• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, December 18, 2013

Social media marketing continues to grow and mature -- and it’s doing so at the expense of display marketing.
 
Based on input from around 10,000 brand marketers, social media consultants and social influencers, social sponsorship startup IZEA found that more than a third of marketers indicate display ad weariness.
 
Social media marketing, by contrast, continues to expand on all fronts. Use of sponsored photos, for example, increased from 24% in 2012 to 33% this year, while 29% of marketers report using sponsored Pins on Pinterest, IZEA found.
 
Between sponsorships and display ads, 55.7% of influencers now say they make more money from sponsorships.
 
The growth of social marketing, however, is resulting in greater demands from such influencers. In fact, these plugged-in people increasingly expect compensation from brands for mentioning their products or services, IZEA finds. Just over a quarter (26%) of influencers say the amount of time they spend maintaining a social presence is now equivalent to a full-time job.
 
To complicate matters, a significant share of influencers have yet to fully grasp rules for compensation disclosure, which the FTC now requires when substantial rewards are exchanged for content. In fact, 38% of influencers report “no understanding” of FTC guidelines for social sponsorship.
 
The report also showed that this year, a majority of brand marketers (61%) have pursued the compensation of social-media influencers -- a 5% increase year-over-year -- whether in the form of money, goods, services, discounts, or some other incentive.
 
Among owners of social channels, 92% say they would accept compensation to promote something through their own platforms.
 
“Brand advertisers and editorial are working more closely than ever to develop mutually beneficial, scalable social sponsorship programs that are both high impact for brands and profitable for influencers,” Ted Murphy, founder and CEO of IZEA, explained in the report.
 
Sponsored Tweets are the most popular form among marketers of social influence, with 52% reporting using them. By comparison, sponsored blog posts have dropped in popularity. While 54% of marketers used them in 2012, 51% did in 2013.
 
Across the board, however, marketers appear to be undecided about how to measure social media success, IZEA finds. Quality of content (41.9%), shares (36.5%) and click-through rates (35.2%) were deemed the “most important measurement of success” for social influence by marketers.