Social Media The Most Efficient Channel — Report

Neustar has released its Q1 2014 Media Intelligence Report, based on customer data comprising 28 billion impressions across 152 billion “ad events” from 1300 “inventory providers” in multiple verticals. (Search marketing was not part of the analysis.) On the basis of looking all that data, Neustar pronounces social media the most cost effective channel in Q1.

It also found that social media offered the most efficient reach of the channels analyzed. This means it costs less to reach audiences on social sites than other categories of sites.

Source: Neustar Q1 Media Intelligence Report

The social channel is defined to include “any company that drives campaigns directly through a social media channel or website that is focused on enabling users to be part of a community.” Specific sites that comprise the channel are not identified.

The report asserts that “social and networks continued to demonstrate influence in the upper funnel, contributing to the success of lower funnel channels” and argues these channels should get more brand and “awareness” dollars accordingly.

Portals (“a website that brings information together from diverse sources in a uniform way”) and exchanges were influential lower in the funnel. Of the two, portals were more effective at driving conversions through “behavioral targeting, look-a-like modeling and retargeting.”

Source: Neustar Q1 Media Intelligence Report

The chart above reflects the distribution of spend compared with actions driven by that spend. Display ads showed a nearly 1:1 action-to-impression ratio. Video and mobile had higher action-to-impression ratios. For example, mobile represented 1 percent of spend but 2.5 percent of actions.

Social spending captured 12 percent of impressions but drove 7 percent of actions. This appears to contradict some of Neustar’s claims about social being the most efficient channel. However, in crowning social most efficient, it appears Neustar is speaking about cost per impression and audience reach rather than cost per conversion.

Finally, Neustar says companies that incorporated their offline, CRM data into targeting saw 32 to 107 times better results than campaigns that did not (in the Entertainment and Retail verticals).

Source: Neustar Q1 Media Intelligence Report