TellaPal's Recommendation Based Social Advertising Model

San Francisco based online marketing company TellaPal has designed a new advertising model that let's advertisers reach out across the social networking world to hundreds of millions of potential customers.

It is the first recommendation-based ad network that is designed for social media and it's user driven.

This is a 4 step model that works like this:

1. An advertiser joins the TellaPal ad network - simple enough
2. A consumer writes a review of their product or service which then gets combined with some type of special offer. These offers go out in the form of either an email or widget.
3. The recommendation/special offer email/widget goes out through TellaPal's viral distribution network.
4. For every valid new customer the advertiser gets, the referring consumer gets a reward.

TellaPal's system does all the tracking and fulfillment for the advertiser.

Where do these "widget" go? They can be for blogs, instant messaging, or to any number of social networks including Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, Friendster, etc...

This new advertising model is a fully automated referral marketing program with no software to purchase and develop. It also includes a full set of campaign management tools, metrics and reporting.

It enables advertisers to take advantage of a happy customer base who will reach out across their social networks and it rewards these customers for being happy.

Sam Bloom, VP of Dallas, TX ad agency Camelot Communications sees clear value for his clients in this model. "Social media requires an advertising model that balances the ROI needs of advertisers with enough social currency and relevance to consumers," Bloom says. "Social media's growth and peer-to-peer nature has all the ingredients for 'referral marketing' to take its place in the online marketing arsenal and become a key online advertising and distribution channel."

What you don't hear is what these customer incentives are for telling their friends about a product or service except that it can be cash, gift card, a donation to charity, or a gift to someone else.

You also don't hear how TellaPal will keep unhappy customers from saying bad things about an advertiser using their viral distribution network.

With over 230 million users of social networks worldwide, TellaPal has certainly designed a viral advertising model that could work for companies.

But we are curious, is this something you would take part in?

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