Krywosa, IMC

As new campaigns are taking off the issue of redirects and vanity URL’s has reared its ugly head again. Its one thing to add a specific URL in an electronic campaign where consumers click on a link anchored to text, yet quite another for outdoor, transit and print pieces. Does it matter anymore?

Even though it is from June, I recently read Do URL’s Matter Anymore. With all the headlines this week about search becoming more integrated into user-generated content and social interactions, will URL’s continue to die off in importance? Isnt search the final frontier in finding web content?

When creating campaigns for segmented audiences its helpful to know what worked and what didnt and when. If people are searching for your brand, but not your campaign, do you continue to use special URL’s in print, transit & outdoor or do you use these mediums for what they are probably best at now: awareness, interest & a call to action. Does it matter how your consumer arrives at their destination, or that they arrive? This is where true clean web design and navigation prevails: anyone should be able to arrive at your site and find what they are looking for, without your help or the aid of a landing page.

Thoughts?

Danny Sullivan in Ad Age discusses why Facebook’s Social Ads still rank second with Search Ads.

I know it sounds like Social Mapping may be the future, but I still feel like push is never better than pull. Give people what they are looking for, not something that gets in the way. Advertising on social networking sites only dilutes the purpose of those sites. If you’d like to get involved in these mediums, then look for opportunities to engage with consumers in a meaningful way. Learn something from them to make your product better. Teach them something to help them use your product in different ways. If you do this, you wont have to worry about where to advertise: consumers will start coming to you.