Users continue shift from content creation to distribution

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The number of Facebook users in the US will increase 13.4% this year, eMarketer estimates, after 38.6% growth in 2010 and a whopping 90.3% rise the year before. The rate of adult Twitter user adoption has similarly begun to plateau, dropping from 293.1% growth in 2009 to 26.3% this year and still slowing. In many developing countries, these and other networks are seeing their audience growth taper off as most new users come from other countries such as the BRIC nations and Indonesia.

Meanwhile, users in more advanced countries have been shifting their behaviors after spending years on the sites. According to the GlobalWebIndex “Wave 5 Trends” report, social network usage growth has all but stopped among 16- to 24-year-olds in the US, and in a few countries usage within this already-saturated group is actually declining.

Among those who remain on Facebook, GlobalWebIndex reports, there were declines in participation in activities like messaging with friends, sending digital gifts, installing applications and joining groups between July 2009 and June 2011. The activities on the wane are decreasing faster in the US than worldwide, and are often decreasing even further among college-educated US users under the age of 30.

Meanwhile, on microblogs like Twitter, the heaviest users are focused on disseminating content. Links to other microblogs, personal photos, and links to videos and news stories were the top subjects of status updates on these real-time oriented social sites among frequent users. Other than personal photos, these all relate to content created by others, while most content creation activities scored lower.

The report also noted the high demand for professional content. Traditional sources of news were dominant, including among microbloggers and heavy social network users. And when asked what they want from brands, consumers ask for knowledge and, among younger adults, entertainment. Brands have an opportunity to use the transmission-oriented social media landscape to disseminate valuable content to followers—who in turn are hungry for interesting and entertaining content to transmit.

Keep your business ahead of the digital curve. Learn more about becoming an eMarketer Total Access client today.

Check out today’s other article, “Brands in Asia-Pacific Find Success Building Trust Online.”

Advertisers Continue to Rely on Ad Network, Publisher Site Placements

More marketers investing in upfront ad buys than impression-level inventory According to March 2011 research from business audience marketing platform Bizo, almost half (48.8%) of US marketers will increase their online display advertising budget this year, a percentage echoed in findings from Econsultancy and SAS. Overall, eMarketer estimates online display ad spending will account for 39.4% of total US online ad spending this year, or $12.3 billion. Determining how much to allocate to display is only the first step for marketers; deciding how to dole out ad dollars among inventory providers can prove more difficult. Findings from ad network ValueClick Media showed media buyers choose inventory providers based on key criteria like ad targeting and return on investment (ROI).

According to the study, 84% of US marketers rated campaign performance and ROI the top consideration for choosing display ad providers. Two-thirds of respondents said audience targeting capabilities and price were also important factors. Newer display ad sources like ad exchanges and demand-side platforms (DSPs) often provide the most robust audience targeting capabilities. And because many also have real-time bidding (RTB) capabilities, advertisers are able to secure cost-effective inventory at the impression level. Still, only 9% of US marketers will spend 25% or more of their digital advertising budget on DSPs this year, with 12% spending that amount on ad exchanges. Meanwhile, 43% will spend a quarter or more of their online ad budget on ad networks, and 36% will spend similar amounts on publisher-direct placements. Direct-to-site placements and ad network inventory are often more expensive than impression-level ad buys on DSPs and exchanges, which could require more overall budget for similar amounts of inventory. It is worth mentioning that all respondents were ValueClick advertisers—and therefore were advertising on at least one ad network, while they may not have been using DSPs or other ad sources. This could account for some of the budget allocation to ad networks as advertisers continue to invest in their current efforts. DSPs and exchanges may appeal to advertisers requiring advanced targeting, like retargeting and psychographics.

However, the majority of US marketers (66%) look for demographic and behavioral targeting—capabilities as robust on ad networks as they are on DSPs and exchanges. DSPs and ad exchanges have a cost-efficiency advantage, but until they can offer unparalleled ROI and audience targeting, advertisers are likely to stick with upfront buys on ad networks and publisher sites.

As users shift their focus to the Internet , so have advertisers and marketers. eMarketer
predicts that online ad spending will rise to $42B by 2012, the equivalent of 13.3% of total
media spending, compared to %16.9B in 2006 or 6% of total media spending (see chart on next
page). According to findings from IDC, the percentages for worldwide digital ad spends are
similar.

Other key research findings to digital advertising:

• Keyword (search) ads will remain the dominant type of internet advertising
  throughout the forecast period, capturing more than one-third of annual online ad
  spending worldwide.
• Display ads will be the next largest type of internet advertising, capturing more than
  20% of wordwide spending annually through 2011, followed by classified ads with
  nearly 19% of all online ad spending per year.

Spending in both categories will be pressured by rich media ads, which are expected to
grow at a compound annual growth (CAGR) of more than 50% during the 2007-2011
forecast period.

Facebook is the biggest and best place to advertise in social media today. It has tons of members and the most developed advertising platform of all the social networks. However, since it’s still relatively new, ads on Facebook are still cheap, making it a great place to advertise

With Facebook you can focus on two areas: targeting groups or making a network. With targeted ads, you can take advantage of the massive amount of information Facebook has about all of it’s members, allowing you to focus on a truly impressive number of combinations of data (men over 50 who like smooth jazz, perhaps). In terms of making a network, you can make a page on Facebook and then pay to advertise that page and gain “likes,” thereby creating your own network of fans on Facebook that you can then communicate with.

Source: adotas.com

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