Report: Facebook brand engagement up 896%

San Jose, Calif. -- Facebook brand engagement has risen 896% on a year-over-year basis, according to a new study from Adobe Systems Inc., with mobile users accounting for nearly one-quarter of all engagement.

Engagement on Facebook is expected to surge in the fourth quarter, Adobe's Digital Index for third quarter 2012 points out, as brands continue to invest in social marketing and take advantage of the latest Facebook platform changes (e.g., Timeline) to target consumers.

“Mobile and social continue to play key roles in digital marketing growth,” said David Karnstedt, SVP, media and advertising solutions, digital marketing business, Adobe. “Smart marketers are activating this data; taking advantage of opportunities such as advertising on smartphones and tablets as well as capitalizing on Facebook's platform changes to reach customers in a more personalized way. By strategically adding these elements, marketers exponentially increase their overall ROI and can then accurately attribute value to each channel.”

Based on its findings:

• Search spend in the United States and Europe is expected to continue rising, especially in the retail segment given robust channel growth, high ROI and the upcoming holiday season. Growth rates of 15% to 20% in both the United States and Europe are projected in the fourth quarter.

• Mobile traffic is anticipated to maintain steady growth with one-in-five paid search clicks originating from a tablet or smartphone. Marketers will presumably place increased emphasis on driving mobile traffic to their site by tailoring campaigns for specific mobile operating systems (iOS and Android).

Adobe's Digital Index report is a quarterly report that analyzes user and advertiser behavior over the year. Adobe uses data collected from its Adobe AdLens and Adobe Social solutions. The company reports that its data comes from 260 billion impressions for 338 companies.