Social media marketing revenue 'will continue to grow'

13:30 29th January 2010

Revenue from social media marketing will continue to grow during 2009, it has been suggested.

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) said brand advertising would begin to focus on social media platforms in the future.

Guy Phillipson, chief executive at the IAB (UK), said the key for digital marketers was to select an audience and follow them to see what they did with their time.

A choice could then be made to see where the best place to target advertisements at them would be.

As a result, advertisements on social media websites could be set to increase.

He said: "There is no advertising on Twitter at the moment but it will probably come. That will all add to the brand story and therefore the revenue that will continue to grow online."

Marketing expert Nielsen announced this week that UK companies would be able to use its BrandLift programme to assess the effectiveness of their brand advertising on the internet.

The partnership with Facebook, formed in September 2009, aims to help digital marketers measure the impact of online advertising on consumer attitudes.

Research by Nielsen found Facebook had increased its share of display-ad views in the UK from 6.4 per cent in 2008 to 10.2 per cent last year.