Social media is taking the online advertising community by storm. I recently received an e-mail from Gumas Advertising, one of my client companies, with some interesting statistics about online advertising. The social media sites are commanding 80 percent of online ad revenue. Here are some numbers from comScore to digest:
| Top Online Display Ad Publishers in Social Networking Category (June 2009 Total U.S.; Home/Work/University Locations) | |||
| Total Display Ad Impressions (MM) | % Share of Display Ads | Ad Exposed Unique Visitors (000) | |
| Total Internet Audience |
326,899 |
100.0% |
188,589 |
| Social Networking |
68,927 |
21.1 |
129,620 |
| MySpace Sites |
30,004 |
9.2 |
64,472 |
| Facebook.com |
26,813 |
8.2 |
67,389 |
| Tagged.com |
1,940 |
0.6 |
7,422 |
| MocoSpace.com |
496 |
0.2 |
1,067 |
| Hi5.com |
461 |
0.1 |
3,459 |
| Bebo |
435 |
0.1 |
6,350 |
| Classmates.com Sites |
400 |
0.1 |
9,181 |
| BlackPlanet.com |
345 |
0.1 |
2,084 |
| GaiaOnline.com |
258 |
0.1 |
1,859 |
| DeviantArt.com |
204 |
0.1 |
3,681 |
| Source: comScore Ad Metrix, September 2009 |
A survey of the Association of National Advertisers and B2B Magazine shows that social media and videos have seen a jump in rankings:
The survey found that 66% of marketers utilized social media in 2009, as compared to 20% in 2007. 50% employ viral videos, up from only 25% in 2007….
Among social networks being embraced by all marketers, the top sites used are:
- Facebook (74%)
- YouTube (65%)
- Twitter (63%)
- LinkedIn (60%)
If you follow the money, social media is where it’s at for marketing. If you haven’t embraced a social media strategy, it’s time to put your money where your mouth is.