Dive Brief:
- Sponsored social agency IZEA and Halverson Group teamed up for the State of Sponsored Social 2015 report that found consumers are seeing around three sponsored social posts each day this year, making it one of the most effective marketing tactics.
- On a ten-point scale, sponsored social scored 7.29 and was only surpassed by content marketing and experiential marketing.
- In terms of penetration as a tactic, 54% of respondents reported using sponsored social this year, the same figure as display ads, although sponsored social is trending upwards and display ads were down 4%.
Dive Insight:
Ryan Schram, chief operating officer at IZEA, told ClickZ, “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.”
Sponsored social posts are attractive for marketers because of the native ad element. There's also the fact that sponsored post creators purchase and tell their friends about the products they are promoting at 85%.
Earlier research from IZEA and Halverson Group found that B2B marketers in particular are in the dark about FTC disclosure guidelines on sponsored content with only 8% reporting being fully aware of the FTC rules on sponsored content disclosure, compared to 67% of sponsored content creators.
This news comes at a time when a majority of marketers are expecting to increase content marketing spending.
