'Net Features : facebook ads

Facebook Introduces New Ad Targeting Feature

Allison Howen — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:15:00 GMT

The world’s largest social network has launched a new self-serve advertising feature called partner categories, which enables users to better target the audiences that their advertisements reach.

According to the Facebook blog post, partner categories allow advertisers to show ads to people on Facebook based on the products they buy and brands they purchase from across both desktop and mobile devices.

“Partner categories uses data from select third parties including Acxiom, Datalogix, and Epsilon,” the blog post states. “No personal information is shared between Facebook, third parties or advertisers. Partner categories work the same way all targeting on Facebook works. The advertiser only knows the size of the audience and can’t access any information about individuals included in a category.”

It is important to note that partner categories works with other Facebook targeting options, which enables advertisers to further refine their campaigns to target the correct people. Currently, partner categories includes more than 500 unique groups, and Facebook says that the feature is now available to US advertisers in Power Editor and through the API.

Business Gets Personal with Google+

Administrator — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:02:00 GMT

By Allison Rice, Amsterdam Printing

When Google+ first arrived on the social media scene in mid-2011, it didn't make much of a splash. In fact, Google made it a point of not making a big deal about its release. It was, as Google execs put it, simply an extension of Google, hence the "plus." But as users began exploring Google+ functions, they quickly realized that Google+ isn't just a compilation of a few new search features -- it's a serious and well-structured force in the social media world.

Your Own Personal Google

Google+ stands out from other social sites such as Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook for one big reason: Google search. Even before Google+ launched, Google was already personalizing search results based on past searches, language and geographical location. With the arrival of Google+, however, Google results began showing public Google+ posts and photos as well as Web listings based on your Google+ social connections and, perhaps most significantly, limited Google+ posts and photos that have been shared with you in the past.

For example, if you're searching the word "turtle" and a friend of yours shared a picture with you of their pet box turtle eating a strawberry six months ago, or a post about turtle diets, that information would probably show up on your first page of search results. Additionally, you have the option of seeing only personal results under "search tools" and anything your friends might have posted or shared on Google+, or around the Web, regarding turtles will appear.

Facebook pages also appear, but Google+ pages seem to have the dominant place. In fact, if your Google search has something to do with a known brand that's using Google+, such as Toyota, their Google+ page as well as a map of their locations closest to you will appear in the right hand search results column.

It's been a slow but steady integration with adjustments seeming to take place almost daily. In fact, Google+ is now considered the second most popular social network in the world with 343 million active users. Though this still trails far behind Facebook's 700 million active users, it's a number that many never thought Google+ would hit. It seems that this gradual integration process has worked by driving people to sign up for a Google+ account to access services such as Gmail and YouTube and then keeping them there with an ever-evolving array of useful apps.

Face to Face with Facebook

There's no war between Google+ and Facebook; at least, that's the official story. On the other hand, it seems that the two are running neck and neck to see who has the most innovative, sleekest and useful toys. The recent reformatting of Facebook alone is a testament to their unspoken battle. In March 2013, Facebook launched their new look which seems to eerily reflect the clean look and extra white space formatting of Google+. The overall structure of Facebook remains true to its original design, but on first glance, a few points of similarity seem to stand out:

• The space for posts has opened up with extra white space and larger images, as well as more prominent profile pictures, similar to Google+ formatting.

• The inclusion of icons in the side menu

• Filtering of your news feed according to relationships and interests (similar to Google+'s Circles)

Regardless of how closely they might resemble each other on the surface, both social media sites seem to know what appeals to the audience-at-large and both are fighting to stay on the cutting edge. With Google+ constantly adjusting their efforts to reach more people, what does this mean for businesses striving to stand out in their social media efforts?

Why Google+ Is Important For Your Business

Things move quickly with social media and even though it's been a quiet start for Google+, its voice is being heard in all corners of the Web. With the world's number one search engine an integral part of its operation, having a Google+ page is not only important for small businesses, it's almost necessary. Why?

• Google+ pages have a priority in Google searches and brands can appear in the coveted right hand white space of search results.

• Google+ users, and those simply using Google search, will see Google+ businesses near them listed in personalized search results.

• Apps within Google+ are making it easier and easier for businesses to track not only the reach of their social networking but the impact, down to identifying specific followers who inspire more people to visit their business pages.

• Shared posts with keywords relevant to your business are more likely to appear in your friends and followers' search results.

• Circles allows you to sort clientele from friends, acquaintances and family from the start and posts can be targeted to individual groups.

• Having a Google+ page improves your personal website optimization simply by building up internal links, such as with blog posts.

The list goes on, and so do the possibilities of Google+'s impact on social marketing. Currently more than three-quarters of the top 100 global brands have active Google+ pages and they have seen an amazing amount of growth in the past year with more than 23 million listed followers. Not only are their websites appearing in search results with the addition of a visual icon and right hand posting, but the companies are also able to communicate more easily with their followers; a major plus in the social media world. If these major corporations have found value in the Google+ service, rest assured that there are advantages for any size business in creating their own Google+ page.

What are some features you've enjoyed or disliked about Google+? Do you think Google+ or Facebook is better for your business' marketing efforts? What do you think the next step in social marketing will be?

Allison Rice is the Marketing Director for Amsterdam Printing (www.amsterdamprinting.com), a leading provider of custom and promotional pens and other promotional products to grow your business and thank customers. Allison regularly contributes to the Promo & Marketing Wall blog, where she provides actionable business tips.

Set Goals in Facebook's Ad Manager

Allison Howen — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:35:00 GMT

Monitoring your advertising success on Facebook just got easier; because the world’s largest social network has made some updates to its Ad Manager.

The updates allow marketers to set a goal for their ads, such as getting more page likes, obtaining better post or app engagement, acquiring more app installs or increasing event responses. Once the advertising goal is set, the Ads Manager campaign summary will display metrics related to the goal, such as “Page Likes,” more prominently. Moreover, the campaign summary calculates the cost per action, so that marketers can better evaluate the performance of their ads compared to the intended advertising goals.

Facebook has also made it easier for marketers to calculate the return on investment for an ad campaign. Marketers who are running ads that drive people to a website and use conversion tracking will automatically see their conversions reported more significantly in Ads Manager, along with the calculated cost per conversion for each ad. Furthermore, if the marketer sets a value to each conversion in their tracking pixel, Facebook will calculate the total “Conversion Value” of all conversions for a specific ad.

According to a blog post from the social network, the new updates to Ad Manager are currently being rolled out globally, and should be available to all advertisers in the coming weeks.

Facebook's Audience Reach Bug Wreaks Havoc

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:30:00 GMT

Your last few social media posts on Facebook might have performed better than was actually reported.

Facebook indicated, in a blog past last Friday, that coding errors misrepresented actual audience reach metrics on posts since sometime last year. Facebook says these issues only impacted reporting and not delivery but not everyone is a believer, and it's sparked a bit of a virtual firestorm.

But what can you expect moving forward? Most Page owners can expect the total reach of their posts to stay the same or increase, according to Facebook, which also said it expects an increase in paid reach if advertisers ran News Feed ads. There may also be an increase or decrease in organic reach, "depending on many factors such as the composition of your fan base, when and how often you post and your spending patterns," according to the social network.

I appreciate that Facebook brought this to light on their own volition, but it seems rathers suspect to not (in any way mind you) indicate that refunds could be in order. Yes, Facebook says that the coding errors didn't impact delivery, but it most certainly (and very clearly) impacted reporting. And when you are making decisions based on bad data, you're not going to make the right decision when it comes to your audience, your campaign, or your budget.

Amazon Gives Businesses a Page Up on the Competition

Amberly Dressler — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:00:00 GMT

Brands or agencies looking for an inexpensive and social-media savvy way to deliver its message and sell products worldwide – without having to build an entire solution or license, install and operate third-party software – may not have to look further than Amazon.

The company recently unveiled Amazon Pages, which is a self-serve, brand-specific Web page at Amazon.com that functions as a custom landing page where businesses can drive traffic to. Additionally, companies can leverage these pages to appear on either its Amazon page, Facebook page or both.

The upside for businesses, concerning sales and ROI, could be huge. A business’s products and brand message is exposed to millions of Amazon viewers and buyers, at no cost to a business.

“As potential customers view your Amazon Page and read your posts, Amazon Analytics gathers a wide variety of metrics using proven Amazon ecommerce software,” Amazon wrote. “By evaluating this data, you can create posts and display product offerings strategically to engage the customers you most want, increasing the likelihood of views and purchases. To help you further improve your understanding of your customers, you can track and compare considerations and sales by segment.”

Of the metrics tracked are click-through rate, purchasing index and more. For a step-by-step guide to Amazon Pages, click here.

Can Facebook Ads Prompt Purchases?

Michael Garrity — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 19:15:00 GMT

Facebook is going to be making its own unique splash on Black Friday, at least for marketers, as the social network is looking for a little more recognition for all of the customers it drives to online retailers.

On Friday, Facebook is going to launch another brand new advertising tool for conversion measurement that will let merchants actually track which purchases were made on their sites by Facebook users that viewed the retailer’s ad(s). This fits into the company’s collection of new advertising features that are, essentially, trying to convince marketers and advertisers that the social network is worthy of their sought-after ad money. Other recently added advertising capabilities include a conversion measurement service for big brand advertisers through a partnership with Datalogix that helps track Facebook ad influence on brick-and-mortar spending, as well as new tools for local businesses that provide a new online coupon service and promoted posts.

Designed for direct response marketers, this new conversion tool helps navigate the path-to-purchase from Facebook, which is often more erratic than those from search engines, which are usually able to deliver ads to consumers as they’re actively looking at or for a specific products. The conversion measurement tool will let marketers look at the impact that their Facebook ad(s) had on business for up to a week beyond when a user may have viewed it; in the end, this gives the advertiser a much clearer understanding of the role that the Facebook ad played on purchases.

In addition, the tool has an option that lets advertisers aim their ads at specific segments of Facebook users that share attributes similar to those users that “responded well” (i.e. made a purchase) to their ads in the past. However, advertisers will only see anonymous sales information about the buyers, as merchants won’t be able to give up any data that could identify the individuals.

Fab.com has been testing Facebook’s new advertising service and ended up reducing the cost it paid for each new customer acquisition by an impressive 39 percent when ads were served to consumers that were considered the “most likely to convert,” which was defined by Facebook as a completed sale or a consumer taking another desired action on a website (e.g. signing up for a newsletter).

Facebook Ads a Sure Bet for the Holidays

Allison Howen — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 14:45:00 GMT

If your business has been contemplating launching a Facebook adverting campaign, this upcoming holiday season could be the perfect opportunity to do so.

This is because a recent study from digital ad management platform Marin Software reveals that many consumers turn to Facebook during their hunt for deals around Thanksgiving time. The “Online Marketer’s Guide for the Holidays” study gathered holiday trend data from Marin Software’s more than 1,800 advertisers, with the results showing that Thanksgiving weekend produces five of the top six shopping days of the year for online advertisers.

According to the study’s data, in 2011 online advertising revenues surged during the days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. In fact, Black Friday obtained the highest return for marketers who acquired 300 percent more revenue from paid search ads compared to 2010, followed by Cyber Monday which received a 260 percent increase. These increases indicate that more consumers are looking for holiday deals through online search, which also proves how important it is for retailers to coordinate their campaigns with the holiday season.

However, the study also shows that Facebook holiday shopping trends in 2011 were similar to the paid search statistics – with Facebook-originated ad revenues also increasing during the Thanksgiving weekend. This means that in addition to search, consumers are also turning to Facebook to find holiday deals. Additionally, it is important to note that one of the study's most surprising findings revealed that Cyber Monday actually returned a higher level of revenue than Black Friday for Facebook advertisers in 2011.

"The pressure is on for retailers heading into the holiday season. Based off of what we saw last year, the stretch between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday will be critical to retailers' success as shoppers become increasingly attuned to promotional events during the holidays," said Matt Lawson, vice president of marketing and partnerships at Marin Software. "Similarly, Facebook is an advertising channel that smart marketers should not ignore as our data shows the social site taking on search-like characteristics during the holiday season."

Tapping into the Craft Beer Craze

Amberly Dressler — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 16:15:00 GMT

From IPAs to IBUs, the beer world not only has a lingo all of its own, but also its very own single platform, app and more.

Taplister, which combines crowdsourced tap lists with menu management software, enables consumers to discover craft beers and bar and restaurant owners to promote them, announced its new website and app for iPhone. Additionally, the company announced its integration with RateBeer and Foursquare. While Ratebeer helps to make the craft beer discovery platform an educational experience (by providing detailed beer descriptions), the integration with Foursquare helps the company expand to new cities by using Foursquare's location information. Taplister doesn’t have check-in capabilities yet, but already has thousands of bars and restaurants listed in more than 50 cities.

There is big money to be tap into. This craft beer niche accounted for $8.7 billion of the $101 billion beer industry in 2011 with one third of restaurant companies spending at least $300,000 on technology (Brewers Association).

Beyond the numbers, there is an increasing number of self-proclaimed beer geeks, like the company’s CEO, Kerry Finsand, who call from bar to bar looking for a popular or up-and-coming craft beer. They also hop from website to website, only to continually find dated tap lists.

The disconnect is two-fold. Most bars and restaurants do not have a way to seamlessly update and promote beers on tap. They also have little to small marketing budgets. Taplister addresses both needs

Taplister’s tap list management system allows bars and restaurants to instantly publish their changing beer menu to a Digital Beer Board™, Facebook, Twitter, mobile devices, a website and Taplister.com. The Digital Beer Board is the first digital signage platform for bars and restaurants designed specifically for craft beer menus, and displays rotating taps and additional information in real time inside establishments. For businesses, the fee for Taplister's services range from free to $99 a month (consumer services are free).

As for extending beyond beer, Finsand says wine would be the logical next step. He’s had different people contact him from the wine industry. But first, he wants to fully dial in on the current platform.

Men Are Cheap, Facebook Ad Metrics Prove

Amberly Dressler — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 17:30:00 GMT

After analyzing 65 billion ad impressions in a 12-month period, Kenshoo Social, in partnership with Resolution Media, found significant differences in the effectiveness of ads targeting men and women.

Despite women representing the majority of Facebook users, the study found it’s cheaper to advertise to men. Men are not only exposed to and click on more Facebook ads, but ads targeting men also cost less through the cost-per-thousand impressions ($0.16 male/$0.20 female) and cost-per-click ($0.51 male / $0.68 female) pricing models.

Additionally, the study, entitled Social Media Insights: Men are Cheap, found that ads targeting men achieved superior Exposure Rates, reaching a larger percentage of their unique audiences. Marketers can leverage this data in a variety of ways.

“Men and women are attracted to different ads, so marketers need to create custom ad copy and landing pages for their target audience,” said Todd Herrold, senior director, product marketing for Kenshoo Social. “Marketers should adjust their bidding strategies to ensure they don’t overspend trying to reach men who can be reached effectively at lower rates.”

Herrold also said that small, highly-targeted ad segments enable more relevant and cost-effective Facebook advertising; so Kenshoo Social recommends advertisers create very granular ad segments defined by gender but also age, demographics and interests.

“The most successful advertisers do this at scale to deliver the necessary campaign volume without sacrificing relevance or wasting impressions,” said Herrold. “We learned in ‘Metrics that Matter’ that an ad Frequency of six is optimal, and people tune out ads they’ve seen seven or more times.”

Facebook Offers' Test Over, Merchants to Pay

Michael Garrity — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 22:35:00 GMT

Looks like it’s time for Facebook to finally try to make itself even more profitable.

Earlier this year, Facebook announced the test launch of Facebook Offers, a service that allows businesses to send promotions directly to users via their news feeds. In return, fans can redeem special vouchers for discounts. But that test period is coming to an end, and now all Facebook Pages, with more than 400 fans, can send discounts and promotions through their networks. (There is an exception for pages operated out of Japan, but they will be eligible next week.)

However, while users can still claim these promotions for free, it will now cost merchants a minimum of five dollars to run an Offer on a related ad product and promote it to a specifically targeted audience. In addition, they can now include bar codes and unique promotional numbers in their Offers, making it easier to track and claim at in-store checkouts or on third-party sites.

Since the service's inception, Facebook has worked with a group of local business pages to test and optimize Facebook Offers, allowing merchants to share their offers with their fans free of charge. Not only did this help extend a merchant’s reach through Facebook’s ad products, but also every time a user claimed an Offer, it would then appear in his/her news feed and appear organically to their friends.

With Facebook Offers, local merchants are granted another opportunity to advertise their deals and promotions online beyond just Groupon, Foursquare and Google Offers, and unlike those avenues, Facebook Offers comes complete with access to the social network’s 900 million-plus users.

Thus far, Facebook seems optimistic about the service's potential, despite having shut down its similar predecessor, Facebook Deals. The optimism stems largely from Offers' ability to provide an individually targeted approach to sharing promotions on the social network.

Now, we’ll just have to sit back and see how many merchants will open their wallets to promote their deals on the social media site.

Increase Exposure with Facebook Coupons

Allison Howen — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:00:00 GMT

There are many ways that marketers can promote their brands on Facebook – and Trumpia has just added another.

The multi-channel marketing solution provider has launched Facebook Coupons, which enables businesses to offer printable coupons directly from their Facebook Page. The coupons can be found within a business's Facebook Tabs, which act like additional Web pages on a Facebook Page. Trumpia clients can also customize Tabs and coupons by applying a template or by using the platform’s HTML editor. Additionally, graphic coupons can be added to the Tabs by entering valid barcode numbers from a POS system.

Launching social coupons can prove to be a valuable marketing strategy because they can help businesses go viral within an online community. This is because businesses can set up their coupons to only be redeemable after customers “Like” their Page, and the more "Likes" a business collects, the more exposure it will gain by having its updates appear on fans’ newsfeeds. This means that businesses are not only offering their customers money-saving deals by offering coupons, but can also use the coupons to strengthen their brand, increase visibility and boost sales.

“We've seen firsthand how Facebook can help businesses grow. What we’re doing to magnify that growth is adding features and capabilities that Facebook doesn’t directly offer,” said Ken Rhie, CEO of Trumpia. “Businesses can target their online audience to gain exposure in today’s digital world and bring in revenue.”

Growth for Facebook Ad Spend Outpacing Paid Search

Allison Howen — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 21:30:00 GMT

It seems that marketers are shifting their focus toward Facebook advertising, despite uncertainties regarding how ads on the social network actually perform.

Digital marketing software provider Kenshoo recently released global growth metrics for Facebook advertising compared to paid-search marketing during the first half (H1) of 2012. The data reveals that marketers are increasing ad budgets with Facebook at a faster rate than with search engines.

In fact, during H1 Kenshoo’s Social clients grew ad spend on Facebook by 36 percent, while Kenshoo Enterprise and Kenshoo Local clients grew paid-search ad budgets by only 12 percent.

“Marketers are opening their pocketbooks as Facebook continues to innovate with new ad formats and targeting options,” says Aaron Goldman, Chief Marketing Officer at Kenshoo. “Emerging opportunities like Facebook Exchange and Sponsored Results will only increase the demand for Facebook ad products and the effectiveness of social media advertising in terms of achieving business results.”

Payvment Introduces One-click Facebook Ad Service

Linc Wonham — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:30:00 GMT

Social commerce platform Payvment has launched a one-click Facebook advertising service that enables sellers to quickly turn their promotional posts into Facebook Ads.

The new service automatically targets the ads using a proprietary algorithm that predicts which audience segments are most likely to be interested in a seller’s products based on previous social shopping data. Initial tests of the service have shown up to a 25-percent increase in click-through rates over standard self-serve Facebook Ads.

A recent survey of Payvment’s customer base of over 165,000 small and mid-sized businesses revealed that more than 60 percent have yet to try Facebook Ads, with 25 percent saying they haven’t tried them because they don’t understand how to use them.

Of those who had bought Facebook Ads, two-thirds who said they weren’t satisfied cited low click-through rates or poor targeting as reasons not to use the service again.

Payvment’s new one-click Facebook Ad buying service is integrated into the company’s standard promotions tool. When sellers create a promotional post, they can opt to reach beyond their fan base via a Facebook Ad. The seller edits the headline and body of the post, selects their budget (which generates an estimated reach for the ad), then clicks “promote” to launch the ad. Once the ad is live, sellers can track performance in their Payvment dashboard.

Payvment instantaneously analyzes a seller’s inventory and shopper engagement patterns and correlates this with aggregate profile data from the more than 40 million Facebook users who have interacted with Payvment storefronts, and uses this analysis to predict which types of users are likely to be interested in the seller’s products.

“Targeting Facebook Ads can be a bit of a guessing game – it’s hard for sellers to know exactly which audiences will respond to their products,” says Christian Taylor, founder and CEO of Payvment. “Since Payvment powers a majority of the shopping on Facebook, we see patterns that we use to create very effective targeting. No one else can do this. The small and medium-sized businesses that use Payvment have historically looked at Facebook Ads as out of reach for their business – either they’re not clear on how they work, or they don’t want to spend money learning as they go. They can now use Payvment’s new ad offering to get started with very little effort or cost – in one click they’ve placed the ad, and Payvment does the rest for them.”

Facebook App Has Business Pros Branching Out

Allison Howen — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:00:00 GMT

It's hard to imagine, but could LinkedIn be in trouble? If a newly popular app on Facebook has anything to say about it, the answer is app-solutely.

BranchOut is an app that enables Facebook users to find jobs and network with other business professionals – just like LinkedIn.

The app allows users to create profiles where they can upload their resumes, add specialties, tag skills and receive endorsements – just like LinkedIn.

On the homepage, users can also view network updates, review targeted job opportunities, send messages to connections, as well as search for jobs and people – just like LinkedIn.

Noticing a trend? Yes, BranchOut offers many similar features to the largest professional-oriented network on the Web. However, unlike LinkedIn, BranchOut users can connect with all of their Facebook friends with just a click of the mouse, making it very easy to grow a large network quickly.

Currently, BranchOut has 25 million registered users, which is a small number compared to LinkedIn’s 150 million users. But the app has unlimited potential to raise its user rate, especially since its home is on the largest social network with 850 million users and because it is simple to join and becoming more popular every day.

In fact, within the last week alone, I have received five invitations from Facebook friends in a variety of industries. Look out, LinkedIn ...

Social Ads Tool Offers Dayparting for Facebook

Allison Howen — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 03:15:00 GMT

Facebook ad management platform Social Ads Tool (SAT) is claiming its solution is now capable of increasing the conversion rates of Facebook ads by up to 100 percent. Too good to be true? Not when you know when daypart your ads.

After collecting performance data from Facebook and the platform's own conversion tracking technology, SAT - which is both a campaign management and optimization platform - provides advertisers with an analysis of hourly performance trends for their ads and ad campaigns. Since the conversion rate of Facebook ads can vary based on different hours of the day, social media advertisers can potentially increase their return on advertising spend (ROAS) by knowing the optimal time to sell products.

Consider it dayparting for the social media advertising set.

The solution is likely most appropriate for candidates that spend heavily on social media advertising at Facebook each month (budgets upward of $13,500 according to the company) as Social Ads Tool requires a €500 minimum monthly fee (approximately $680 US dollars).