Facebook usage is massive because users spend large lengths of time on the site. If Facebook was a country, and its users were citizens, then it would be the second largest country behind China.

But, Facebook has become far more than just social networking, expanding from company pages and fan pages to social gaming; the variety of ways that users interact with Facebook keeps growing.

Smart Money

Real Time Bidding

Facebook’s influence grew again when it launched the Facebook Exchange (FBX) in September 2012. The Facebook Exchange enables programmatic buying of Facebook inventory through real time bidding. In a nutshell, marketers can buy audiences with the Facebook environment by using their first- and third-party data.

Facebook Product Marketing Manager Scott Shapiro estimated that one in every four impressions was a Facebook impression. Suddenly, with this massive amount of high-quality inventory available, advertisers have a highly-trusted environment to reach hyper-targeted audiences and in real time.

While the strategy of applying intent data to advertising campaigns is nothing new, doing it within one of the largest inventory channels allows marketers to hyper-extend what they are already doing in display.

Facebook Graph Search

The next largest announcement from Facebook was its Graph Search. For online marketers, Facebook’s Graph Search puts a different spin on social data. If you think about it, it almost becomes an overnight search engine for consumer reviews and recommendations, except from people you know or are connected with through the social network.

Facebook’s new search engine opens up an opportunity for both search and display advertisers to combine search intent with social data, and then serve ads within its own environment. With more than 900 million Facebook users, I suspect that the adoption of Facebook’s search engine will grow incrementally over time.

However, Google will remain the king of search intent while Facebook will put more value in social data and how its used by marketers for both search and display campaigns.

Facebook Exchange

Although there is action in the search world from Facebook, I think its entry into the world of programmatic buying will be the defining event of 2013.

Already we are hearing reports of increased CTRs, better performance, and cost effectiveness for quality inventory. Savvy marketers should be focusing on getting comfortable with what the Facebook Exchange has to offer from a targeting perspective.

With the amount of time spent on Facebook by today’s users, frequency and reach also play a huge role in the potential of the Facebook Exchange.

comScore has reported that 15% of all time online is spent on Facebook. This gives advertisers a real opportunity to reach audiences during multiple stages of the consumer funnel and, more importantly, for both branding and direct response campaigns.

Full funnel retargeting fits nicely into the Facebook Exchange. On one hand, marketers can utilize site retargeting, reaching customers that previously visited their site, and on the other hand, advertisers can apply search data to targeting to grow their audience pool and reach new customers.

The Facebook Opportunity

According to Triggit, 60% of consumers that leave an advertiser’s site are exposed to a retargeted ad on Facebook in the first hour. There is simply so much activity and time spent on the social networking site that it’s almost impossible not to reach a customer within a relevant time period. As Graph Search takes off, there will be even more search data to marry with display campaigns.

Whether you are a marketer promoting a product, special promotion or brand message to create awareness, Facebook’s environment is an opportunity for all types of advertisers. The fact that Facebook has entered into the real time bidding market is a huge testament to the expected growth over the next decade.

As for search, we’ll see how its Graph Search plays into ad targeting, as we are at the dawn of a new era in programmatic buying and search.

Now, display is growing at a healthy rate. I recently attended the AppNexus Summit in New York City where Joanna O’Connell, Principal Analyst at Forrester, shared insights predicting programmatic buying revenues will continue to increase through 2017. Not bad!

The average CPMs have also been increasing – a recent MediaPost article cited Forrester predictions of CPMs rising from an average of $3.17 to $6.64 by 2017.

Lets dig a little. Why have CPMs risen? Why is display suddenly back in the spotlight? As I look around at our industry, I see a number of reasons for this re-emergence. The rise of exchanges has enabled a more “robust” market. New targeting options, which are sensitive to concerns about consumer privacy, have brought a wealth of data to the exchange ecosystem. These targeting options provide the savvy advertiser new and unique ways of reaching their target audience.

In my opinion, this is the most important reason for the resurgence of display: the increasing realization by many marketers that display is not search and shouldn’t be measured by the same “click” based yardstick.

The Difference Between Search & Display Metrics

Search marketing is a complex topic, and has developed into a rigorous discipline. Keyword search marketing is very similar to the ads in the Yellow Pages. In the ‘70s, if you wanted to find a business, everyone went to the Yellow Pages. The larger the ad in the Yellow Pages, the more calls that were generated. You could readily measure how a larger ad performed for you by monitoring call volume. If you got the sale, great, and if you didn’t, then you either put the ad in the wrong place or the interaction with the consumer was wrong.

Unfortunately, the easy metrics in search advertising have convinced many marketers that they should apply the same measures to display based advertising. Those marketers are now realizing that display is about reach, awareness and moving the customer into the purchase funnel as well as helping them through it.

Imagine a billboard you see on your commute to work everyday – no marketer would dream of measuring the response the same way that the response is measured for ads in the Yellow Pages. The mediums are different and the ways they are measured should vary.

Traditional media is all about audience; everyday we are realizing display is, in many ways, similar to traditional media. Consider search retargeting for example. While it is a display targeting strategy built of innovative technology, it is also very audience-focused.

If you look at my search history over the last seven days, I might fall into the category of an international traveler, tech savvy consumer and even an in-market car shopper. I might be the perfect candidate for a new car ad, international hotel deals and the latest Apple gadget.

However, aiming to get a consumer to stop what they are doing and take another action because of an ad isn’t realistic in all cases – just the way an advertiser does not expect a television viewer to stop watching their favorite show and immediately take action. Display, especially ad targeting, should be held to its own set of metrics.

When we think about what the re-emergence of displays really means, we should consider what it has become. While it is not the direct response world of search or large-scale awareness of a billboard or 30-second TV spot, it is quickly proving to be the best of both worlds. Simply put, display bridges the gap between awareness and audience targeting and is the channel that has forever changed the advertising industry.

However, there are a number of reasons why I see this reason as misleading… read on:

Display Is About Audiences & Reach

The growth of ad targeting has actually led to display becoming more audience-driven than ever before. Behavioral advertising and search retargeting both focus on mid to upper funnel activities where brands use display ads to move the customer into the purchase funnel, as well as help them through it.

In search, advertisers have better precision but limited reach. Another key difference is that bidding is based on keywords vs. audiences that are derived from search activity and online behaviors, psychographics, etc.

Real-Time Media Does Not Equate To Direct Response

The concept of delivering the right ad, to the right person at the right time exists in both search and display. However, it is the response of the real-time ad that differs.

Search represents a clearly defined direct response channel. A user searches, immediately receives an ad related to their search query and is expected to take action.

In display, and more specifically in data-driven display advertising, a user is targeted with a display ad based on audience information. They may not take action by visiting a website or inquiring for more information right away; but, days later, or even weeks later, they might do so.

Within that time, other display ads are shown. This type of real-time media is about sequencing, frequency caps and influencing the consumers during the consideration phase.

In display, reaching consumers at the optimal time is relies heavily on the combination of creative, media and even data optimization.

Display & Search Are Held To Different Metrics

Simply put, display is not search and shouldn’t be measured by the same click-based yardstick. Search marketing is a complex topic, and has developed into a rigorous discipline. Keyword search marketing is very similar to the yellow pages ads. In the ’70s, if you wanted to find a business, everyone searched in the Yellow Pages.

Display does not rely on metrics as simple and straightforward as a click. Display may actually be the most measurable channel today when you consider the various touch points available to marketers. First, there is reach. After all, display campaign are generally bought on impressions and focused on maximizing exposure (targeted or not).

Next, there is engagement. The creative opportunities in display lend itself to additional metrics. On the other hand, some display campaigns may look at site visits – what ads are contributing to site conversion and even conversions and ROI.

The point is, metrics for display differ from advertiser to advertiser and by campaign to campaign. It’s about aligning campaign goals with the actual metrics used.

Even if a retailer is looking to sell products, one display ad is most likely not going to be 100% responsible for the sale.

Buying Keywords In Search Differs From Keyword-Level Display Advertising

Search retargeting is not search. The concept of search retargeting is a display strategy. The usage of keywords even differs.

In display, you are buying inventory based on audiences that have been targeted based on search history. In search, you are bidding on keywords.

Let me explain the fundamental differences here. First, in search advertising you are using a keyword list and bidding on selected words. In display, you are paying by CPM and expanding your reach by targeting audiences that may have not only searched for that one word, but also other related words or categories.

Second, in display you are able to reach consumers much earlier in the funnel because you are utilizing search terms from across multiple types of search entities – not just search engines. Most often, search retargeting is used as a pure display strategy, but there are times when search teams leverage it for search extension.

Display might have more search-like characteristics than ever before, but display is a different breed entirely. Audience reach, awareness and different metrics are all proof points that these channels equate to different strategies.

Let’s put the idea of display looking like search to bed in 2012, and instead, open up to how various channels can work hand-in-hand in 2013.

Even before television spots were the norm, the DNC pioneered the use of the newfangled moving picture to produce Woodrow Wilson’s famous 1912 campaign film “The Oldway and the New.” A recent article in The New York Times even explained that in ancient Rome, negative campaigning was a well-established practice through the use of signs and graffiti.

Today’s explosion of online advertising technology is no different. Search and display media have offered the savvy campaigner new ways to place messages in front of voters.

Display advertising now allows candidates to reach millions of viewers for mere pennies, and all with the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel.

Through display advertising, candidates are able to target voters based on a wide variety of factors, including voting record and party affiliation, among others.

Facebook even provides elaborate targeting options, while search advertising allows candidates to target voters based on location, keywords and other factors.

Search advertising has also shown a healthy ROI for fundraising; a prime example is Ted Cruz’s campaign in Texas, which easily achieved a 10-to-1 return in fundraising dollars.

The use of social media to engage potential supporters has revolutionized modern campaigning and is typically credited with being a key factor in helping President Obama win the 2008 presidential election.

Today, I suspect that some politicians have also tapped into search retargeting to influence voters, taking advantage of the ability to reach consumers with high impact creative messages, alongside tailored advertisements based on search history.

A politician seeking a digital media edge should also turn to his/her party for strategies. Partisan initiatives such as the “National Voter File Co-op”, SmartVAN and Precision Network offer the Democratic candidate the same sophisticated targeting and real-time bidding tools used by the savviest digital marketers. They can precisely target voters who have identified themselves as Democrats via the National Voter File Co-op. The GOP also has a variety of technological choices.

For example, Targeted Victory has a number of partnerships that assure that the GOP candidate has access to a similar set of tools. In addition, there are dozens of non-partisan organizations that can help in a variety of different ways. Take a look at the resources section of Campaigns and Elections magazine for a quick rundown.

So, whether you’re running for office for the local school board or aspiring to run for a higher office, keep the following tips in mind:

Use search and display together

Targeted advertising can be your secret weapon if you use it the right way. If you combine the precision of search with the scale of display, you will create a properly crafted campaign that can reach people more effectively for a lower cost.

Have a solid social media strategy in place

Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Google+ are all important social platforms because you will be able to engage with both voters and influencers. Social media has the ability to reach target audiences in a way that other channels sometimes can’t.

Engage with experts in the online marketing field

From social media consultants to interactive agencies, there is a wealth of knowledge out there, so seek out and use their advice. Campaigns of all sizes should explore the innovative ideas and various  approaches to media previously mentioned, and can best do so with assistance from experts.

The real advantage that the online world has over traditional media is the ability to measure response and target effectively. Search, display and social mediums all enable this for marketers. Dig into what tactics are working and which are not to constantly evolve your digital campaign strategy and maximize your return.

Good luck, and see you at the voting booth!