All eyes on Us
Celebrity magazine Us Weekly has offered its fan page and the sponsorship of its new Facebook profile to insurance giant State Farm – the first time a media company on the social network website has done so, reports Advertising Age.
Us Weekly's former Facebook page had just 2,918 fans, a small figure for such a large-scale publication. (By comparison, The New York Times page has 447,749 fans, National Geographic 453,013, and ABC's "Lost" has 785,093 fans.)
The company hopes the new page, which includes prominent news updates, more accessible video, a tab to view the magazine's tweets, a print subscription offering five issues free and other elements, will attract more viewers.
Sponsorship comes on top of a campaign State Farm is already running with the magazine. And afterward, Us Weekly plans to open up the page to other sponsorships, offering independent ad inventory, or added value, to other advertisers.
The initiative is part of a more aggressive stand in digital media that Us Weekly has adopted after the hiring of Steven Schwartz as chief digital officer at Wenner Media, the magazine's parent company.
It is likely that Us Weekly will not be the last brand to sell a Facebook sponsorship - but it remains to be seen if the sponsorships will generate revenue on their own, or if they will simply serve as throw-ins to sweeten larger deals, notes eConsultancy.
Facebook does not receive compensation for the deal, but is probably happy to have companies place content – even with ads – to keep people engaged, according to Joe Marchese, president of Social Vibe, a company that brings brands into social environments.
This year, a record number of email marketers plan to bridge the gap between online social networks and email marketing campaigns; the number of social email initiatives is expected to grow 367% this year.
Last year, a study found that US online consumers that use socnets are less receptive to the ads on the pages. They click less on them than they do on other forms of web advertising (57% vs. 79%) and make fewer purchases as a result.
