Social Advertising Experiences Rapid Growth

While brands are tweaking their social media strategies to account for changes to network algorithms that often prioritize their organic posts much lower than non-commercial posts, some companies are increasingly paying to play.

Data science and media technology company 4C Insights has released research indicating that there's a 61.5 percent increase in paid media spend on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Snapchat for the first quarter of 2017. Let's see how those dollars are being spent:

• Social advertisers are warming up to ephemeral campaigns with spending on Snap Ads (Snapchat) increasing 593 percent quarter over quarter (QoQ) through 4C.
• Advertisers (70 percent of those surveyed by 4C) are wanting to pair TV advertising and social. Haircare brand Nice 'N Easy, for example, automatically triggered its own Facebook ads when competitor ads aired on TV. Nice 'N Easy was able to drive 40 percent higher video views and 'blunt' its competitors messages, according to 4C, while driving lower cost per engagement and cost per view.
• Pinterest saw ad spend grow 73 percent YoY on 4C.
• Facebook shows no signs of slowing down with an 81 percent increase in spend through 4C, with food and beverage spend increasing by 49 percent since Q4.
• Instagram saw an eight percent increase in 4C spend since Q4 with LinkedIn seeing 21 percent in spend YoY on 4C.