We often get asked about the value in advertising across the different social networks. There’s definitely not a straight answer to that question as it always depends on who you are trying to talk to, what you’re saying and how you want them to react. But a little research always comes in handy.
New findings from research house Forrester shows that marketers are still in love with Facebook, rating it as the best social media platform for advertising. 80% of marketers pay to put their messages in front of Facebook’s audience and 78% say that Facebook delivers value on adverts.
The figures are quite a bit lower for Twitter, with 62% of marketers paying for adverts and 66% saying that promoted tweets represent real value. LinkedIn and YouTube perform at a similar level to Twitter. Paid adverts are just taking off on Pinterest and Instagram with only 14% of marketers currently using these channels.
Marketers seem to have faith in social as 70% expect their spend in this area to increase in the coming year.
One comment that really caught our eye was a statement on social advertising from Nate Elliott, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forster Research. He said ‘Social ads aren’t social – they’re just ads.’ Gone are promises of engagement with customers and the ability to generate deep and meaningful relationships, they’re just ads.
That’s worth remembering.