What The Visual Revolution Is Really About

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In all the theorizing I’ve read about social media’s big move toward artsy photography, I haven’t found one article, or even one blogger who’s really pulled back the curtain… So I’m just going to come out and say it.

It’s ALL about product placement.

The “visual revolution” as it’s being called, is a user driven revolution that makes the internet a much more friendly environment for USERS — not necessarily for marketers. So, what does that mean?

Like I’ve said before, the days of cramming and spamming are over. Push advertising is not only losing its effectiveness, it’s being erased.

Priority inboxes, ad-blockers, banner blindness, and most importantly social networks are killing it.

Facebook, Google, and even Pinterest are now more or less in control of what kinds of marketing messages get seen. In other words, Digital Marketers need to learn how to be successful in this new framework — e.g. become experts at product placement.

It’s the easiest and most effective way to succeed in the new visual environment. For example, Pinterest is now generating substantially more revenue-per-click than Twitter or Facebook.

But wait? Pinterest doesn’t display ads… how’s that even possible?

Well, that depends on how you define display ads… Pinterest, when you think about it, is one HUGE product placement ad.

So when you think about it in those terms, we’re talking about a social network built around sharing ads, or at least potential ads. And not just a fledgling network either, this is the 3rd most popular network with over 104M users.

Until Pinterest, no one was sure how to make the whole social-shopping concept work. Now we know: Product Placement.

While there’s always been some debate about how well this strategic form of advertising works in movies and TV, these mediums lack the key ingredient — interactivity. Online, product placement CAN and DOES result in action, in the form of click-throughs, and not just curiosity clicks…

Pinterest is producing 27% more revenue-per-click than Facebook, and trouncing Twitter by 400%.

Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon… all the big players knew this was coming. That’s why Google+ and Facebook Timeline were created. It’s also why Facebook just bought Instagram for $1B.

Takeaway

Disruptive advertising is facing increasing levels of interference and push-back from ISPs and consumer oriented brands. At the same time, users are getting more and more efficient at blocking and/or resisting the disruptive outbound model of marketing.

Look, I get annoyed with spam, pop-ups, and light-boxes just like anybody else. The good news is that we have something else that’s working…

Inbound marketing with blogs, social media, artsy photography, and product placement to entice those clicks!

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