Brian Solis laid out the finding of his recent study on social advertising and how marketers are using this tool in this Fast Company article

“The future of advertising will be largely influenced by consumer behavior in social networks. Those brands that listen, measure, and evolve programs as a result, will push advertising forward — to the benefit of consumers and ultimately the brand.”

Advertising is not commonly a component of PR strategies, but social advertising is going to change that. On the Food and Beverage Social Media Webinar on Friday last week, Grace Leong of Hunter PR talked about several successful Facebook promotions they’ve done for clients and every one of them had a social advertising component.

Here are some of the key findings of this study:

  • 60% think social advertising will be very valuable to them
  • 67% are currently using social advertising
  • 18% intend to use social advertising in the next 12 months
  • 54% are satisfied with their social advertising results
  • Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are the top platforms used
  • Introducing something is the most common objective
  • Biggest obstacles are ROI and budget

Social advertising definitely should be a part of the new Digital PR toolkit.

Read the full article and find a savvy social advertising partner to team up with before you launch your next social media initiative.

Here are some suggestions:

SplashLab Social – ask for Geoff, he’s awesome!

Wildfire – I spoke on a panel at the Facebook Expos with Victoria and I know Firebelly use them for all their contests and promotional campaigns.

Buddy Media- one of the fastest growing start-ups closely tied to Facebook and social advertising.