the typical 0.04% click rates seen on banner ads on social media sites,” says Eyal. “[This] shows that it’s the right environment for people to learn more about the products or send them to their friends.”
It also helps that virtual gifts, by their nature, allow brands to control the message being sent – there’s less of a risk involved since the brand is in charge.
“Unlike user-generated video and other social media marketing tools, branded virtual goods are created by the brand, and then sent by consumers,” says Eyal. “Since consumers can’t change the ‘look’ of the item, brands don’t need to worry about abuse or negative viral PR.”
AdNectar runs its campaigns not just on Facebook, but across other social networking sites too. When it came to shaving brand Gillette, AdNectar made use of MySpace, which still has an enduring popularity in the teen market – including youngsters who had just started shaving.
It’s all about finding potential band advocates.
“Rather than use arbitrary demographic targets, brands can use virtual goods to identify the specific individuals who like their products,” says Eyal. “The branded virtual good is featured in the gift catalogue of multiple applications across different social networks. AdNectar serves, rotates, and optimizes these listings… and tracks which ones users engage with most.”
