There is a very good reason why Facebook and Google as a duopoly took more than half of the UK's entire digital advertising budget between them last year. They work. What's more, they work a lot
better than rivals. In fact, you would be surprised by how much.
That is the inescapable conclusion from the latest figures from eMarketer. Although they are from the US, the takeaway is
incredibly clear, and is no surprise.
When asked to name their most successful ad channel, in terms of ROI, Google search came out ahead for nearly half of all those surveyed. Facebook was just
behind, cited as top for ROI by nearly one in three (30%). So three in four marketers have agreed that Google and Facebook are way out in front when it comes to ROI.
In fact, Instagram and
YouTube only get a vote of confidence for just under one in twenty marketers. Twitter gets half of that support. It represents the best ROI for just 2% of marketers. Ad exchanges surprised me. They're
in third place, still a long way behind the top two. With 8% of marketers saying they represent the best ROI, they're twice as popular as the aforementioned social giants.
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It's hardly a
surprise that Google and Facebook dominate, although the degree to which they outrank rivals is a little surprising. People looking for "stuff" online are a great audience because they're obviously
online and looking for something, you can't get more 'lean forward' and pre-qualified than that.
It's a similar story with Facebook. No tech giant (other than Google) can know more about
its users and put the most relevant ad social content in front of them. Of course, we're going to see a lot more advertising on the site, given the latest tweak to the algorithm that dialled down
commercial posts again, as well news stories. Brands and publishers have a stark choice to maintain -- or increase their exposure to social media users. Spend more or be seen less.
Most people
who write about marketing ask themselves the same question. What would they do if they had the marketing budget? Where would it go? My answer is always PPC and Facebook advertising before anything
else -- and it looks like that hunch backs up exactly what marketers spending real money are reporting back.
So there is an inescapable truth here. People will talk about challenging the
duopoly that is soaking up half of digital marketing spend in the UK -- a lion's share that is set to increase. However, the point is that the duopoly get one in two of every pound spend on digital
advertising because they work. They simply deliver ROI that is off the scale compared to rivals.