Last week, Jack Myers Media Business Report issued its annual report on the growth of the advertising and media industries 2010-2020, projecting social marketing commerce will top $50 billion by 2020. That’s significant growth considering that, in 2010, social marketing business was only $1.2 billion consisting mostly of online blog sites, conversational marketing campaigns and word-of-mouth advertising.

Jack Myers and Media Advisory Group conducted the report, which projects that the majority of the $50 billion in social marketing commerce will (at the bare minimum) replace traditional print coupons and retail trade promotions.

Once again, Facebook is the elephant in the room.

The social networking site is the primary beneficiary of this growth as 75 percent of retailers report that they plan to use Facebook to drive social commerce — if they do not already conduct business via the social networking site. A more compelling statistic may be that 50 percent of retailers plan to use a Facebook page to replace their tradition website. No longer will you find search for these businesses at traditional URL addresses – got to Facebook instead. We of course have to ask, what does this mean? Is Facebook the new Google? Will Facebook search replace surfing the Internet? Only time will tell.

This report is an interesting read for our affiliate marketers. Traditional approaches to selling are increasingly less effective and one day (in the not so near future) may become completely useless. Newspaper coupons no longer sufficiently reach targeted customers. With newspaper circulations on the decline and consumers relying more on mobile devices and applications, marketers must shift their offerings online and to mobile platforms. Social commerce is a growing industry and its new business model is continuing to develop. It’s important for marketers to recognize this growth and adapt their offerings and business models early.

Plimus has helped countless affiliates tackle this growing social commerce market and can help you too! For more information on our affiliate program, please click here.

I first caught this report in a great read from Jack Myers in the Huffington Post, “Social Commerce: $50 Billion in 2020.” I’m going to be sharing it with our affiliates and sellers, feel free to pass along to our friends and colleagues.