advantages of paid social as part of your referral traffic strategy

ADVANTAGES OF PAID SOCIAL AS PART OF YOUR REFERRAL

TRAFFIC STRATEGY

Jo RogelDigital Marketing Strategist

February 2014

WHY ADVERTISE ON FACEBOOK?

● 1.23 billion monthly active users (12/31/13)● 45 million monthly active users who used Facebook mobile

products (12/31/13)● Advertising with social context -- added influence and

validation from friends and family● Reaching an engaged audience -- opportunities for users to

Like, Comment and Share on content● Facebook users are content consumers -- they typically stay

longer on site and visit more pages

WHY ADVERTISE ON FACEBOOK?● Ad Types for Different Goals

○ Brand Awareness / Community Building

○ Engagement and Interaction

○ Conversion / Event Signups

○ Promoting Desktop & Mobile Apps

○ Traffic to website

● Multiple placements○ Desktop News Feed

○ Mobile News Feed

○ Right-Hand Side

● Sophisticated Targeting○ Interests / Demographics / Geography / Behavior

○ Third-Party Data

○ Devices and Operating Systems

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS● Generating demand for new products on the market● Lead generation● Closeout sales● Greater reach for high-quality content and news● Exploring beyond usual audiences● Nonprofit events - gaining more support/participation● Increasing adoption for new mobile apps

NOT IMMEDIATE CONVERSION CHANNEL

FACEBOOK AD MANAGER

● Set up billing and funding sources● View associated Facebook pages● Create and manage campaigns and ads

SELF SERVE AD PLATFORM

● Simple interface allows you to create ads based on objective● Add creative, copy and set targeting and bids in one location

POWER EDITOR

● Create and manage multiple ads and campaigns faster with streamlined interface● Copy/paste functionality to duplicate campaigns● Make and upload changes to account

PAGE LIKE AD

PAGE POST LINK

PAGE PHOTO POST

PAGE VIDEO POST

INTEREST TARGETING

● Based on actual user behavior and activity recorded in social graph

● Keywords can be selected from broad categories or specific interests

● Use specific interests to narrow down on very specific audiences

PARTNER CATEGORIES

● Datalogix, Acxiom, Epsilon● Demographics● Lifestyle● Purchase / transaction

history Behavior● Income● Hobbies & Activities● Politics● Charitable causes

CUSTOM & LOOKALIKE AUDIENCES

Facebook allows you to upload customer information, which it hashes to create an audience that can be used for narrowly targeted ads. Advertisers who use custom audiences have reported significant increases in fan acquisition, click-through rates and engagement.

Lookalike Audiences are users who aren’t already in your databases, but are similar to those who are. Advertisers using this feature have reported decreases in fan acquisition costs and significant increases in returns on ad spend.

BEST PRACTICES

● If you have a large budget, create and test multiple ads with different creative for different interest groups to see how they perform against each other

○ This helps identify high-return, low-cost groups and

eliminate groups that are eating ad spend

● If your budget is small, group relevant interests together across less ads to create “personas” to advertise to

○ Still allows you to achieve your goals, but may be

difficult to narrow down which targets are performing

BEST PRACTICES

● Do not group multiple ads with different targeting in a single campaign -- you won’t get a true performance test

○ The ad platform won’t give ads in a single campaign an equal run -- it’s best to build one campaign, one ad if you are testing different audience groups

● Experiment with Optimized CPM -- maximizes budgets by allowing you to prioritize spend by:

○ Actions

○ Clicks

○ Reach

○ Social Impressions

FBX (RETARGETING ADS)

Working with vendors, it is possible to run retargeting ads on Facebook, including on the News Feed and Right Hand Side

WEBSITE CUSTOM AUDIENCES

● Facebook allows for the creation of a custom audience from visitors to your website

● Install code and Facebook will begin to track and make the audience available for use in the ad platform

● Good alternative to retargeting ads for small businesses

USER RETENTION

● After you get users to reach your site, reduce your future spending by getting them to connect with you and visit through organic means.○ Popular tools:○ Like Button connected to Facebook page○ Like Box for Facebook page (better for blogs)

○ Modal prompt requesting Like -- aggressive, but

effective

EXAMPLES

EXAMPLES

WRAPUP / TAKEAWAYS

● Facebook is a great platform because it delivers high-quality traffic

● Users are ready to consume and engage with content, and remain longer on site

● After establishing viable audiences, work to retain them as organic visitors by encouraging them to connect with your social properties

● Continue to reach them with engaging content and enticing offers

● Use retargeting or website audiences to advertise to people that visited your site

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