Mobile Social Advertising Gives Big Brands Big Engagement

BOSTON, April 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- While mobile advertising is still in its infancy on social networks, marketers are closely monitoring this emerging channel. "Mobile Social Advertising Fights To Win Over CMOs," a new report from Yankee Group, sheds light on why mobile social advertising is back on chief marketing officers' (CMOs') agendas and how it will fit in the mobile marketing mix.

Highlights from the report include:

• Social networks are waking up to mobile advertising. During its January 2013 earnings call, Facebook reported that mobile accounted for 23 percent of its ad revenues in the final quarter of 2012. Twitter got serious about advertising last year as well.
• Big brands are responding to the level of engagement social media provides with mobile customers. CMOs are overcoming distrust of social media and reorganizing marketing operations to become faster to respond and more flexible on measurement. Brands across major verticals are following retailers' lead by using mobile social advertising to drive brand awareness and specific promotions.
• Social networks must understand each vertical's advertising requirements. Social networks will be in fierce competition to win ad dollars in 2013. The winners will invest in building ad sales operations aimed at gaining deep understanding and awareness of each industry vertical.

"Mobile advertising on social networks will remain in its adolescence until current format preferences evolve," said Jason Armitage, Yankee Group Principal Analyst and author of the report. "The role of display ads on social networks is contentious, and CMO skepticism of social advertising's value is even more marked when it comes to small screens. Future investment will focus on utilizing social recommendations and content marketing to drive awareness and advocacy for brands. Although demand generation using mobile social advertising is still in experimental stages, current tools provide a compelling opportunity to engage and communicate with smart device owners."

About Yankee Group
Yankee Group, a division of The 451 Group, is the preeminent research and advisory firm equipping companies to profit in a mobile world. The core of our content is proprietary research and analytics on the attitudes, behaviors and usage patterns of mobile users. We provide a range of actionable data, insights and advice to marketing, strategy and product executives driving the mobility revolution in leading companies worldwide. Visit www.yankeegroup.com.

SOURCE Yankee Group