You have the right to remain silent anything you say or do can be used against you ...in a marketing ploy!

I am currently writing, or should I say “attempting to write” an extensive research paper on Brand Loyalty and CRM for my Brand Strategy Independent study. So needless to say, this week’s topic listing piqued my interest. At first glance it seems like there is more information about consumers and their preference made readily available for public consumption through social networking mediums. However at the same time it seems that the relationship between consumers and brands, and consequently brand loyalty, is not getting any stronger.

I will spare you the details of why I think this could be happening. Rather, I’d prefer to touch on the potential for CRM or at least some form of marketing strategy to capitalize on the plethora of information available on these social networking sites. For example I already know the banner ads on Facebook are targeted. The second I changed my relationship status to “Engaged” there were ads for wedding dresses, shoes, and even weight loss aids! Now that I am married I’ve seen a frightening number of stretch mark removal ads as well as baby related ones. I certainly don’t really appreciate the assumptions there! (And that is a rather obvious application, considering we’ve had exposure to such advertising on other sites.)

But, regardless, that is just the tip of the iceberg. There are incredible possibilities here. Facebook and MySpace may not qualify as true CRM because it is more information gathering than relationship building between brand and potential consumer. But, do you think there are some other ways that companies could take advantage of on the growing popularity of social networking, taking it further than just targeted advertisements? And as a counter point, where is the line drawn? How do companies prevent themselves from going too far and causing consumers to feel a sense of invasion of privacy?