Social Media Advertising Spend to Exceed £15.5 Billion in 2015

Social media spend received another big boost this week. eMarketing’s latest survey predicts a £15.5bn advertising spend in Western Europe this year on social networking sites. This is based on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, plus apps and games like Clash of Clans.

This 28.3% increase on last year is not quite as high as in recent times. Growth here and in North America peaked in 2014. Still, with predictions for more growth, social media is and will be a key business battleground for years to come.

It will be interesting to see how organisations assess the impact and value of this form of advertising.

The rise of social media will affect companies in other ways too. For example, will we also see bigger budgets for users’ posts to be promoted on Facebook? And will social networks raise their prices for this type of hidden advertising?

Companies need to be clear on their target market and how these people are influenced by social media. This way, they can weigh up the benefits of spending on these sites rather than more traditional methods of promotion/advertising.

How will a sales-sceptic audience react to their social networks being flooded with advertising? For the moment at least, the potential of social media keeps on attracting the business world in a big way.

The full statistics can be found here:

http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Social-Network-Ad-Spending-Hit-2368-Billion-Worldwide-2015/1012357