Study Finds Social Nets Near Top Of 2010 Media Buying Plans

Social networks may still seem like an emerging medium, if an ad medium at all, on some parts of Madison Avenue, but a new report on the media buying plans of advertisers and agencies indicates that having a “presence on social networks” is one of the top priorities of their media plans for next year. The report, the 2010 Media Planning Intelligence Study, which is being released today by the Center for Media Research in conjunction with InsightExpress, found that 57.7% of respondents “ideally” plan, and 56.3% “realistically” plan to include social media in their media plans next year.

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Email marketing was the No. 1 medium, cited by 56.8% of respondents as being a realistic part of their 2010 media plans, followed by social networks (56.3%), keyword search (49.7%), radio (42.2%), magazines (42.1%), online display (40.5%), event sponsorship (36.9%), rich media display (35.5%), direct mail (34.7%), regional TV (32.8%), regional newspapers (31.7%), out-of-home (31.2%), email sponsorship (29.5%), online video (26.7%), mobile SMS text (26.1%), and others. Interestingly, national TV (18.2%) and national newspapers (14.8%), ranked near the bottom of these respondents’ realistic 2010 media buying plans.

CPL Gains Traction For Marketing Leads

According to the Cost per Lead Advertising Data Report from Pontiflex, marketers are turning to pay for performance pricing models, wherein media is purchased based on a defined success metric or specific action – instead of impressions. As a result, Cost-per-Lead (CPL) advertising has gained significant traction across verticals.

Pontiflex posits that a marketing lead, as opposed to a “sales” lead, is the contact information of a consumer who has explicitly signed up to receive communication from a specific brand. Advertisers commonly engage marketing leads through social networking groups and community sites. According to the study, direct response marketers use marketing leads to build e-newsletter lists and direct mail lists to drive revenue.

Tuesday Tops for Facebook Brand-Page Clicks

Content posted on Facebook-based brand pages has an average click-through rate (CTR) of 9.89% on Tuesday, the highest for any day of the week, according to data from social media services vendor Vitrue.

Tuesday is followed closely by Wednesday, which has a CTR rate of 9.87%. Not surprisingly, Friday and Saturday have the lowest click-through rates, with 2.67% and 2.70% respectively.

Brand pages, which are similar to human profiles but are organized around companies, typically aggregate news about the brand in question. Users can become “fans” of brands for which they feel an affinity, and receive updates from them on their news feeds.