It is in my strictest, sternest and possibly controversial view that advertising online is dead.

Once upon a time it did flourish and at the same time the internet was known as a commercial trap for users. I remember in the early 1990s it was almost impossible to visit a website without a pop-up advert greeting you. Sometimes you would be unfortunate enough to stumble upon a hoard of multi-pop-up adverts which would force your browser to take you to all sorts of corners of the internet.

I can hardly say that advertising isn’t used on the internet. This would be untrue and in the past I have had deals with companies to host their advertising on my blog for a fee. It just so happens that such companies are growing in numbers on the internet. Ideally a website owner would want to avoid banner ads and these new online advertising companies are offering text links.

Why though? Why would a company ask for text links to be placed at the bottom of each page of another’s website? It would be very unlikely for a user to actually click on them, especially if the site in question featured a mass of content. There is only one possible answer and that would be search engine optimisation. If your company’s hyperlink can be found on the bottom of many website pages then searches would yield a crop of hyperlinks directed to the advertised site. There is something sly and accidental about such influence on individual’s searches though.

Advertising relies upon a passive audience. This is an audience that is subjected to a message which they are to take as granted. Hypodermic Needle theory explains this well as there is only a single line of communication. It is this single line of communication that does not exist on the internet anymore. Social media shows how internet users are engaging with each other on a two way communication model.

A few days ago I heard an Ex-Journalist talk about the difference between marketing and public relations. The difference is simple:

-          Marketing deals with Product

-          PR deals with People

The subliminal nature of advertising makes it totally focused on ‘product’ and not ‘people’. If we are to view social media as we see it today then we have to say that social media is about people. It has been said that the best social media websites are those which take into account psychology and sociology. If advertising online was about people then it would have to use the same tactics as ePR.

Fair enough, advertising exists on YouTube. Notably the annoying pop-ups on the bottom of videos and the annoying delays before your video can begin. How about the annoying adverts on Facebook? Everyday Facebook adverts provide me links to find potential girlfriends online and to pursue gym memberships. Heck, people even try advertising on Twitter by sending me direct messages with irrelevant details.

The medium of communication dictates the sort of message you can send. Social media should only deal in messages of interaction and openness. Every corner of the internet so far has shown me that when advertising is used, it is annoying and not as effective as ePR.

PS. Of course one aspect of online advertising I have missed within this article is that it can be blocked. My browser blocks pop-ups automatically and if I wanted to I could easily block banner ads as well.

Related posts:

1. Is Print Dead?
2. Managing Reputation Online