• by Zoe Mandese , August 14, 2012

The U.S., China, Russia and Great Britain may have dominated the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, but nations as far-flung as Mexico, Turkey and Italy were among the strongest performers in the “2012 Social Media Advertising Games,” a report from ad technology and software provider Kenshoo that analyzed the performance of Facebook ad impressions in 11 “critical mass” countries.

The study analyzed data for a wide range of brands using Kenshoo’s social platform. The data covers more than 100 countries, but report findings deemed statistically significant generated at least 100 million impressions from ads uniquely targeted to each country.

Mexico and Turkey, for example, have as many Facebook users as broadband subscribers, which the report says is an indication that Facebook is used heavily via mobile devices in those countries.

“Savvy marketers can reach these connected populations through targeted mobile ads and take advantage of efficient Facebook CPM rates,” the report recommends.

Italy, which won the most medals of any European country at the Olympics, was deemed the winner of the social media ‘games’; its high click-through rate coupled with a low ad price meant that brands saw interaction with Facebook ads for a fairly low price.

By contrast, the U.S. and U.K. have the highest CPM and cost-per-click rates. They also boast the lowest exposure rates, meaning that brands are paying more money for less exposure in these countries.

“Each individual country delivers different social-media performance, and understanding the key metrics and variances by location and vertical can help brands develop successful Facebook advertising strategies,” stated Sivan Metzger, general manager of Kenshoo Social.