Contextual Advertising vs. Social Media

The Internet is gradually progressing towards a more interactive experience everyday, with music, movies, games, and video clips being the extremely popular. It seems as if a lot of internet user just don’t feel like reading, and many of them would rather watch YouTube for the entire afternoon than learn something new by reading an article. Of course, the average webmaster like yourself looks at the internet in a very different way, and is able to recognize the power of viral videos when used for internet marketing.

Contextual advertisement is not to be underestimated however, as many lucrative online businesses have utilized contextual advertising services like Google Adwords for years, and it continues to work today when done properly. However, the applicable uses of contextual advertising differ greatly, which is why it is important to consider the following information about the differences, advantages and disadvantages of contextual advertising and social media.

What is Contextual Advertising?

Contextual advertising may come in the form of strategically placed text blocks, banners with flash animations, and even small videos in the sidebar of a page. This type of advertisement bears its name because it is served based on the context of the web page, hence the name ‘contextual advertising’. A prime example of contextual advertising is Google Adwords, an advertising services that let you place ads for your site on another person’s web site in your niche.

How Does Contextual Advertising Work?

Google uses bots to index data on web pages, and when they detect certain keywords (which you bid on) they serve your ad wherever the webmaster decides to put their Google Adsense ads. The problem with contextual advertising for many novice webmasters is that it requires some investment and some expertise in order to bring substantial success quickly. Literally every major company uses contextual advertising, so your competition is usually fierce.

What is Social Media?

Social media is any form of media that is marketed on a social site with the intention of driving traffic to a certain web page, or to advertise a specific brand. Social media can be a free and easy way to generate traffic instantly without any monetary and very little temporal investments. Simply making a an interesting video and putting it on YouTube could result in thousands of visitors to your web site over night. Social media has become enormously popular because it is the best way to generate an incredible amount of intention with the least amount of effort.