journal N2 2025 

Expanded Summary

This research explores how digital advertising platforms are used by Georgian businesses and whether these practices match international marketing trends. The main purpose was to find out how digital innovations have influenced marketing strategies in Georgia over the past five years. We used a mixed-methods approach, including quantitative surveys and interviews with professionals who run digital campaigns for different companies.

The study involved specialists from small, medium, and large companies operating in Georgia. Most of them are digital marketers or advertising managers who directly control or influence their company’s marketing activities. We collected data through both closed-question surveys and in-depth interviews, focusing on their use of platforms, advertising goals, and challenges.

One interesting result is that the average age of digital marketing professionals in Georgia is 27.9 years, and most of them do not stay long in one company — only about 1.9 years on average. This shows that the digital marketing profession in Georgia is still developing. Compared to the U.S. and other countries, Georgian specialists are younger and have higher job turnover. For example, data from Marketing Week (2024) and AdAge (2017) show that the average age of marketers abroad is closer to 39, and their job stability is stronger.

Another important finding is the preference of advertising platforms. In Georgia, Facebook and Instagram are the most used platforms for paid advertising, while Google Ads is used by fewer businesses. Platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, and TikTok are not popular yet. Some companies say they avoid using Google Ads because it does not fully support the Georgian language. TikTok Ads became available in Georgia only in early 2025, so its marketing tools are still new and unfamiliar to many.

Globally, marketers prefer Facebook and Instagram too, but other platforms like YouTube and LinkedIn have a bigger role outside Georgia. According to Social Media Examiner (2022), over 90% of global marketers use Facebook Ads, 78% use Instagram Ads, and around one-third use LinkedIn or YouTube Ads.

We also studied the main goals of digital advertising campaigns. Worldwide, the most common objective is lead generation (45%), followed by product purchases (40%) and brand awareness (38%). But in Georgia, brand awareness comes first. This might be because local companies still try to position their brand in the market and don’t always have the tools for advanced customer targeting or conversion tracking.

In terms of budgets, the results are quite positive. Our study found that digital advertising budgets in Georgia increased by 4.3 times over the last five years. This is faster than the global average, which grew about 1.6 times during the same period (Statista, 2023).

We also asked about affiliate marketing, which is very popular in many countries. Only 2 respondents in Georgia said they had ever used affiliate models. This shows that the Georgian market still lacks knowledge and infrastructure for affiliate campaigns. If developed, this model could help small businesses grow with lower marketing costs.

Finally, the research revealed some of the biggest challenges that marketers in Georgia face: high competition, difficulties in reaching the right audience, and lack of technical support in Georgian on international platforms. These problems are similar to global challenges, but some of them are more intense due to the smaller market size.

Keywords: digital marketing, advertising platforms, Georgia, social media, lead generation, affiliate marketing