Toy industry takes on social media advertising

As the Internet remains a staple in everyday life, social media is shown to be an effective game changer for toy advertisers.

Social media marketing is as, and maybe even more, effective than TV advertising, CEO Kids Brand Insight Steve Reece reports.

While it is true that TV advertisements are still relevant today and should continue to be a staple of any toy marketing campaign, it would be a waste not to take advantage of the sales that could be generated via social media. TV advertising also has drawbacks that social media marketing can fill in such as the demographics that are more exposed to TV content and, by association, commercials through media channels like YouTube.

In response to the ubiquity of the Internet, many companies from various industries are creating social networking site pages, with users encouraged to interact on these pages by liking, commenting on and sharing statuses. Companies have the option to pay more for ad spaces on sites like Facebook and Google via AdSense. That said, the power of shared pages and word of mouth knowledge cannot be neglected.

In terms of social engine advertising, many toy companies tailor-fit the content of their sites to suit Google's algorithms in arranging search results according to relevance to the searched keywords. The higher the result is on the results page, the better the chance to generate sales.

Online reviews are also important with pages found having positive feedback on a company's products would more likely make a sale. Due to this, retailers are already partnering with toy blogs and review sites. Manufacturers give a product for free to the reviewer in exchange for the write-up. In exchange, the reviewers would often receive a certain amount from the company for linking to the item on their webpage. As most consumers with access to the Internet check online reviews prior to making a purchase decision, good reviews are crucial.