Social media advertising has never been more common, more important, or more challenging. Brands need to optimize their campaigns and spend on these platforms to win over today’s consumers, and they need robust benchmark data to evaluate their relative performance. With strong benchmarks, marketers can effectively understand, communicate, and update campaigns to ensure their social media strategy is maximally effective. Without benchmarks, marketers are essentially in the dark regarding how their campaigns are performing in one of the most critical advertising channels.
Our report showcases DISQO’s benchmark data for both attitudinal and behavioral impacts of social media advertising. In addition, it provides granular insights on how these benchmarks compare to cross-channel averages, and dives into nuances across industries. Below are select insights from the larger report that highlight the value this data has for brands, agencies, and media companies looking to maximize their advertising ROI.
In the first part of our report, we look at the benchmarks for a “typical” campaign across channels, and compare it to benchmarks for social channels only. Across our 17 metrics (8 Brand, 9 Outcomes), we see meaningful differences between social lift and cross-channel lift. Below are two examples from Brand (unaided awareness, aided awareness) and Outcomes (category search, category site visitation). On the left, you can see that social ads are not quite at parity to cross-channel ads on top-of-funnel awareness lift. But on the right you can see that they have an outsized impact on category search and site visitation.
Past 2 years, median lift score, select metrics
Our report presents the data above for 13 additional metrics, and breaks down how these benchmarks differ by specific industry categories. We explore Brand metrics like favorability, consideration, and purchase intent, along with unique outcomes metrics like branded search, site visitation, and purchase behavior.
Our normative database is fueled by studies across hundreds of DISQO clients over the past 2 years, sourced from dozens of diverse industry categories. This diversity allows us to look at specific benchmarks for more particular sectors where social media advertising may have more nuanced impacts. In our report for example, we compare two large industries with distinct performance profiles.
To do so, we utilize a ‘social media multiplier’ metric, which is calculated by dividing the social channel benchmark by the cross-channel benchmark. Using this calculation, a value of 1.0x means performance is equivalent for social vs. all other channels combined, while higher numbers indicate performance is “x” times stronger for social channels.
Industry level, select metrics
Looking for more insights on social media advertising performance? Download the free report now to get powerful data on how social advertising ads compare to other channels across an array of metrics and categories.
We dive into each of the following topics in detail:
Social strength: When done right, social media can outperform other digital channels across a wide array of attitudinal and behavioral metrics.
Further in the funnel: The strength of social media advertising is more notable further down the purchase funnel, where measurement efforts are much more challenging.
Industry insights: Across diverse industry categories, social media advertising shows nuanced advantages for certain KPIs.
Discover DISQO: Regardless of your industry, your social media presence, or your campaign KPIs, DISQOs Brand and Outcomes Lift products can identify where your ads are coming out ahead, or coming up short.
A recognized leader in ad effectiveness measurement, DISQO offers Brand and Outcomes Lift solutions for hundreds of brands, agencies, and media companies. Below are a few other recent reports that draw upon our proprietary benchmarks. If you're looking for industry specifics, how-to guides, or case studies, take a look!