We recently attended brightonSEO’s Fringe events. Marketing project manager Rebecca has highlighted some of the speakers she has taken the most from below from the Paid Social Show - A spin off event from brightonSEO, focused on how to promote your business through advertising on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media platforms.
Privacy-proofing your paid social for a post-ios, post-cookies world.
Amy Stamper, Head of Paid Social, Impression
As the world becomes increasingly concerned with data privacy, marketers must find new ways to reach customers without crossing any lines. Amy from Impression spoke about how transparency, choice, and control are the three pillars of data that must be upheld for users to feel comfortable with how their data is being used online. This is especially important in light of recent events, including including high-profile data leaks involving multi-national companies and governments, which have made users warier about how their data is being handled. Governments are also beginning to recognize the importance of data privacy and are implementing new legislation.
iOS14 gives users more control
One development that has given users more control over their data is iOS14, which allows users to decide whether or not they want websites to track their data. Conversion events are restricted if users opt out of tracking. As a result, marketers must find new ways to reach customers without relying on third-party cookies. First-party data, gathered through social channels and owned by the advertiser, remains the safest choice.
With increasing privacy options, marketers must find new ways to reach customers.
Building a Brand
Another important tactic for marketers is brand building. While short-term KPIs are important, having a long-term strategy that focuses on brand building has been proven to improve long-term sales growth. Clear goals, objectives, and KPIs are necessary to achieve success in both the short and long term.
"While short-term KPIs are important, having a long-term strategy that focuses on brand building has been proven to improve long-term sales growth."
Measuring the effectiveness of paid social campaigns can be challenging, but there are a few tactics that can help. Share of search (measuring brand visibility in organic search compared to other companies in its industry) is a measurable stat for paid advertising that can give marketers an idea of how their brand performs compared to their competitors. Lift studies are a tactic that can help quantify the impact. To conduct a lift study, a control group that isn't exposed to the campaigns is compared to a group that is, allowing for an AB test of the results.
A brand lift study is a type of marketing research that measures the impact of an advertising campaign on brand awareness, perception, and consideration. The goal of a brand lift study is to determine whether a specific advertising campaign has been successful in improving customers' perceptions of a brand and whether it has led to increased interest and engagement with the brand.
Diversifying your paid social platforms
Cathia Cumming, Paid Social Officer, Battersea Cats & Dogs Home
It's important for brands to diversify their platforms to avoid overreliance on a single platform. This is a tactic that Cat from Battersea Cats & Dogs Home emphasized as a way to ensure that if a platform goes down, there won't be a gap in performance. By using multiple platforms, touchpoints can be seen by people who aren't using some platforms, broadening the reach of the brand and increasing the likelihood of engagement.
Try new things
Testing new platforms is also a key tactic that can yield interesting results. By experimenting with different platforms, brands can see where their audience sits and potentially reach new audiences they hadn't considered before. This testing can also include display ads on other relevant websites, such as Zoopla, which has been positive for Battersea since laws changed on pets in rental properties. This shows that awareness of current events and trends can be a valuable asset when diversifying platforms.
One platform that Cat mentioned specifically was WeAre8, a hate-free community of mostly 18-44-year-olds who don't interact with most other social platforms. This potentially unreachable audience can be reached through WeAre8, providing a unique opportunity for brands to connect with a group that may be harder to reach elsewhere.
To keep up with the ever-changing landscape of social media advertising, it's important to allocate a percentage of the budget towards testing and experimentation. By continuously keeping updated with trends, platforms, and placements, brands can stay ahead of the curve and reach their audience in the most effective ways possible.
Set yourself up for Q4 success
Abi Carey, Senior Paid Media Account Manager , Overdrive Marketing
As the end of the year approaches, it's important for businesses to set themselves up for success in the coming months. Abi from Overdrive Marketing shared key tips for getting the most out of paid social advertising. One major issue that has been rising recently is meta account hacking. To avoid falling victim to this, it's important to regularly check all account admins and business managers, use 2FA, only allow trusted emails, have more than one administrator, and remove access when people leave. While Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) does not take responsibility for this, businesses can take steps to protect themselves.
When it comes to testing, Abi cautions against testing for testing's sake. Instead, it's important to consider creative decisions and how they fit into the overall brand vision. Ad concepts should be carefully considered, and timeframes for retargeting audiences should be considered. Dynamic Creative Tests can be a quicker alternative to traditional A/B testing, as all creative elements can be tested at once. However, it's important to remember that the lifespan of audiences is much shorter, and people are easily distracted, so it's important to switch things off when they're not working and be brutal about cutting underperforming campaigns.
Another important aspect of paid social advertising is testing value propositions. Businesses should give their audience something worthwhile and avoid making them do things unless it's useful. It's also important to consider the next steps once somebody has interacted with the ad. What do you want them to do next? By thinking through the customer journey, businesses can create more effective campaigns that lead to conversions.
Boosting YouTube performance with ads
YouTube is one of the most used platforms globally, with the US being the second largest content consumer. To boost YouTube performance with ads, there are a few tactics that can be employed. Firstly, pick a niche and target a specific topic area rather than confusing the audience with a variety of topics. Similarly to SEO, consider the profile, such as titles, headings, links, and descriptions, to ensure they are optimized for search engines. Use keywords in the same way as Google to optimize content and consider what your competitors are doing.
Evergreen vs. Trending Content
When creating content for YouTube, consider splitting it between evergreen and trending content. “How to” videos are great for evergreen content, whereas product reviews would be categorized as trending. Engaging with the audience during the video can lead to more comments and interactions, increasing the video's reach. Furthermore, promoting the video on organic social channels can increase visibility and reach.
When it comes to paid placements on YouTube, consider which placements make the most sense based on data. It is crucial to test different channels to see which are most relevant for the content being produced. Regularly reviewing analytics to see how videos are performing can improve performance by taking the information into consideration as content continues to be created.
Advertising in the metaverse
Azahara Corrales, Senior Paid Media Manager, Education Cubed
The metaverse is a rapidly growing digital space where people can interact with one another in a virtual universe through the use of avatars and spend virtual currency to purchase virtual goods. Azahara took us through the past 20 years to look at how companies such as McDonald's and the NFL have all explored advertising in similar ways - prior to the metaverse. The brands have created content within virtual worlds such as The SIMS, Minecraft, and Fortnite by having virtual restaurants or branded skins for avatars. These brands have paved the way for other companies to follow suit and create their own advertising strategies within these virtual worlds.
McNugget skin from Minecraft
However, it is important for companies to ensure that their advertising does not interrupt the user experience. For example, branded filters on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram provide an organic way to boost brand awareness without interrupting the user's experience. These filters can be augmented reality-based, which allows for a more immersive experience for the user and an opportunity for the brand to create engaging and interactive content.
In addition to branded content and filters, the metaverse also offers the opportunity for companies to gather data on users that can provide valuable insights into their behaviors and preferences. This data can include physiological information, such as heart rate, as well as behavioral data, such as where users spend their time within the virtual world. By analyzing this data, companies can gain a better understanding of their target audience and use this information to optimize their advertising strategies.
As the metaverse continues to grow and evolve, it presents a unique opportunity for companies to reach and engage with their target audience innovatively. However, it is important for brands to approach advertising in the metaverse in a way that is authentic, non-intrusive, and valuable to the user in order to succeed in this new digital space.
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