When most industry analysts profile digital marketing and online advertising in North America, the focus is typically on the U.S. market. That said, Canada has a relatively high internet access penetration and growing social network usage rates.
According to a recent eMarketer report, Canadian social network users view social media as their online home -- a hub for communication, entertainment and information.
"Canadians readily adopt social network activities, often at rates higher than users in the U.S., but gaining the trust of users on a social network is a brand manager's biggest obstacle," said Mike Froggatt, eMarketer research analyst.
In 2010, eMarketer estimates that about 15.1 million internet users in Canada will have visited social networking sites at least monthly -- up from 13.6 million in 2009.
Penetration will rise from 59 percent of the internet audience this year to 68 percent by 2014 -- when 18.4 million people in Canada will be socializing online at least once a month.
Facebook is the top social networking site in the country, Windows Live is second, with Twitter coming in third and LinkedIn is forth -- ranked by unique monthly visitors, according to comScore.
"As internet users increase the time they spend on social networks, social media accounts for an increasing share of advertising impressions," said Froggatt. "Prices remain low because of abundant inventory, but increasing budgets and competition for inventory will drive prices up. As a result, now is the time for brand managers to test new social media campaigns on users."