Digital marketing is everywhere, but new research shows that sponsored social posts are actually getting noticed, explaining their growing popularity.
As people spend more and more time on the Internet, they’re exposed to brand messages at all times, coming in from all sides. The excessive marketing make it difficult for brands to stand out, though sponsored social is one proven way to do so.
According to State of Sponsored Social 2015, a recent report by sponsored social agency IZEA and research firm Halverson Group, consumers are noticing sponsored posts more than ever, about three per day. As a result, they’re considered among the most effective marketing tactics.
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From Ryan Schram, COO
“As a society and as consumers, we’ve become blind to traditional forms of advertising. That, combined with the rampant fraud in the display advertising industry, has left brands seeking new avenues to pursue, and opened the door to social creators who have built-in credibility, creativity, and engagement,” says Ryan Schram, chief operating officer at IZEA. “Being able to involve advertising as part of content is as old of an idea as the dawn of soap operas or the Texaco Star Theater in the early days of TV. Now, that same concept is being applied at-scale through sponsored social.
Like native ads, sponsored social should be disclosed, per the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). While 67 percent of content creators are aware of the FTC guidelines, only 8 percent of marketers are fully aware of them. Fifty three percent have some level of familiarity, while one-third have none.
Schram thinks this is a disappointing byproduct of the industry lacking standards. He says the lack of disclosure is the same “slippery slope” that made it necessary for platforms to ban likegating and similar practices.
“These are common sense best practices, but they’re often ignored when brand marketers rely on agencies and vendors who may be interested more in deploying a campaign than doing the right thing,” adds Schram.
“We are living in the creator economy and have just begun to witness its impacts on marketing and advertising,” he continues. “It brings a human element back into digital and integrated marketing. How exciting — and powerful — is it to have real humans, the consumers themselves, being compensated to work with brands they love? We haven’t seen anything like that before.”
