The only thing that keeps me on Facebook (aside from keeping up with friends and my various marketing jobs) is the applications and games. Recently, I am addicted to Sorority Life because they have created a new side to the game. A very exclusive side that I must conquer. They call them "Study Abroad" missions and they only stay open for a certain amount of time, so you have around 2 months to buy all the items, complete all the challenges, and unlock all the prizes. I know what you are thinking.....I've lost it! But, for my friends and I it is a serious addiction. In my last blog post when I went offline for a week, it was in the middle of one of these Study Abroad missions. I almost didn't finish it because I did not have access to my Facebook. This got me thinking about it. Would anything happen to me if I didn't finish one of these missions? Of course not!! Games like Sorority Life offer exclusive gifts and rewards to those who loyally play the game. For years I have rotated between this game and many others such as Pet Society, Monopoly, Draw My Thing, and Snake.
What people do not realize is that marketers are catching onto the giant audiences these games capture. Advertising could be anything from Welch's Grape Vines on Farmville or Covergirl mascara on Sorority life. Marketers now have the advantage of a highly targeted and captive audience, something they have never had before.In my opinion as a marketer, I think this is the way that social media marketing should go. By putting actual products right into the games, the player is subconsciously exposed to the brand longer than if that same person were exposed to the product by a TV commercial.
