For anyone out there still skeptical about the power of digital media to drive business these latest numbers will change your mind.  Social media has a reach of more than one billion people worldwide and according to Miranda Miller’s article in Search Engine Watch last week, revenue from social networks is like Facebook and Twitter, and LinkedIn is projected by Gartner to be $16.9 billion in 2012, reaching a whopping $34 billion by 2016.  Almost half, or $8 billion of this year’s revenue will come from advertising.

We’ve discussed here some of the differences between PPC with AdWords and using social media to advertise with display ads.  One of the key differences is the ability to collect and analyse the data from advertising campaigns.

According to Gupta in the Gartner report, “the biggest impact of growth in social media is on the advertisers…social media sites should deploy data analytic techniques that interrogate social networks to give marketers a more accurate picture.”

While we think that a comprehensive advertising campaign must include PPC and social media channels, we maintain that the best value for money remains PPC. With its unparalleled ability to allow customers to target their ads geographically, hourly, and by device, it allows for the best penetration of the markets and also for the highest conversions to sales.

Social network ad platforms have been playing catch up with Google AdWords, and have thus far failed to provide the tools that marketers need to do their jobs well.  Until that changes, we’ll be backing the Google horse in the ad revenue game.