Dive Brief:
- Sponsored social-media messages are often more effective than other marketing tactics, according to a survey from Lightspeed GMI and partners.
- Nine out of 10 leading marketing tactics were sponsored social media messages on specific platforms, according to respondents; only television ads delivered similar results.
- Paid search and unpaid search ranked lower than all sponsored social media message options, with 41% and 43% effectiveness ratings, respectively.
Dive Insight:
A survey of social media users asked to evaluate the effectiveness of various marketing tactics indicates that sponsored social media messaging is a strategy that eclipses traditional media such as radio and print in effectiveness.
Respondents to the survey, produced by Lightspeed GMI, Halverson Group, and The Right Brain Consumer Consulting, ranked sponsored social media messages on Periscope, Snapchat, and Instagram as the top three tools. Television ads were judged fourth in effectiveness, and were the only old-media format to make the survey's Top 10.
That’s not to say that every digital format is a winner, however; the survey ranked banner ads’ effectiveness at just 36%, tied with newspaper ads. Another survey from the Content Marketing Institute concurs with the Lightspeed survey, with 61% of content marketers saying promoted posts are effective.
