In the early days of banner advertising almost eight out of ten people clicked through on the ads they saw online. Today that number hovers around .05 percent, but this doesn’t mark the demise of the industry. Marketers are fighting traditional banner blindness with video and more compelling ads, but one of the hottest ways for marketers to get more bang for their buck is through social advertising.
Advertisements appearing on social networks (like ads on tablets and mobile devices right now) are showing significant click through rates. One reason for this might be novelty, but the perhaps more significant claim to higher click through rates may have everything to do with ad placement and social context.
Today social networks like Facebook and Twitter are placing ads directly in the body of the page where our eyes are accustomed to looking. (Banner ads, on the other hand, tend to be on the outer edges of pages where eye tracking studies report we’ve learned to ignore.) As a result consumers engage more, react more often, and just plain see more ads.
Social advertisements also have an edge over traditional ads because they often rely on social context. If a friend already Likes something, for example, consumers are more likely to see that advertisement as less of an ad and more of an endorsement.
The formula works beautifully (for now), and according to the infographic below, 85 percent of businesses are either engaging, or plan to engage, in social media advertising during the next twelve months. Based on the survey results, the time for social advertising is now. The infographic below proves many businesses are already happy with their social advertising efforts and trends indicate that the cost of growing a presence on social networks is only on the uptick. Plus, it’s probably best to get ahead before social advertising’s equivalent of banner blindness kicks in.
