The gap in spending between online search and online display is closing, and quickly, according to this June, 2011 forecast by online marketing firm eMarketer.
While search captured the early sweepstakes as the category offering the best ROI, that out-of-the-gate lead is narrowing. The prediction now is that sometime in mid-2014 the advantage will shift to display as the favored category, coupled with analysis that shows overall growth slowing from a 2011 high of 20.2% ($31.3B) to a 2015 assumption of 8.8% ($49.5B), nearly doubling today’s spending.
Technology, opportunity, metrics and platforms are all reasons for this growth. The opportunities presented by mobile coupled with the emergence of HTML5 and a host of other visual solutions likely account for the change in velocity.
Whether you define social media as the 20th century spanned by two phones hooked together by copper wire or a bluetooth keyboard tapping out a tweet that ends up as smart phone text in the 21st, success with the medium begins with understanding the process.
Social Fresh Attendance by Category
Which is exactly where Social Fresh has landed on the map of the Continental United States. I was able to gain critical insight from some of the best in the business when Tampa played host to their multi-stop tour in February, promoted across the social media spectrum by founder Jason Keath (@jasonkeath) as the answer to marketers in various “underserved cities” wailing at the “How does all this stuff work?” wall of confusion.
The 1-2 day conference objectives are teaching marketeers – ad shops, pr firms, corporate communication staffers, philanthropic agencies – first the basics, then expanded specifics of invoking social media in its various forms. Facebook and twitter first, augmented by late breaking news in the app and cloudware departments later.
more than who had what for lunch
The chart above shows the typical conference breakdown of attendees by channel, and is indicitive of the broad interest among corporations, marketeers, government, non-profits and others in learning how social media communication strategies can be applied across markets. Social Fresh brings in a full slate of new media stars to shine in a venue that’s part camp meeting, part Mary Kay convention, where they’re free to serve up advice and instruction on the best ways for an audience of mostly pilgrams to navigate a landscape where there’s still no road map. It’s a job for experts, and Social Fresh delivers.
You can view more on the evolution of social media here.
The gap in spending between online search and online display is closing, and quickly, according to this June, 2011 forecast by online marketing firm eMarketer.