Businesses spent twice as much on Facebook ads than Twitter ads last year, but Twitter ads produced better results, according to a new report.
The study, from ad agency Resolution Media, looked at the social media activity of 20 of its clients with ad spends that totaled $37m last year.
The agency found that, while businesses invested 127% more in Facebook, Twitter ads generated a significantly higher click-through rate.
Despite the relatively new and more expensive advertising offerings coming from Twitter, marketers are actually seeing better click-through-rates in 140 characters than on Facebook.
Key findings from the report include:
• Advertisers invested 127 percent more in Facebook than Twitter in 2013.
• Many industry sectors substantially increased their Twitter investment over the course of 2013.
• Impressions and, to a lesser extent, clicks cost significantly more on Twitter.
• Facebook has extensive reach and Twitter consistently delivers a higher click-through rate (CTR).
The report follows similar findings from reseach firm Forrester last year, which claimed that Facebook creates less business value than any other digital marketing resource.
While Facebook ads didn’t perform as well as Twitter ads, the new report from Resolution Media attributed the social network’s higher spend levels to a few factors.
Impressions and clicks cost less on Facebook than Twitter, which encourages marketers and advertisers to spend more, it said.
Also, advertisers were quick to increase investments in successful Facebook ad campaigns and embrace new alpha and beta advertising opportunities, which outpaced Twitter’s new offerings in 2013.
“Facebook’s relative maturity as a direct response channel, combined with these new ad offerings, explains much of the strategic thinking that drove advertisers to spend more with Facebook,” according to the report. “Add to that the sheer reach and supply of advertising inventory offered by Facebook, and it’s easy to understand what led advertisers to spend more than twice their Twitter budgets with Facebook.” Facebook has more than 1.2 billion monthly active users, versus Twitter’s 241 million.
According to reports, Twitter is preparing to launch 15 new types of ads, including app-install ads that let users click a button and download the app that paid for the ad, right from Apple or Google’s app store.
View the full report here (registration required)