Harnessing the $9+ Billion Social and Mobile Ad Potential
The year 2013 heralds a new world: a world where brands and agencies turn to social rich media advertising as a core way for connecting with the increasingly social and mobile consumer.
The year 2013 heralds a new world: a world where brands and agencies turn to social rich media advertising as a core way for connecting with the increasingly social and mobile consumer. Innovations in social advertising will lead to a doubling in annual revenue from $4.6 billion in 2012 to $9.2 billion in 2016, according to market research firm BIA/Kelsey. This increase in ad revenue will come primarily from Facebook, which is expected to take home more mobile ad revenue than any other company – yes, even more than ad giant Google, says VentureBeat.
The Importance of Social Rich Media Advertising
Social rich media advertising offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity for brands and agencies to target consumers with interests that match the virtues and values of their products. Social rich media is an advertising unit embedded within the Facebook News Feed (or any social platform) that allows for instant consumer interaction within the ad unit itself. It allows individuals to watch videos, enter promotions, and complete transactions without ever leaving the News Feed. These new ad formats represent the next evolution in social advertising, as they play to the intrinsic nature of social itself – allowing consumers to interact with each other and with the brands they love within Facebook, their social platform of choice. According to Mobile Marketer, advertising in the Facebook News Feed is up to 10 times more engaging than other available ad formats.
Lexus Owns the News Feed with Social Rich Media Advertising
Social rich media advertising offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity for brands and agencies to target consumers with interests that match the virtues and values of their products.
Lexus and its ad agency, Team One, joined the ranks of innovative companies harnessing the power of social advertising on Facebook with their recent three-part social ad campaign unveiling the new 2014 IS and IS F Sport models. Lexus became the first auto manufacturer to live stream a car unveiling in the Facebook News Feed, topping 100,000 views within ten 10 minutes, and surpassing 600,000 views within a few days. The campaign maximized Lexus’ reach and targeting using social rich media, promoting all phases of the consumer journey – from pre-show buzz and discovery, to live stream unveiling of the models at the auto show, to enabling engagement and demand via an interactive photo- and video-rich social catalog post-show. For full details on the Lexus social rich media campaigns, download our complimentary white paper, Harnessing the $9+ Billion Social and Mobile Ad Potential: The Ultimate Industry Guide to Social Rich Media Advertising.
The Key to Social Ad Success: Mapping the Social Consumer Purchase Journey
The key to taking advantage of the social rich media advertising opportunity lies in understanding, addressing, and measuring the various stages of the new social consumer purchase journey – one that is dynamic, interactive, social, and mobile. In this new era, social consumers have taken the reins from brands and now drive a large portion of product discovery and endorsement through their social networks. Understanding this consumer requires a proven framework for social advertising ROI that helps you focus on and understand each step of the consumer purchase journey – from discovery and interaction, to transaction and endorsement (DITE). DITE empowers marketers to mold authentic and engaging experiences for social consumers – experiences that drive awareness and understanding, create interest, foster interactions and commerce, and propel consumers to social endorsements.
The Growing Role of Real-Time Social, Mobile Ad Analytics
Beyond the variety of targeting options available via the Facebook platform, brands and agencies need to use social rich media units to gain deeper fan insights in real time to optimize content, offers, and promotions with little wasted time and money. Social rich media analytics can provide much-needed data to differentiate a somewhat interesting campaign from a solid social ROI success. By pulling real-time data from desktop and mobile users and diving deep into campaign metrics – such as offer type, copy, creative, and posting timeframe – brands can make educated consumer assumptions to optimize future social strategy and social advertising ROI.
2013: The Year of Social + Mobile Rich Media Advertising
As social advertising innovators such as Lexus set the pace for the rest of the industry, social rich media advertising – delivered directly in the Facebook News Feed – will take its place as the definitive tool brands and agencies depend on. Built natively for desktop and mobile, brands will be able to create meaningful relationships with their fans and increase consumer lifetime value through targeting and engagement. But, to offer immersive experiences, brands and agencies need to adopt a framework that meaningfully and effectively addresses each step in the social and mobile consumer purchase journey – from discovery and interaction, to transaction and endorsement. Successful social rich media advertisers will not only use the granular targeting options offered by Facebook and a growing ecosystem of media management platforms, they will use integrated cross-channel analytics to gain the needed real-time, critical audience, and content insights to achieve undisputed social advertising ROI.
To learn how to take full advantage of social advertising, download your free copy of the industry’s first comprehensive guide: Harnessing the $9+ Billion Social and Mobile Ad Potential: The Ultimate Industry Guide to Social Rich Media Advertising.
*This article is a promoted post in partnership with Moontoast.
