Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

After suffering a slowdown along with the rest of the ad industry during the recession, social networks are on a growth trajectory this year. And this sector is growing both in the U.S. and in foreign markets. By 2011, the $2.17 billion spent on social networks in foreign markets will comprise 50.9% of global spending while the U.S. will have 49.1% or $2.09 billion of the total.

The buzz about social networking is growing but some businesses have yet to see the importance of using this new tool. Last week, I mentioned that small online retailers are moving at a slow rate when it comes to social networking. A new report in McKinsey Quarterly may help reluctant business owners see the importance of using social networking effectively.

One of the fastest growing forms of online marketing is due to see some changes next year. While MySpace has commanded the most advertising dollars when it comes to social media, likely the result of its large user base, Facebook is expected to take the top spot in 2010. This may be because Facebook surpassed MySpace on a global basis, in 2009, with respect to the number of total visitors to its site.

Marketers who are trying reach this generation’s American mom might want to update some of their assumptions. According to a white paper jointly published by Advertising Age and JWT, today’s mom is not obsessed with having it all. Survey analysts note “the second wave of feminism has wrought not only opportunities but also increased challenges, complexity and unmet expectations.”

While many marketers are just beginning the process of exploring the social networking process, others are light years ahead. A recent Wall Street Journal article describes how high-tech powerhouses like IBM and Microsoft are scanning their social networking sites for consumer videos and comments that make for good ad campaign material. As writer Emily Steel points out, this strategy moves beyond the traditional practice of incorporating focus group findings into ad campaigns.

Watch for social media to lead the digital marketing pack in 2010. That’s the word from Forbes writer Jeremiah Owyang who recently attended the Forbes CMO Summit. Owyang also cautions that effective marketers will incorporate social media with other digital efforts. For example, e-mail providers such as Silverpop and Responsys are using the power of social networks to expand the reach of e-mail.