The following is my response to a request from a client regarding my opinion on social media and online display advertising.
There seems to have been an uptick in the number of recommendations suggesting businesses begin or increase their budgets for social media and online display advertising campaigns.
Dear Client,
The efficacy rhetoric of both social network and display advertising is increasingly on the rise as Microsoft/Yahoo and Facebook/Twitter attempt to attract more display brand advertising dollars from traditional media who are losing the war for the consumer’s attention.
The social / display advertising camps wouldn’t have to be selling their merits – if their results did their speaking for them.
The reason the former don’t is because their product produces inferior results while the latter has yet to yield any results if any results at all.
These are some of the reasons why the Yahoo/Facebook/Twitter market cap / value is 1/8 Google’s $150 Billion.
However, as with everything else – there are exceptions.
I have had a small percentage of deals convert with display while others have not.
Testing is the only way to prove or disprove whether or not display advertising will work for a particular business.
Display ads can be geo-targeted but its not as precise because it relies on other publishers data and it can have placement, targeting and measurement issues.
The first thing to do is to test whether text ads convert in their display network first. If so, then try image / display ads.
Unless of course a testing supports and fulfills a brand’s impression objectives in target markets and isn’t held to the same level of results performance as search.
If a display advertising test meets its objectives, then launch trials with Yahoo / MSN publishing partners.
Search Marketing Communications 
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