eMarketer: Social marketing to surpass $2 billion in '08

One trend that is likely to continue into 2008 is the social marketing trend. According to a recent eMarketer report, social network advertising will nearly double in 2008 to reach more than $2 billion for the year.

by Kristina Knight

Social marketing is expected to reach $1.2 billion in 2007.

Much of the social marketing spend will be from the United States, where advertisers are expected to spend more than $1.6 billion in '08 with MySpace and Facebook accounting for most of the advertising.

Why the large growth rate? Because more and more users continue to log on to social networks. About 40% of the US population is estimated to have visited a social networking site on a monthly basis in 2007. Many of these users are creating their own content in the form of blogs, picture sharing and user generated video clips. By 2011 more than 80% of the US teen population and about 50% of the adult population is predicted to be active on social sites.

"The continued growth of social networking seems assured unless teens stop social networking as they become adults," said eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson.

With so many users logging on, whether creating content or not, it is no wonder advertisers are beginning to push more ad dollars into the social space.

Tags: Facebook, MySpace, social marketing, social networks

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What you describe is NOT social marketing! Social marketing is a concept first explicated by Philip Kotler & Gerald Zaltman, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, in 1971, to describe the application of commercial marketing principles to health, social and quality of life issues. (Cf. Kotler, P. and Zaltman, G. (1971) "Social marketing: An approach to planned social change. J of Marketing. Vol. 35, pp. 3-12.) What you describe is better labeled "social media" or "consumer generated content." Social marketing has been used around the globe by government and non-profit organizations to impact issues of societal well-being as diverse as breastfeeding, recycling and encouraging savings account. Not a flash in the pan phenomenon, there are numerous college curricula; six-plus textbooks; an international listserve with over 1,000 members; a dedicated journal; three major US or international conferences; at least six major US firms; centers in Scotland, Canada, Poland and Australia; governmental centers in the UK and the US; a national excellence collaborative in the US, all dealing with social marketing. For more information you can visit the following web sites, among others: www.social-marketing.com; www.social-marketing.org; www.nsmcentre.org.uk.

Posted by: Mike Newton-Ward on December 18, 2007 19:01