JupiterResearch has found that 48% of US brand marketers plan to use social marketing tactics in the next year, compared to 38% who did so last year.
Detailed in a new report, “Social Networking Sites: Defining Advertising Opportunities in a Competitive Landscape,” JupiterResearch defines social networking sites as websites designed for members to create and post content, usually in the form of profile pages, primarily in order to communicate with each other.
Emily Riley, JupiterResearch Analyst and lead author of the report, said: “Users between 18 and 34 are much more likely than older audiences to visit social networks daily.
“30% of frequent social networkers trust their peers’ opinions when making a major purchase decision, but only 10% trust advertisements.
“Consequently, brand marketers must harness brand advocates and influentials by providing additional motivation for frequent networkers to engage in social marketing.”
Advertiser adoption of social tactics will increase competition for attention on social sites among users who are engaged in intense social activity with their peers.
In addition to engaging brand advocates to involve social networkers, brand marketers must target interests and activities that attract frequent networkers, and earn trust by mastering social networking flow.
“As brand marketers increase their use of social tactics, they are competing not only among themselves but also with frequent networkers,” said David Schatsky, President of JupiterKagan. “Brand marketers must not act on social tactics as a broad category but, instead, create unique campaigns for different sites.”
At the start of the year, INSIGHT provided a round up of the major predictions for 2007, with eMarketer forecasting that Worldwide ad spending on online social networks should top $1 billion in 2007, up from an estimated $445 million in 2006 (see Key Predictions For 2007).
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