By Chris Lee

UK marketing spend increased in the third quarter of 2010 with Internet advertising experiencing the fastest growth. With this backdrop NMK tapped up its contacts to learn what 2011 would bring for the UK Internet marketing industry.

2011 will add further complexity to digital advertisers already struggling to cater for the needs of multiple browsers with increased access of the Web from mobile devices, according to Andrew Girdwood, media innovations director at digital marketing consultancy BigMouthMedia.

“From next year, websites will need to perform on small mobile screens, laptop/PC screens and TV screens. It’s what many are calling the ‘Three Screen Strategy’, being one which makes use of the Web and mobile as well as integrating with television broadcasts and perhaps also Internet TV,” Girdwood told NMK. “At first glance that seems straightforward enough, but the way ahead may not be quite so simple. Three-screen strategies certainly might sound like a common sense approach to the near future, but marketers are likely to discover that legislation may well muddy the waters as we progress through 2011.”

Girdwood also warned that in March 2011 the Advertising Standards Authority plans to expand the Committee of Advertising Practise (CAP) into the digital arena. Whereas some user-generated-content and search engine optimisation (SEO) strategies are excluded from the new rules and the place of affiliate marketing is still being debated, pay-per-click (PPC) ads, display ads and websites themselves will be affected by expansion of the regulations. Girdwood added that PPC advertisers will be expected to manage their bids alongside their inventory. Once a product becomes unavailable then the PPC ads for that product on Bing, Google or elsewhere are expected to be either withdrawn. Failure to do so may leave the advertiser open to an ASA investigation, which could affect three-screen strategies as there is one CAP for broadcast and one for other mediums.

The business-to-business (B2B) online ad market is still playing catch up to the business-to-consumer (B2C) market, meaning print advertising remains an important to B2B marketers, according to Matt Gower, managing director of digital ad network The Digital Partnership.

“The levels of online engagement on the part of B2B publishers is probably three to five years behind B2C in terms of spend and scale,” Gower said, adding that the development of specialist B2B ad networks will gradually start to encourage B2B marketers away from print and onto digital.

“Niche audiences require specialist networks to target them effectively and whilst the B2B ad market won’t reach B2C levels of maturity in 2011, I certainly expect to see much greater online engagement on the part of B2B publishers in 2011,” he added.

So what about social networks? With Facebook having surpassed 500 million members and the site providing advertisers with increasingly precise targeting tools plus microblogging site Twitter now running sponsored tweets, what does 2011 hold for social network advertising?

For Simon Mansell, CEO of digital advertising agency TBG Digital, Facebook will become even more compelling as an advertising platform during 2011 thanks to its ability to enable advertisers to target consumers with common interests, regardless of location.

“It’s becoming clear that all brands need to better understand how to reach their audiences through Facebook,” Mansell told NMK. “Today, pioneering brands successfully engaging in Facebook advertising are generating highly targeted campaigns that create billions of impressions a day. Success factors revolve around speed, scalability, adaptability and creativity.”

While Facebook may remain the darling of the social advertising market, Twitter could begin to see its star fade, according to Mark Redgrave, CEO of OpenAmplify, a text analysis company.

“On the social side, marketers will begin to question their relationship with Twitter and we will see the continued rise of Facebook. People are starting to realise that while the Twitter platform serves as a fantastic medium for broadcasting information, the actual consumer insights it offers are very limited,” Redgrave warned. “In contrast, Facebook offers brands and marketers an incredible depth of information to tap into, and we’ve only just started to scratch the surface of its potential. 500 million people actually talking to each other about things that they feel matter.”

Mansell concurs, concluding that “In 2011 more revenue should be allocated to Facebook and social media advertising than traditional routes as consumers continue to engage in a more fluid, interactive and rapid social discourse.”