Social Media Advertising Growth and Its Impact on Digital Marketing
Marketers have had to change nearly every aspect of their ad approaches to keep up with consumer behavior and technological trends. This infographic, How Social Media Has Changed The Ad Game from MDG Advertising, provides some of the key factors driving and influencing the shift toward social media advertising.
When social media advertising first arrived on the scene, marketers used it to simply connect with their audiences. However, today’s marketers have had to change many traditional ad approaches to keep up with consumer behavior and technological trends. Social media is here to stay, and advertisers must adapt in order to engage customers.
While social media was initially used by brands to simply connect with audiences, now the channels serve to build brand awareness, acquire new customers, introduce new products and services, interact and retain current customers, and to deliver promotions.
Here are some updated statistics to digest:
- Americans spend an average of 23.6 hours online each week and social media accounts for the largest share by far
- Digital advertising spend has grown from 15% in 2014 to 33% in 2018
- CMOs in the US expact to expand their social media spend by 71% in the next 5 years
It’s not without challenges, though. MDG Points out that as socailmedia matures, it’s presenting unique challenges for advertisers, including:
- Measuring the Return on Investment
- Development of content and ads
- Developing a comprehensive strategy
- Tying social media efforts to business goals
- Tracking social media advertising results easily
- Understanding performance across channels
There’s little doubt of social media’s impact on the advertising space, but it’s still clear that companies need a comprehensive social media strategy, a measurement strategy, and a thorough understanding of how social media advertising is impacting other marketing channels.