Appssavvy: Social Ads Rival Paid Search

Marketing firm appssavvy has released a report, Social Activity Index: Measuring the Effectiveness of Social Advertising, which indicates that advertising integrated into social activities (like social games) is one of the most effective forms of digital marketing. Social advertising is second only to paid search in effectiveness, eleven times more effective than traditional display ads, and twice as effective as rich media advertising. Appssavvy’s performance evaluations are based on data from over 170 appsavvy social media campaigns in 2010 and industry benchmarks provided by eMarketer.

Appssavvy developed a metric called the Equivalent Display Impressions for the report to provide a cost-weighted measure of an ad format’s ability to drive engagement. The report then ranks the four dominant forms of online advertising– paid search, social activity, rich media, and display ads– by EDI rating. Appssavvy also found that 2.1% of all social activity ads are shared to Facebook and Twitter feeds, driving “millions” of additional earned media impressions.

The appssavvy campaigns that provided data for the Social Activity Index report were conducted on behalf of brands including Microsoft, Visa, and McDonald’s. These campaigns were conducted through 20 social media partners including ngmoco, Living Social, and Zynga. The social advertising campaigns appeared on platforms including Facebook, mobile, and Web. Appssavvy says its social activity campaigns have resulted in over 200 million completed social activities.

Appssavvy says that social gaming drives the highest cost-weighted engagement score in the social advertising category, delivering 15.2 EDI versus 6.4 for socially enabled apps and Web sites. Appssavvy attributes this to an audience that’s already highly engaged and the exceptionally high social activity rate that social gaming drives. Social advertising achieves its highest EDI rates when incorporated into social games that include virtual goods, gift-giving, and in-game missions.

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