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May 9, 2022

Days 2 and 3 of the 2022 IAB NewFronts featured announcements from TikTok, Meta, Snapchat, and Twitter.

Here are the top takeaways and tips from these social video companies – ranked by importance instead of listed chronologically.

TikTok Introduces TikTok Pulse

Last Wednesday, TikTok introduced TikTok Pulse, a new contextual advertising option that enables advertisers to place their brand next to the top content in the For You Feed.

Alongside that announcement came the news that the social video platform will begin exploring its first advertising revenue-sharing program with creators, publishers, and even public figures.

Since Sandie Hawkins, TikTok’s General Manager of North America Global Business Solutions, and Sofia Hernandez, Global Head of Business Marketing, were speaking to media buyers, they provided more details about how marketers will benefit from TikTok Pulse.

This includes:

• Boost brand exposure by appearing next to the most engaging content: TikTok Pulse will put brands where they really want and need to be – among the top 4% of all the videos on TikTok.
• Drive engagement and action with diverse communities: TikTok will offer 12 categories of Pulse where brands can place their ads next to the most “culturally relevant” content. These categories include beauty, fashion, cooking, and gaming, as well as many other verticals that the TikTok community loves and brands want to engage with.
• Feel “brand safe” with suitability measurements: TikTok says their proprietary inventory filter ensures that TikTok Pulse ads are running adjacent to verified content with their “highest level of brand suitability.” If you buy that, then I have a bridge to Brooklyn for sale. But, third-party tools will be available to provide advertisers with the ability to analyze and understand brand suitability, verify viewability, and measure the impact of campaigns.

What about the advertising rev share program for creators?

Well, TikTok said in a press release,

“Creators and publishers with at least 100k followers will be eligible in the initial stage of this program.

So, other creators will need to grow their audiences to “feel valued and rewarded on TikTok.”

Storytelling Goes Here: Building Your Brand On Meta

Meta had promised to unveil “its multiplatform video ecosystem that’s designed to help all kinds of brands tell their stories” on Tuesday evening, but the 70–80 people at the NewFronts event held at 281 Park Avenue only remember hearing that over 45% of Instagram accounts like, comment on, or share Reels at least once a week.

Big Blue had also indicated that Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, would be there, but Nada Stirratt, Meta’s Vice President of The Americas, seemed to be the top executive in the room.

Hey, plans change.

At least actress Keke Palmer, author Samah Dada, Grammy award winner Spencer Ludwig, and actress Daphnique Springs were there in case anyone wanted to ask them how they used Meta platforms.

And Bianca Bradford, Meta’s Head of NA Agency, told everyone at the smallish event that almost 60% of TV viewers turn to their phones during their commercial breaks.

In addition, Wendy’s CMO Carl Loredo talked about the brand’s first virtual restaurant Wendyverse, which can be found in Meta’s Horizon Worlds.

Hey, his campaign, which included in-stream ads, Reels, Instagram Stories, and AR ads, drove people to Wendyverse and saw a 9.1 lift in ad recall.

People recalled your ads.

That’s great – if you sell ads.

But, the last time I checked, Wendy’s sells old-fashioned hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, and salads.

And, you shouldn’t assume that just because people recall your ad, they’re more likely to recall your brand, buy your product, or recommend it to another individual.

So, next time you use a Facebook Brand Lift test, ask questions like:

• “When it comes to fast food, what brands come to mind?”
• “When was the last time you purchased from Wendy’s?
• “How likely is it that you would recommend Wendy’s to a friend or colleague?”

Snapchat: There’s More To The Story

On Tuesday afternoon, Snap announced a partnership with Cameo to help brands connect with influencers to make ads.

In addition, the social media company announced several new and returning Snap Originals.

They also revealed that more than 80% of the US Gen Z Population had watched one of over 150 Snap Originals last year.

The featured Snap Originals include:

• Reclaim(ed) – Snap’s first Canadian Snap Original explores today’s Indigenous culture with hosts Marika Sila and Kairyn Potts, who reframe and reclaim cultural traditions and social issues from a Gen Z point of view.
• Daring Simone Biles – This show stars the winner of 32 Olympic and World Championship medals, who takes all-new risks trying things she’s never done before, from beekeeping to being a DJ.
• Charli Vs. Dixie – After Season 1 of this made-for-mobile show garnered over 20 million viewers, the D’Amelio sisters will go head-to-head again to win money for charity in Season 2.
• Run For Office – This documentary series follows eight Gen Z and millennial political candidates – from across America, across the aisle, and across the spectrum of local offices – as they seek elected office in the 2022 Primary and General Elections.

Snap also announced multi-year content deals with the NFL, WNBA, and NBA.

They also disclosed that 205 million people watched sports content on Snapchat in 2021, and among people aged 18–34, Snap provides almost 40% incremental reach to sports events on TV, sports websites, and apps.

In fact, if you closed your eyes, Snap sounded more like a traditional media company than “a fast and fun way to share the moment with your friends and family.”

Twitter: “Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain”

Twitter had encouraged media buyers to attend their IAB NewFronts presentation on Wednesday evening to “learn what’s happening and what’s next for premium content on the timeline.”

As I’ve already mentioned, plans change.

And Twitter did announce video and audio programming deals with Condé Nast, ESSENCE, E! News, REVOLT, NBCUniversal, and the WNBA.

The microblogging and social networking service also announced Twitter Amplify, which promises to give brands a chance to put their ads right next to video content from Twitter’s content partners.

This is, of course, if Elon Musk doesn’t change those plans.

Oh, it’s also worth noting that Twitter’s NewFronts presentation lasted about 20 minutes, less than the 30 minutes the schedule had indicated it would last.

Hey, everything has to come to an end sometime.

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Featured Image: Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock

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April 11, 2022

As the world’s largest social network, Facebook can be a great way for marketers to reach their target audiences through ads.

With approximately 2.70 billion monthly active users, this is a digital channel worth targeting.

But how can you be sure you’re making the most of your precious budget if you’re new to Facebook advertising?

Here are some Facebook ads tips to get you started and help give you an edge on this popular platform.

3 Quick-Fire Answers To Common Facebook Ads Questions

First, let’s address a few of the greatest concerns and questions people have around Facebook advertising.

How Much Does Facebook Advertising Cost?

When it comes to the cost of a Facebook ad, it really depends.

Recent research by AdEspresso reveals that the primary factors that impact the cost of Facebook ads are:

• Timing: Time and day the Facebook ad shows.
• Bidding strategy: Lowest cost or a specific bid cap.
• Ad placement: Higher-competition placements cost more.
• Ad relevance: Low scores engagement ranking, quality ranking, or conversion ranking can increase the costs of the Facebook ad.
• Target audience: Higher competition audiences cost more with Facebook ad campaigns.

AdEspresso also calculated the average cost per click:

• Impressions: $0.98.
• Reach: $1.03.
• Lead generation: $0.67.
• Conversions: $0.25.
• Link clicks: $0.16.

How Does Facebook Advertising Work?

Facebook advertising is sorted by campaigns.

A new Facebook campaign can have one or several Facebook ads in it.

Facebook ads target users based on their location, demographic, and profile information.

The ad will then appear on the person’s screen as they scroll through their Facebook feed.

Views are recorded as impressions.

Likes and comments on Facebook ads are recorded as engagement.

Clicks – which can take the person to another website, an online store, or a Facebook page or offer, depending on the campaign objective – are recorded as clicks, cost per click, click-through rate, and more.

You can read How Facebook Ads Actually Work to learn more.

Are Facebook Ads Worth It?

Facebook ads are 100% worth it if you’re looking to get more visibility, generate more leads, and convert more customers.

Start By Setting Up Your Facebook Ads Manager Account

To start advertising on Facebook, you first need to set up your Facebook Ads Manager account.

1. Log into Facebook.
2. Select Menu and Ad from the drop-down menu in the top right corner.
3. At the bottom, click on the Got to Ads Manager prompt at the bottom left corner.

Facebook Ads Manager will create an account for you and guide you through setting up your first ad campaign.

You can also create Facebook Ads and your new Facebook ad campaign through your Facebook Business Manager account by clicking the drop-down arrow in the upper-right corner of your Facebook page and selecting Ads Manager.

It’s Time To Create Your First Facebook Ads Campaign

Click on the + Create button in the Campaigns tab, and let’s jump into Facebook advertising!

Step 1: Identify Your Goal

First, decide what you want your Facebook ad campaigns to do. Do you need more website traffic?

Do you want to grow your email database through lead gen?

What do you want Facebook users to do with your Facebook ad?

Facebook Ads provides 11 objectives to support your overarching objective.

Choose one.

• Brand awareness: Make non-customers aware of your brand.
• Reach: Let your advert and message reach a wider scope of your target audience.
• Traffic: Direct clicks and visits to a specific website, mobile app, or Facebook Messenger chat.
• Engagement: Raise the volume of post engagements, Likes, Page follows, or event engagement.
• App installations: Increase downloads for your application.
• Video views: Get more views on your videos.
• Lead gen: Capture more potential customers and leads into your funnel.
• Conversations: Improve engagement with your business through Facebook Messenger.
• Conversions: Get the desired outcome or action (such as subscribe, download, etc.) on your landing page, web app, or Facebook Messenger.
• Product sales: Integrate Facebook ads with your product catalog so that people see ads for items they are more likely to buy.
• Store traffic: Direct more customers to your physical store.

Conversion-based objectives (like sales and installs) on your Facebook advertising campaigns will be charged per action, and exposure-based goals (like website visits and views) will be charged per impression.

Step 2: Set Your Budget And Schedule

Enter the name of your Facebook ad campaign at the top of this screen.

This is just for your records. Set and choose the page to promote.

Set your budget by choosing a daily or lifetime budget, as well as the start and end dates.

You can schedule your ad to go live in the future or choose to publish it right away.

Facebook Ads Tip: Leverage Campaign Budget Optimization

Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO) is a feature provided by Facebook advertising that could be worth utilizing.

CBO allows you to determine your budget at a campaign level rather than the ad set stage.

Doing so will allow Facebook to optimize your budget across different ad sets within the campaign.

Why is this good?

The bulk of your budget will be spent on the target audience or audiences that bring better results.

This should result in more conversions and a lower cost per conversion.

Step 3: Select Your Audience

Scroll down a bit further to build your target audience.

Facebook Ads Tip: Use custom audiences.

Your first choice – and we think the best – is for a custom audience.

This might be alarming for a first-time Facebook Ads user, but here are the tips you need to win at Facebook Ads custom audiences.

Most businesses find their ideal customer by targeting people already familiar with their brand.

These include:

• Old and current customers.
• Website visitors.
• Facebook page followers.

Directing your Facebook ads to these warmer groups of people will get a better result than if you were targeting a cold audience base.

This is done through the creation of custom audiences.

We recommend starting with your customer file and website visitors.

However, if you cannot create a custom audience, use the audience builder provided by Facebook.

Choose your target location (city, country, etc.), age, gender, and language.

Detailed targeting in your Facebook ad campaign allows you to keep or remove an audience based on their demographics, what they are interested in, and their behaviors.

Use this to micro-focus, for example, selecting those interested in car and household insurance, but not life insurance.

You can also include or exclude those who follow your Facebook page or application or have attended or joined an online event for a warmer lead.

Tip: Make Use Of Facebook Lookalike Audiences

Facebook also provides lookalike audiences.

This type of audience replicates an existing audience to help you find people you have already identified as your ideal customer.

This means you can use your existing leads or customers (100 or more), upload this list to Facebook, and Facebook Ads can send your ads to people who are like your ideal customer.

Step 4: Select Where Your Facebook Ads Are Placed

Further down the page, you can identify where your Facebook ads will appear.

Facebook Ads Tip: Utilize Automatic Placements

By selecting this option, Facebook automatically places your advertisements across their platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the Audience Network.

They decide which platforms to deploy the ad on to get optimal results.

Step 5: Set Brand Safety And Bidding Strategy

Next, you can scroll down to the Brand Safety section.

You can choose to avoid sensitive content, and add specific blocklists such as specific websites, videos, and publishers.

Facebook Ads Tip: Choose The Lowest Cost Bid Strategy

Here is a Facebook Ads tip that is not widely known.

Facebook offers two Facebook ad bidding strategies:

• Lowest Cost: Facebook Ads defaults to this, so most Facebook campaigns use this strategy, and this is recommended.
• Target Cost: This could be the better bidding strategy for you if you want to grow an ad campaign or let it continue running for a while.

The potential reach and conversion estimates appear on the right side of the screen. These are just estimates and can be used as a guide.

Step 6: Create Your Facebook Ad

There are a bunch of ad formats to choose from.

Our tip is that you test out different Facebook ads to find out what works best for your audience.

• Newsfeed Ad: These show up in your newsfeed.
• Right Column Ad: Pretty basic ad, with a headline, description, and single image. Works on desktop.
• Lead Ads: Allows quick opt-in to newsletters and quotes directly from their mobile devices. Contact details auto-populate in the form fields.
• Carousel Ads: Also known as multi-product ads, allow you to showcase up to 10 images and links with each ad.
• Dynamic Product Ads (DPA): Remarketing ads that target users who had past actions or inactions on your site are timed to perfection.
• Page Post Links: Ideal for promoting your external website. Describe your offer with a large feature image, post text, and link description.
• Canvas Ads: Mobile-optimized option; these ads are an animated storytelling ad type.
• Event Ads: Ideal for a specific event.
• Offer Ads: Best to increase redemption rates.
• Mobile App Install Ads: Promote your app install on mobile and connect your Apple App Store or Google Play account.
• Desktop App Install Ads: The desktop Facebook app version of Mobile App Install Ads.
• GIF Ads: These are like a standard newsfeed ad, but with the GIF creativity included.

6 Slick Tips On How To Get Creative With Facebook Ads

It starts with a captivating headline.

Your headline impacts the click-through rate (CTR) and the cost-per-click (CPC).

A recent study revealed that 59% of people do not read more than the headline of a Facebook share before commenting and sharing.

Thankfully, Facebook Ads allows us to carry out multiple A/B tests to discover which headline people respond to!

Here’s how to write a great headline.

Keep Your Headline Short

A recent study found that headlines with 60-100 characters get the highest click-through rates.

Your headline needs to be short and catchy.

Use Emotive Words

Use your power words in your headline.

Words like:

• Instant.
• Free.
• Right now.
• Startling.
• Reveal.

Here’s Buffer’s list of 898 power words if you need more.

Use Numbers

You can also use numbers. People prefer to click on an ad with a headline that starts with a number.

Consider including these numbers in your Facebook ads:

• Value of the discount.
• Length of the free trial period.
• Number of customers.

Create A Sense Of Urgency

Scarcity and urgency inspire consumers to take action.

Ensure your ad has some kind of deadline, limitation, or cut-off.

Use Clear Calls-To-Action And Your “Doing Words”

Where is the best place for your call to action or verb?

Right there in your ad’s headline.

Include words like ‘get, download, start.’

Be specific and relevant, e.g., “Start learning today” or “Get your free trial.”

Avoid Stock Images And Use Videos Where You Can

Real photos perform better than stock photos, with nearly 35% of website visitors more likely to sign up when they see the real image.

Facebook video ads increase clicks and lower CPC and are just as easy to create as regular image ads.

To create a Facebook video ad, go to Facebook Ads Manager, create a new campaign, and upload a video.

Now You’re Ready To Track And Optimize Facebook Ads Performance

The Facebook Ads Manager dashboard lets you track your campaigns closely.

This ensures you invest in an ad that’s performing well rather than a campaign that isn’t.

Add the Facebook Pixel to your website landing page to track how your ads perform.

In the beginning, you may want to run a few ads with small audiences and budgets.

From this, you will better understand which is the best performing ad that can become the primary campaign once you have determined what works best.

So, now you have what you need to get started on Facebook Ads.

No matter what level of Facebook ad expertise you demonstrate, you now have the tips and tricks necessary to get your product in front of the customers you are most interested in reaching.

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Featured Image: Fonstra/Shutterstock

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