Facebook Engagement: Up 896% in Q3 2012, With 24% From Mobile Users

Engagement for brands on Facebook surged during the past year, according to Adobe’s “Q3 2012 Global Digital Advertising Update.”

Not surprisingly, mobile users accounted for a significant portion of Facebook engagement. Marketers are probably aware of the need to focus more on social engagement, but this report is a stark reminder of just how important social marketing is. Also, when it comes to iOS vs. Android for marketers, there’s a clear-cut winner.

According to Adobe, average brand post engagement (defined as likes, comments and shares) on Facebook grew 896 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2012. “We surmise that increased engagement rates result from platform changes (Timeline) made in the last three quarters, use of new acquisition and engagement metrics, and more effective social marketing by brands,” the report notes. “Increases in engagement levels in future quarters would indicate that Facebook is becoming a more valuable advertising marketing channel than in the past.”

Adobe also found that mobile users accounted for 24 percent of all Facebook engagement in September, up from 23 percent in August, 19 percent in July, 15 percent in June and 5 percent in April.

The implication for marketers, according to Adobe, is that Facebook is asserting itself as a more valuable advertising and marketing channel. “Marketers should capitalize on this trend to include more social marketing in their digital marketing initiatives,” the report notes.

Adobe also highlighted search trends and found that in the third quarter, U.S. search spend grew 11 percent year-over-year. Return on investment (ROI) grew 26 percent year-over-year in the third quarter.

Click volume on Google rose 21 percent year-over-year, taking the search giant to a new high. Click volume for Bing/Yahoo rose 11 percent year-over-year. During the third quarter, Google claimed 83 percent of clicks while Bing/Yahoo claimed 17 percent.

Meanwhile, cost per click (CPC) for Google dropped 10 percent year-over-year, while CPC for Bing/Yahoo rose 6 percent.

According to Google’s third-quarter earnings report, search clicks rose 33 percent year-over-year while CPC fell 15 percent.

Adobe also took a look at mobile operating systems and found that iOS conversion rates had a significant leg up on Android, with overall conversion rates up to 93 percent higher on iOS than on Android. Meanwhile, CPC for iOS was 18 percent lower. All this points to iOS as the mobile platform offering the more appealing opportunities for marketers.