New data released by data science and media technology company, 4C Insights (4C), has revealed the second quarter of 2017 was monumental for Facebook, as it’s ad spend up rose 46% quarter-over-quarter.
To assess social advertising growth, 4C analysed nearly $200 million in media spend from more than 1,000 individual brands managed through its platform, 4C Social. The findings revealed a 42% quarterly increase across the board in paid media spend on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Snapchat.
Propelling Facebook’s growth was achieving a milestone of 2 billion monthly active users and sharing a new mission statement: “To give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.”
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Pushing the types of content available, Facebook’s notable product releases included new ways to connect through VR and more capabilities on Messenger for gaming, payments, brands and developers.
Interestingly the travel sector increased the most on Facebook over the previous quarter by 391%. As people searched for summer vacation inspiration, travel brands also found their footing on Instagram increasing spend 609% this quarter.
Home and garden brands invested heavily in Twitter as consumers geared up for barbeques with a 374% increase compared to last quarter. The home and garden market also invested in Snap Ads, increasing spend 1,189% for spring.
Equally, driven by the recent political climate, the government and public sector spend on Facebook increased, up 89% quarter-over-quarter.
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Aaron Goldman, CMO at 4C Insights concludes that “Relevant content, because it’s personalised by the people we care most about, has always made social media meaningful. Social platforms are now investing in premium content which will leverage their distribution networks that ensure relevancy, while taking advantage of the media moments people care most about.”
Where will Facebook go next?
In terms of future growth, video continues to rapidly emerge across each of the social platforms. Brands are already beginning to understand how social video differs from other video across the web.
“Facebook has recently rolled out TRP buying functionalities, which allow our brands to buy social video in the same way they buy TV at a more efficient cost,” reveals Cipora Reichman, paid social manager at Performics. Putting social video on par with TV elevates the quality of social video making it more premium than other digital video placements.
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According to Jasmine Wang, senior specialist, media services at Merkle, as premium content becomes more prevalent in social, brands will gain insight into the media habits of their consumers as well as gain access to new ad inventory. “Facebook has become the number one platform to use and is slowly replacing mobile web and app experiences.”
