	Online Advertising
Home Communicators Audience Factors Routes of Communication Viral Marketing References	Audience Factors Internet Advertising has become one of the top ways to market products. The advertising industry has entered a new era of online marketing due to the rapid growth of Internet and technology. Companies buying add spaces have one thing in mind, and that is for you, as potential consumers, to click their ads. The audience is what determines whether the ads posted will be successful and effective, so companies need to know how to target certain individuals. Some of the main differences in audience factors that advertisers look into include, but are not limited to, personality variables, gender, and age. Personality Variables One of the major factors in a consumer’s decision-making process and Internet ad effectiveness would be the individual’s personality variables. The different personality variables such as the need for cognition and the need for emotion can impact the effectiveness of online advertisements. In an article about the consumer responses to advertising on the Internet, Jin and Villegas, conducted a study to understand what effect individual’s characteristics have on consumer advertisement processing. What advertisers want to figure out is why individuals attend and respond to some ads, while others are completely avoided. Research found that individual factors influence how an individual will respond to advertisements. (Jin & Villegas, 2007) Two main personality variables include the need for cognition and the need for emotion. The way consumers process information and form attitudes, have been affected by individual differences in the need for cognition (NFC) and need for emotion (NFE). Individuals with a high need for cognition need to understand the message and they typically like to work through issues to bring rationality to them. Due to this, these individuals would be more likely to respond to advertisements because they want to fully understand what is being advertised. Individuals with a lower need for cognition would be more likely to avoid advertisements they have no interest in, even if they didn’t know what it was about. A problem with this is, a person with a high need for cognition could be more focused on the website, which could reduce their ability to focus on Internet ads. Individuals with a higher need for emotion seek out emotional situations and enjoy emotional stimuli. Studies found that advertisers that focus their ads on consumers’ higher need for emotion will experience more positive responses then if it was focused on need for cognition. (Lee & Thorson, 2009) The massive population of internet users have many different preferences, therefore advertisement planners must know how to target individuals based on their likes and dislikes. Advertisers need to take into account who specifically they are trying to target, and once they determine this, they can find an appropriate website to place their ads. Websites have now become very advanced in their ability to track individual’s personal interests to apply the appropriate advertisements that suit them (Jin & Villegas, 2007). Facebook is a prime example of this because they take your interests into account to determine which ads to place on your page to grab your attention. If in the "My Interests" section, one wrote snowboarding, ads for mountain vacations, snowboarding gear, and other related topics are likely to appear. Gender When it comes to gender, there are many differences that businesses need to take into account to appeal to different people. Males and females make use of the web differently. According to an article about gender differences, males overwhelmingly exhibited positive beliefs about web advertising over other media ads then females. The findings in this article showed that females believed internet advertisements to be more annoying then magazines and newspaper ads, more offensive then magazine, radio and television ads and more deceptive then television ads. On the upside, they did find Internet advertisements to be more useful then television ads. Males on the other hand believed Internet advertisements to be much more enjoyable, useful and informative than newspaper, magazine, and radio advertisements (Wolin & Korgaonkar, 2003). When targeting specific genders, all of these factors need to be taken into account for advertisements to be successful. If one were to type ‘top sites for women’, into the Bing.com search engine, some of the top websites typically visited by women were sites such as Cosmopolitan.com and Oprah.com. For men in college, ESPN.com was at the top the list. After visiting some of these websites, differences in the ads were very distinct. When visiting ESPN the ads typically seemed to be targeted specifically to males or athletes. The most common ads were for sports deodorant, sports equipment and fantasy games, such as football and basketball. When logging onto Cosmopolitan.com, the most common ads seemed to be about shopping and beauty. Kids and Internet advertisements Age is also a large factor advertisers need to take into account when placing ads on websites. Adults, teenagers, and children have different areas of interest and different things appeal to them. When visiting Teen.com, the ads were typically promoting teen shows, like Gossip Girl, and also advertisements for the latest Gossip Girls books, along with music advertisements that would appeal to the younger generation. Advertisers have been thinking outside the box in terms of traditional online advertising when it comes to targeting kids. The common types of ads such as banners and buttons have not been very successful in grabbing the attention of today’s youth. Companies are now coming up with more creative techniques to draw kids in. One example of this comes from a Fox Kids website, where they have introduced games such as a Sweet Tarts game, to lure kids in. In other games, McDonalds and Burger King products appeared as game pieces, the hidden treasure, or in some other aspect of the game. Kids spend as much as a half an hour on the Fox site at one time. General manager of Foxkids.com, Allison Ellis, claims, “That’s far more time with a young consumer than a marketer could hope to achieve with a television commercial” (Neuborne, 2001). Another way children are being targeted through the web is through e-mails to each other. Since marketers cannot e-mail children under 13, they rely on the kids themselves to do the work for them. Kids e-mailing each other may not even understand that they are passing advertisements to one another. Sending e-cards is a prime example of this because kids might just want to say hello to their friends and pick out a fun card with for example a Sesame Street Character, and send it. More and more sites today, especially with videos, have a share with friends link on their page. These viral campaigns rely on kids hitting the forward button. Companies have been using amusing video clips for example in hopes that kids will want to show their friends, starting a never ending cycle. (Neuborne, 2001) Chat rooms and newsgroups are now being used in new ways for companies to get information about their products out. There are many places on the Internet where kids can go to talk about similar interests, like soccer or video games. Some marketers are now going as far as to singing in to these chat groups to tell about new products and answer questions. Capitol Record’s is even experimenting with an instant-messaging agent to spread news and information about the rock band Radiohead (Neuborne, 2001). Advertisers are only becoming more creative and marketing their products in ways that are more compelling to the youth of today.

Online Advertising

Audience Factors

Internet Advertising has become one of the top ways to market products. The advertising industry has entered a new era of online marketing due to the rapid growth of Internet and technology. Companies buying add spaces have one thing in mind, and that is for you, as potential consumers, to click their ads. The audience is what determines whether the ads posted will be successful and effective, so companies need to know how to target certain individuals. Some of the main differences in audience factors that advertisers look into include, but are not limited to, personality variables, gender, and age.

Personality Variables

One of the major factors in a consumer’s decision-making process and Internet ad effectiveness would be the individual’s personality variables. The different personality variables such as the need for cognition and the need for emotion can impact the effectiveness of online advertisements. In an article about the consumer responses to advertising on the Internet, Jin and Villegas, conducted a study to understand what effect individual’s characteristics have on consumer advertisement processing. What advertisers want to figure out is why individuals attend and respond to some ads, while others are completely avoided. Research found that individual factors influence how an individual will respond to advertisements. (Jin & Villegas, 2007)

Two main personality variables include the need for cognition and the need for emotion. The way consumers process information and form attitudes, have been affected by individual differences in the need for cognition (NFC) and need for emotion (NFE). Individuals with a high need for cognition need to understand the message and they typically like to work through issues to bring rationality to them. Due to this, these individuals would be more likely to respond to advertisements because they want to fully understand what is being advertised. Individuals with a lower need for cognition would be more likely to avoid advertisements they have no interest in, even if they didn’t know what it was about. A problem with this is, a person with a high need for cognition could be more focused on the website, which could reduce their ability to focus on Internet ads. Individuals with a higher need for emotion seek out emotional situations and enjoy emotional stimuli. Studies found that advertisers that focus their ads on consumers’ higher need for emotion will experience more positive responses then if it was focused on need for cognition. (Lee & Thorson, 2009)

The massive population of internet users have many different preferences, therefore advertisement planners must know how to target individuals based on their likes and dislikes. Advertisers need to take into account who specifically they are trying to target, and once they determine this, they can find an appropriate website to place their ads. Websites have now become very advanced in their ability to track individual’s personal interests to apply the appropriate advertisements that suit them (Jin & Villegas, 2007). Facebook is a prime example of this because they take your interests into account to determine which ads to place on your page to grab your attention. If in the "My Interests" section, one wrote snowboarding, ads for mountain vacations, snowboarding gear, and other related topics are likely to appear.

Gender

When it comes to gender, there are many differences that businesses need to take into account to appeal to different people. Males and females make use of the web differently. According to an article about gender differences, males overwhelmingly exhibited positive beliefs about web advertising over other media ads then females. The findings in this article showed that females believed internet advertisements to be more annoying then magazines and newspaper ads, more offensive then magazine, radio and television ads and more deceptive then television ads. On the upside, they did find Internet advertisements to be more useful then television ads. Males on the other hand believed Internet advertisements to be much more enjoyable, useful and informative than newspaper, magazine, and radio advertisements (Wolin & Korgaonkar, 2003). When targeting specific genders, all of these factors need to be taken into account for advertisements to be successful.

If one were to type ‘top sites for women’, into the Bing.com search engine, some of the top websites typically visited by women were sites such as Cosmopolitan.com and Oprah.com. For men in college, ESPN.com was at the top the list. After visiting some of these websites, differences in the ads were very distinct. When visiting ESPN the ads typically seemed to be targeted specifically to males or athletes. The most common ads were for sports deodorant, sports equipment and fantasy games, such as football and basketball. When logging onto Cosmopolitan.com, the most common ads seemed to be about shopping and beauty.

Kids and Internet advertisements

Age is also a large factor advertisers need to take into account when placing ads on websites. Adults, teenagers, and children have different areas of interest and different things appeal to them. When visiting Teen.com, the ads were typically promoting teen shows, like Gossip Girl, and also advertisements for the latest Gossip Girls books, along with music advertisements that would appeal to the younger generation.

Advertisers have been thinking outside the box in terms of traditional online advertising when it comes to targeting kids. The common types of ads such as banners and buttons have not been very successful in grabbing the attention of today’s youth. Companies are now coming up with more creative techniques to draw kids in. One example of this comes from a Fox Kids website, where they have introduced games such as a Sweet Tarts game, to lure kids in. In other games, McDonalds and Burger King products appeared as game pieces, the hidden treasure, or in some other aspect of the game. Kids spend as much as a half an hour on the Fox site at one time. General manager of Foxkids.com, Allison Ellis, claims, “That’s far more time with a young consumer than a marketer could hope to achieve with a television commercial” (Neuborne, 2001).

Another way children are being targeted through the web is through e-mails to each other. Since marketers cannot e-mail children under 13, they rely on the kids themselves to do the work for them. Kids e-mailing each other may not even understand that they are passing advertisements to one another. Sending e-cards is a prime example of this because kids might just want to say hello to their friends and pick out a fun card with for example a Sesame Street Character, and send it. More and more sites today, especially with videos, have a share with friends link on their page. These viral campaigns rely on kids hitting the forward button. Companies have been using amusing video clips for example in hopes that kids will want to show their friends, starting a never ending cycle. (Neuborne, 2001)

Chat rooms and newsgroups are now being used in new ways for companies to get information about their products out. There are many places on the Internet where kids can go to talk about similar interests, like soccer or video games. Some marketers are now going as far as to singing in to these chat groups to tell about new products and answer questions. Capitol Record’s is even experimenting with an instant-messaging agent to spread news and information about the rock band Radiohead (Neuborne, 2001). Advertisers are only becoming more creative and marketing their products in ways that are more compelling to the youth of today.