Report: Mobile Search Advertising In 2011 Is All About Social Integration

A new survey from digital agency Covario shows the integration of search with social media to be the number one priority among U.S. advertisers in the coming year, especially when it comes to mobile.

According to Covario’s “2011 The Year of Facebook” report, the top SEO priority for advertisers in the U.S. next year will be social media program integration (36%), yet surprisingly, mobile SEO was the number one priority for just 1% of respondents.  There’s a lot of movement in terms of the intersection of Online marketing and social marketing, yet it’s not translating to the mobile channel like it should.

According to the research, social media advertising on Facebook/LinkedIn was top of the list for almost half (46%) of respondents, followed local search advertising programs (18%).  Mobile search advertising was a priority for just 11%.  The report noted that major spending increases on Facebook search advertising are planned for 2011.  It estimated many advertisers would be spending 10% to 20% of their pay-per-click budgets on Facebook next year, giving the social networking site a major share of that market.

Social media is inherently mobile, and combined with mobile search — especially localized mobile search — is an extremely targeted advertising channel for brands, yet few realize the opportunity.  As the convergence of traditional and social media marketing continues, attention will undoubtedly be turned to mobile, even though mobile should be the number one priority from day one if you ask me.