Endorsement Deals: How much are you worth?

Last night word of mouth advertising got a new twist when Facebook introduced “social ads.” Instead of news feeds about the latest party or who is currently friends with whom, users will now have the opportunity to endorse products.

 

Social networking sites have become a boom business for advertisers in recent years and it looks like the trend will continue to grow. 

 

The New York Times reports: “Facebook now will give advertisers the ability to create their own profile pages on its system that will let users identify themselves as fans of a product. Each user’s news feed will contain items like ‘Bobby Smith is now a fan of Toyota Prius.’”

 

But what good does this do the users of Facebook? You make no money by endorsing products and now advertisers will have access to all that data you provided on your Facebook page. They will be able to target you based on your political leanings, relationship status, location or any other information you have posted on your page. 

 

The only real benefit to users is that they can use the tool, in a limited sense, to advertise for themselves. If you sell on ebay you will be able to tell people, via the news feed, what you have up for auction.

Before you advertise for free, keep in mind that most endorsement deals come with huge paychecks and long-term contracts. If you really have the power to sell a product, you should make sure you’re getting paid.