EQUTE — Advertisers are finding out that local ads are well worth the price.

New numbers from comScore show that despite the higher cost, advertisers are figuring out the fact that their money is being spent efficiently.

“Locally targeted ads are an increasingly important component of the digital ad landscape because they represent a more efficient allocation of ad dollars,” said comScore vice president Brian Jurutka. “comScore’s new capability allows us to identify and quantify these opportunities to deliver additional value to both advertisers and publishers alike.”

That efficiency does come at a price.

“Our research indicates that advertisers understand the value of locally targeted ads and are willing to pay a premium for them — anywhere from 20 to 100 percent — depending on the geography and vertical,” said Matt Booth, senior vice president and program director, Interactive Local Media, BIA/Kelsey.

comScore found that advertisers in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco put about 10 percent of their ad dollars into local ads.

The study found that between 9 and 11 percent of display ads in the four markets among all publisher sites were locally targeted. San Francisco (11 percent) and Washington D.C. (11 percent) had a relatively higher share of ads being locally targeted, while Atlanta (10 percent) and Chicago (9 percent) were slightly lower. Not surprisingly, in the regional/local site category — which includes sites like Yahoo! Local, Citysearch and Yelp — the share of display ads that were locally targeted was substantially higher at between 23-33 percent among the four markets.

These numbers give evidence to a growing personalization of the Internet. It’s no secret that consumers respond to personal messages, but new leaps in local advertising have made it much easier to craft those messages. Local and regional targeting takes longer, costs more and turns away from a national audience, but it simply works better. As Internet users get more and more used to online advertising, they are going to look for something that makes them feel less like one of a billion people online and look for ads and services that touch them closer to home.

Consumer still can’t see their advertiser, but it is easier to trust someone nearby — even if they aren’t.

EQUTE — In its continuing efforts to become an advertising powerhouse, Facebook announced a partnership with Nielson to further examine how social media marketing works.

“Nielsen is the leader in measurement and is an excellent partner for us as we look to provide marketers with richer ad effectiveness data,” said Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. “The combination of our unique ability to quickly and effectively poll a sample of our more than 300 million users and Nielsen’s expertise in data analysis will give marketers access to powerful data they can use to understand and improve current and future campaigns.”

Powerful data indeed, tapping into a 300 million internet-savvy users in a real time environment could give radically new insight into what people want and are willing to do.

The partnership is manifested as Nielson Brandlift, a straightforward poll on users’ Facebook homepage in place of advertisements. Nielson hopes that the tool will be a better measure of internet users than typical means of research.

“Facebook is an increasingly vital link between consumers and brands,” said John Burbank, CEO of Nielsen’s online division. “We will now be able to add deep knowledge of this important social network to our unmatched media measurement and consumer insight across all three screens. Together we will be able to provide the missing elements to clients seeking better understanding of how Web content and online advertising affect consumer behavior.”

Whether or not the majority of Facebook users will participate in the surveys remains to be seen. But as BrandLift rolls out in the next few months, advertisers should keep a close eye on Nielson for new announcements and data.

EQUTE — Despite the fact that they are much more active than men, a new survey shows that women are not too keen on social media advertising on sites such as Facebook.

The folks at WebProNews had a good write up of the study that showed some pretty interesting numbers.

Some findings from the study:
- 75% of women are “more active” in social networking than last year

- More than half (54%) visit social networking sites at least once per day

- 75% share that social networking sites “not really” or “not at all” influence what they buy

- 52% of women surveyed have “befriended” or “become a fan of” at least one brand

- 83% feel “neutral” or “negative” when they see a brand on a social networking site

- 10% of women engage in product / brand-related activities (”get product information, including coupons and savings” and “writing reviews about products”) most on social networking sites - above common activities like “send private messages to friends” and “share photos”

The fact that over half of women surveyed befriended a brand does say a lot about what women are prepared to do. The study suggests that women who are active in social media don’t want to be talked at by the run-of-the-mill Facebook ads, they want to talk with the brand like they would any other friend. Keeping up to snuff on their Facebook page could be a great — and cheap — way for a company to break through to women.

While the study only included 1,000 women, it gives the basic idea about how women use social media and how brands should interact with them.