What are Google Image Extensions?

Move over Google Text Ads, PPC just got a lot more visual! Now introducing Google Image Extensions!

Tada!

What used to be a somewhat boring text ad on the Google Search Engine Results page, now when a user searches keywords related to a business, it can feature engaging images to really draw attention. Image extensions can help drive performance for advertisers, with compelling visuals of products or services that enhance the message of their text ads, and help businesses get noticed.

Google reports that on average, there is a 10-15% CTR (click-thru-rate) uplift that comes from incorporating ad extensions in advertising accounts. Including image extensions in your search ads could likely make an impact on your overall ad performance statistics.

A few things to note about these extensions:

Add up to 3 unique images in two sizes each (1200×1200 pixels and 1200×628 pixels)
Clicking on image or anywhere on ad takes you to advertiser’s website.
You pay when the user clicks any where in the ad.
Note: Google only allows the Image Extensions after campaign has been active 90 days.

Also when providing images, Google is VERY particular about what images can be used.

No text should be in the image – incidental text is ok.

Google also recommends that the important content should be in the center of your image and that it makes up 80% of it.

Does adding these image extensions work and increase ROI? Here are a few success stories with image extensions.

Window Treatment Company

Background:

A window treatment company with multiple locations wanted to reach middle to upper-class homeowners that were looking to spruce up their windows with new window treatments for their existing home, those that were remodeling, and those that were in the process of building a brand-new home.

Strategy:

This campaign was a combination of using Native Ads and Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads. With Native Ads we used Behavioral Targeting, Artificial Intelligence, and Keyword Targeting to reach consumers while they were in the consideration and evaluation phase of a typical sales funnel. For example, when consumers were on home improvement type websites or apps, or reading articles on the benefits of window treatments, they had the potential to see the ad. By also using Retargeting and PPC, we were reaching them further into the sales funnel in the consideration phase. Since the business has a very visual product, we also incorporated Google Image Extensions on the PPC ad. This allowed the company to drive more engagement, with compelling visuals of products or services that enhanced the message of their text ads.

Result:

In less than three months, the campaign received a click-through rate 3.85% and had over 200 click conversions. Over 130 of those click conversions were to the specific product page that the business was specifically looking to drive traffic to. The Google Image Extensions addition resulted in 27 additional conversions in the very first month of their premier.  Having a digital campaign that carried a 1:2 punch with Native and PPC, the business was “very happy with the progress they are seeing”.

Residential and Commercial Home Contractors

Background:

A  family-owned, top roofing business in our area was looking to drive even more chat leads, increased call volume, form fills and conversions by testing a new solution called “Google Image Extensions” to  their existing campaign.

Strategy:

Targeting our city plus a 50-mile radius of our client’s location, we ran a Google Pay-Per-Click campaign to reach those interested in both residential roofing projects as well as those seeking commercial roofing projects, like administrators, property managers, and maintenance directors.  After longstanding success driving conversions with SEO, Native, Live Chat, and Pay-Per-Click we beta tested adding Google Image Extensions on top of their existing campaign.  These new extensions provided compelling visuals of products and services that enhance the message of traditional Pay-Per-Click text ads to take up more real estate in the search. We rotated 3 unique images as the extension.

Results:

Adding the Google Image Extensions set our client’s ads apart from the traditional text search.  The visuals drove a 3.90% CTR and 148 clicks to their website in the very first month.   Additionally, 19 of those clicks resulted in Live Chat or “Request An Estimate” conversion.  This click to conversion rate is more than double the industry average conversion rate of 5%, netting 12.8% of clicks.  Because Google Image Extensions are only available for clients in good standing with Google for 90 days or more and they are so new as an ad targeting option, getting to market first with our enhanced ads took our client’s campaign to the next level.

Image extensions are a great way to enhance your PPC ads. They are like the supermodel version of PPC ads.  Higher CTR, great results and plus they are much more appealing to the eye. The total package.

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Are You Using “Free Money” to Help Pay for Your Advertising?

Love makes the world go around, right? Sure it does, but so does money, and Jerry Maguire said it best; “Show me the money!” What could possibly be better than money? How about free money! In the advertising world, that is a real thing for certain businesses, and it is called Cooperative Advertising, or Co-Op. This is when advertisements by retailers include the specific mention of manufacturers or brands who in turn repay the retailers for all, or part of the cost of the advertisement. There are different variations of how a manufacturer will pay for a campaign. For example, they may just pay for their product to be featured in an ad, or the retailer may receive a credit for future purchases with that manufacturer. Co-Op is a phenomenal advertising opportunity because it is a win-win for both the retailer and the brand, but believe it or not, it doesn’t always get used.

The Co-Op market is one that tends to get overlooked and also goes untapped because some businesses don’t even know they have funds to use. Others simply just don’t know how to redeem those funds. One of the main drawbacks for businesses and Co-Op is that the process to get it can be a bit clunky. To start, businesses have to work with a manufacturer that offers Co-Op, but what kind of businesses even offer it? Here is a list of verticals that tend to work with Co-Op manufacturers:

Heating and Air
Dermatologists
Flooring Companies
Farm Stores
Home Improvement
Small Engine Repair
Auto Dealers
Online Retailers
Furnishings and Appliances
Farming Equipment and Supplies
Motorcycles, Snowmobiles, Boating, and ATVs
Building and Construction
Lawn and Garden

Some other obstacles that get in the way of businesses using their Co-Op funds are they believe there are too many restrictions and rules, and there’s too much paperwork that goes along with getting that credit.

Let’s look at a real example of how Co-Op can work with the well-known online pet retailer, Chewy.com. If we go to the Chewy.com website, we can see a list of brands and manufacturers that they work with.

Taking a look at all the different brands, the next step is we have to find out if any of those brands offer Co-Op advertising. This is where you can come in and save the day and become a resource with the process for those businesses because we have made it very easy to help you get all the information you need. With access to a database of over 2,000 different Co-Op programs, we can do the homework for you and determine if there is any Co-Op available for a particular brand, and if so, how much is available. For this, we will want to know the name of the business, and the manufacturers or brands that they purchase from. Once we have that information, we will let you the details about the Co-Op that is offered with a “Co-Op plan sheet”. Here is a Co-Op plan sheet for Blue Seal, which is a brand that Chewy.com works with, so let’s take a look at how to read it and understand what it all means.

In this example we are looking at Blue Seal as the manufacturer and we can see they do offer Co-Op since it says “Active Plan” in the Co-Op Plan Title:

Not all manufacturers are going to have the same type of plan available; it varies. An “Active Plan” means that manufacturer has Co-Op guidelines available. If the Co-Op plan sheet says “Partial Information Available”, that means that is a plan where some plan details have been provided by the manufacturer, but not the complete set of guidelines. “Specially Arranged Co-Op” are plan types arranged on a case-by-case basis with their manufacturer rep or regional rep. “Undisclosed by Manufacturer” are plan types where Co-Op programs are available, but the manufacturer will only share guidelines with dealers or retailers, and “No Co-Op Available” are plans where the manufacturer does not currently offer a Co-Op program.

The next thing we want to look at is the contact information:

Here it’s going to tell us who must give ad approval, and it has their name, phone number, and e-mail address. It also lists where claims get submitted and when they have to be submitted by. It will also explain how they are going to reimburse that business. With Blue Seal, Chewy.com is getting their reimbursement in the form of a credit. That means, however much Blue Seal is going to give Chewy.com in Co-Op, they get that reimbursement through a credit memo the next time they purchase product from Blue Seal. It is also list the Accrual Period, which is the time frame Blue Seal has set during which Chewy.com can earn Co-Op advertising funds. In this case, it is showing us they offer Co-Op funds based on the purchases that Chewy.com made from October 1st through September 30th, so the amount of Co-Op that is available is based on what they currently spend. Sometimes it’s based on the previous year, meaning what is available is based on what Chewy.com spent with Blue Seal last year. Another piece of information we are going to note on this page is the Performance Info. The performance info is when the Co-Op is available to be used. In this example, Chewy.com can use that anytime within the current year. The last thing we are going to need on this page is the Co-Op Claim Address, and that’s where the claim to get reimbursed must be sent and that’s an important piece of the Co-Op puzzle because if it isn’t submitted properly or on time, Chewy.com could risk getting reimbursed from Blue Seal.

In the middle of the page it is going to list the details on what they are offering for their Co-Op. Under qualifying products, this is showing that they offer Co-Op for campaigns that are talking about the Blue Seal animal and pet feeds. Under participation, you’ll see how much Blue Seal is going to give Chewy.com. The participation percentage can be anywhere from 80% of the cost of the campaign, up to 100% and it will be different for each manufacturer or brand. Some have participation rates as low as 2%, and some go all the way up to 125% where the manufacturer is actually giving a business more than what they are spending on a campaign (even more free money). Accrual percentage is percent of new purchases that the retailer has made in terms of what they purchase from the manufacturer. For Chewy.com, 2.5% of that is what can go into the Co-Op fund. Clear as mud, right? Let’s look at an example:

Chewy.com has $200,000 in purchases from Blue Seal:

Accrual is 2.5% = $200.000 x 2.5% – $5,000 in Co-Op funds earned
Participation % is 80% = Blue Seal will reimburse for 80% of the ad campaign
$6,000 ad campaign = $1,200 paid by Chewy.com (20%), $4,800 paid by Blue Seal’s reimbursement memo (80%)

In the example above, Chewy.com only has to pay $1,200 total of the ad campaign, and then they will receive a credit memo from Blue Seal for $4,800.

Moving further down our Co-Op plan sheet, we see plan comments. Here is where any additional information is going to be listed about the Co-Op. For example, here we will find out that unused funds do not carry over, ads requiring prior approval must be submitted a minimum of 30 days prior to the run date, and ads with just the dealer name and no logo or with the dealer name and services and no specific product featured will not qualify for Co-Op (for once, this is where I would encourage you to read the fine print).

Down at the bottom is the claim reimbursement information. This is what has to be submitted to Blue Seal in order for Chewy.com to get reimbursed.

Once everything has been approved from both the manufacturer and the business, it’s time to assemble the claim package so the business can get reimbursed. You’ll want to make sure that you have checked the deadline submission, you’ll obtain a marketing reimbursement form the manufacturer, and you’ll collect any necessary documents that are listed on that claim form. Typically that will consist of a copy of the invoice, a copy of a monthly report, some form of documentation on the approval to run the ad, a screenshot of the ad, and the signed form itself.

While the Co-Op process can be a little tricky, we try to take the guess work out of it to make it as seamless as possible. We have all been out to eat with someone who tends to get “t-rex arms” when it’s time to pick up the check, so by getting “free money” with Co-Op advertising, you no longer have to be “that guy”. Take a look and see what Co-Op dollars you can take advantage of.

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Can Digital be Used for Marijuana Campaigns?

Yes, it CANnabis! Cannabis is a budding industry and is really starting to grow like a weed as more states start to legalize recreational use of marijuana. Support for legal marijuana is at an all-time high (no pun intended) of 68%, with the percent being even higher among 18 to 29 year old’s at 79%. With more and more states now legalizing marijuana, it is opening the doors for those CBD stores, medical marijuana dispensaries, and smoke shows to start marketing and advertising by using digital since some forms of media are still restricting that type of advertising. Even though many states have decriminalized marijuana, possession and distribution of marijuana is still a Federal crime and radio and TV stations, unlike most other local media outlets, operate with Federal licenses. This now opens a whole new opportunity to promote your business.

Before we dive into the different digital products that can help market cannabis, marijuana, and CBD, let’s talk about what these different products are, because contrary to popular belief, they are not one in the same.

Cannabis refers to the plant and all the products that are derived from the plant Cannabis Sativa. That particular plant contains about 540 chemical substances, like THC and CBD. It is a plant in the hemp family, or the Cannabaceae family, and parts of the plant, including dried flowers and leaves, have been used for medicinal and recreational purposes in numerous forms throughout history. This plant can also be used to make hemp products, marijuana, and CBD products.

CBD stands for “Cannabidiol” and is a naturally occurring compound in the cannabis flower. Unlike THC, CBD does not have the psychoactive effects and is mostly used for relaxation, as a sleep aid, and for pain relief and there are even pet products that use CBD. Another product that comes from cannabis is Cannabinol (CBN). This is also a non-intoxicating compound that is created when THC is aged. This can also be used as a sleep aid and has been found to have pain and inflammation reducing qualities.

Marijuana refers to parts of the plant that contain substantial amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. THC is the substance that’s primarily responsible for the effects of marijuana on a person’s mental state. Some cannabis plants contain very little THC and under the U.S. law, these plants are considered “industrial hemp” rather than marijuana.

Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the most well-known molecule in marijuana and this is sought after for its euphoric and psychological effects.

Hemp is genetically distinct from marijuana and has a variety of uses including fiber from the stems, protein from the seeds, and oils from the leaves and flowers. Hemp does not produce high levels of THC, but it can product CBD. It is also regulated very differently compared to cannabis and it’s legal to cultivate and sell under the Agricultural Improvement Act.

Kratom is a term that has is starting to pop up more frequently and this is a supplement that is sold as an energy booster, mood enhancer, and pain reliever. Kratom is an herbal extract that comes from the leaves of an evergreen tree grown in Southeast Asia. The leaves can be chewed, and dry kratom can be swallowed or brewed

Now that we know our CBD’s and THC’s, lets look at the different products you can use to digitally advertise for these goods:

Native Ads
Display Ads
Facebook and Instagram (CBD Only)
Mobile Conquesting (CBD Only)
OTT with Video Pre-Roll
SEO and Reputation Management
Live Chat

Let’s start off with Facebook and Instagram because this is a recent change that Facebook has made where they are now accepting CBD only campaigns. For the creative aspect, you can’t explicitly mention CBD, hemp, or cannabis within the ad, so you have to use words like “naturally derived ingredients”, “plant sourced ingredients” or “100% natural” instead.

Since they are allowing CBD only campaigns, that means any mentions of marijuana, symbols, or graphics will cause the ad to get denied. You also want to use a landing page where the topical CBD product is sold (or even use a non-CBD page). You might be able to get away with landing pages that solely feature edible hemp products, but you absolutely can not have cannabis on the landing page.

Some targeting categories that might be a good fit Facebook/Instagram CBD campaigns are:

Age
Household Income
Healing
Medicine
Happiness
Life Extension
Health
Health & Wellness
Health & Beauty
Healthy Habits
Healthy Food
Healthy Diet
Healthy Life
Healthy Lifestyles
Natural foods
Natural product
Natural skin care
Organic product
Personal care
Personal development
Quality of life
Self-care
Self-Esteem
Self-awareness
Self-healing
Self-confidence
Self-help
Well-being
Medicine 

Mobile Conquesting is another product that will allow CBD only campaigns, but there are a few restrictions to go along with that. If there is a business that is promoting just CBD but also sells vaping products or accessories, it will get denied. For Mobile Conquesting you can target using various strategies like Behavioral Targeting, Geo-Fencing, Geo-Retargeting, Geo-Retargeting Lookalike, a Weather Trigger, or Address Targeting and Address Retargeting, but it will not allow geo-fencing or geo-retargeting around a competitor’s location if they sell cannabis. We can track visits with a Mobile Conquesting campaign, as along as that business only sells CBD. Also following the rules of Facebook and Instagram, the creative for a Mobile Conquesting campaign can’t have the words cannabis or marijuana, it can’t contain pictures of cannabis leaves, and it can’t promote and vaping or smoking products.

Some of the Behavioral Targeting categories available for Mobile Conquesting are:

Acupuncture
Acupuncture Chiro
Alternative Medicine
Affluent Shoppers
Age/Gender Demos
Bar/Pub Goers
Big City Moms
Business Travelers
College Stadium
Colleges and Universities
Community College
Dads
Foods-Natural
Herbalists
Homeopaths
Liquors-Retail
Live Event Attendees
Medical Centers
Nurses
Working Moms
Sports Medicine and Injury
Pet Lovers

With Native, Display, Video Pre-Roll and Over-The-Top (OTT) ads, the restrictions are lifted a little bit to allow for more flexibility when advertising for cannabis, and there are also more targeting strategies available. Along with traditional behavioral targeting, you can use artificial intelligence, retargeting, and keyword targeting (not available for OTT). Some of the targeting categories that would be a good fit for cannabis campaigns are:

Music Festivals
Organic & Natural Foods
Outdoor Enthusiasts
Insomnia
Smoking Cessation
Tobacco Products
Vitamins & Supplements
CBD > Vape
CBD > Edibles
CBD > Extracts & Concentrates
CBD > Pet
CBD > Flower
CBD > Topical
CBD > Beverages
CBD > Pill
CBD > Tincture
CBD Purchasers
Alternative Medicine
Age
Arthritis
Back/Neck Pain
Cancer
Chronic Pain
Cigarettes
College Students
Concert Goers
Farming and Agriculture
Feminine Pain Relievers
Gamers
Green Living
Healthy Living
Headaches/Migraines
Live Event Attendees
Marijuana Legalization
Medical Marijuana As Treatment

Native Ad Example:

Display Ad Example:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Live Chat have no restrictions at all, and they are both great products to use for this vertical. SEO is great to use for dispensaries so that when people are searching for certain types of products or remedies to cure certain ailments, that particular dispensary shows up first, especially as more standalone CBD stores start popping up around the country.

Running Live Chat in combination with another product is a great idea because it helps to show that they’re getting leads and conversions from that initial digital campaign.

As I mentioned earlier, using digital as a way to promote your CBD or cannabis business is a great avenue because it allows for various ways to target those that might be interested in the product, the ads can appear in different formats, and certain media outlets aren’t allowed to advertise since they have a Federal license.

The post Can Digital be Used for Marijuana Campaigns? appeared first on Vici Media.

What Digital Products work best for Banks and Credit Unions?

Banking.  So many choices to choose from.  Do you go with a private bank or credit union?  Or do you go with one of the big players with locations all over the country?  Now, there are even online banks.  How do you know where to go?   More importantly, how do they all differentiate themselves?

If you’ve been online at any point over the last 5 years, I’m sure you’ve been targeted with ads for a bank or credit union.  I mean, according to Statista, there are over 5,400 credit unions in the United States, and around 74,000 branches of FDIC-insured commercial banks.   (ALERT… GREAT Prospecting Opportunity).  I’m sure one of those banks/credit unions has targeted you with and ad.  And, if not, then there’s a perfect opportunity to reach out to them and see who’s handling their digital.

Before you do though, you should have an idea as to what products work well for Financial Institutions like banks and credit unions.

There are 3 products that we’ve seen work the best (and most frequently used) over the last couple of years.  They are:

Video Pre-Roll Ads
Native Ads
Social Mirror Ads

We’ll walk you through each of these products, the strategies to use, and why they work for this industry.

Video Pre-Roll Ads

Video Pre-Roll are the ads that you see before the content you are cosuming. For example, if I am on ESPN.com and I click a video to see last night’s game highlights, a video pre-roll ad is going to run before I can watch the highlight video. Video Pre-Roll ads are :15 or :30 in length and can be done with behavioral targeting, keyword targeting, artificial intelligence, and retargeting, and can run across all devices. These ads can be skippable or un-skippable, but that isn’t something that the advertiser is able to dictate, as that is determined by the website in which they are appearing.  Un-skippable ads aid in branding and awareness, and with skippable ads, research shows that people who have the option to skip but don’t, are the consumer who are really interested in your product or service.  So, it makes sense to have your message delivered both ways.

There are four strategies for Video Pre-Roll Ads.

Behavioral
Artificial Intelligence
Retargeting
Keyword

With Behavioral Targeting, we are targeting people based on previous online behaviors and what they’ve shown an interest in, and Ads run on all devices.   Since, as consumers, we leave breadcrumbs of data about our behaviors online which are compiled into Behavioral Categories, companies can pick and choose which Behavioral Categories they want to target. For Banks and Credit Unions, here are some of the categories that could be used for a digital campaign:

Artificial Intelligence is going to use machine learning to target customers based on who is engaging with the ad, across all devices.  Think of AI Targeting as a funnel, the targeting starts wide and gets narrower as the machine learning algorithm gets more data about who/what is causing clicks and conversions.  The machine learning technology is looking at our overall pacing to make sure we hit our impressions goals and optimizing towards when users are online and engaging.  The system optimizes based on the internet traffic patterns of users for when they are online and engaging.  Looking at device type, browser, what website or app, creative, audience behaviors, how frequently the user has been served impressions, how recently the user has been served impressions.

Retargeting is where we follow people after they leave your website and showing them your 15 or 30-second video pre-roll ad, on other websites and apps they go to, across all devices.  Since only 2% of traffic converts the first time they come to a website, having Retargeting included in your campaign aids in the frequency of seeing your ad.

Keyword Targeting is showing your 15 or 30-second video pre-roll ads on webpages and apps that contain keywords related to your business, across all devices.  Most keyword lists size are around 75-100, but you can utilize up to 500 keywords within a campaign.

Let’s talk about why Video Pre-Roll Ads work.

Branding and Awareness – Video is on fire on the internet and consumers can’t get enough of it. Using video in your marketing campaign allows you to have the visual (and audio) messaging that you want your potential customers to see (and hear).
Keyword for research on loans and rates – As consumers, we all want what we want, when we want it, for the price that we want it for. When it comes to banks and credit unions, they are all competing against each other to earn business for loans, mortgages and more.  Using Keyword Targeting allows you to specifically have your ad served to consumers researching loans, mortgages, and other products.
Targetability – Being able to target people that are currently in-market for a car or new home, people that have recently moved, college students looking for checking accounts, or even people looking to refinance their home has proven to be a great tool.

Native Ads

Native, whether you’re using video or display ads, go across all devices and they match the look, feel, and context of the website.  Here’s an example as to how ads could vary to match the site/app that they are served on.

Native Ads are effective because people are reading these ads since they are imbedded into the content on the website or app that they are viewing.  Reading the ads requires BOTH hemispheres of the brain, resulting in higher engagement, recall and influence.

When it comes to targeting strategies for Native Ads (both Display and Video), they utilize the same exact strategies as Video Pre-Roll Ads.  These are the 4 again:

Behavioral
Artificial Intelligence
Retargeting
Keyword

Why  they work

Video can be somewhat expensive at times, so using Native to support the frequency of the message can be cost effective.
Targetability – You can target people that are currently in-market for a car or new home, people that have recently moved, college students looking for checking accounts, or even people looking to refinance their home has proven to be a great tool.

Social Mirror Ads 

Social Mirror ads look like your social media display or video posts but appear on other websites and apps and run across all devices using our targeting strategies.  Social Mirror ads mimic the look and feel of top social media platforms however, the ads appear not on the social platforms, but on thousands of other websites and apps and run across all devices. Each ad links back to the social platform it is mirroring and, has a second call to action button that links to the advertiser’s website!  Ads contain unique social actions related back to the originating platform (for example, the like icon, the heart icon, the pinning icon, the retweet icon… those actions are available). These ads can integrate with all the major social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linked In, Pinterest, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube.   Ads can run as display, video or carousel.

When it comes to targeting strategies for Social Mirror Ads, they utilize the same exact strategies as Video Pre-Roll Ads and Native Ads.  These are the 4 again:

Behavioral
Artificial Intelligence
Retargeting
Keyword

Why they work

This is an opportunity for this vertical (banks and credit unions), that likes using Social Media, to be able to promote freely without the limitations that Facebook and Instagram can have.
Utilizing a carousel ad in the post they are mirroring allows them to promote different lines/offerings (i.e. checking, savings, secured credit cards, etc)
Banks and Credit Unions can mirror LinkedIn posts to target specifically for the commercial side of their business and utilize some of the other available platforms for residential/consumer lines.

There are many products that can be used to promote most industries, and Banks and Credit Unions are no different.  However, from the data that we’ve seen, the best starting points of conversation would lie within Video Pre-Roll Ads, Native Ads (both Display and Video), and Social Mirror Ads.

The post What Digital Products work best for Banks and Credit Unions? appeared first on Vici Media.

Using digital advertising for political campaigns

The votes were out and now they’re in!  No matter what party you represent, your goal is to win the election.   Digital Advertising is capable of aiding in your soon to be victory.  In fact, in 2020, online spending captured 22% of political ad budgets.

http://www.biakelsey.com/u-s-local-advertising-revenue-exceed-161b-2020-according-bia-advisory-services-forecast/

As this number continues to grow annually, it’s important to understand the ins and outs in regard to what’s available for you.

First, let’s take a look at some of the digital products available for Political Campaigns:

Native Ads
Mobile Conquesting
Video/OTT Ads (no YouTube)
HHIP Targeting
Facebook and Instagram
Display Ads
Geo-Framing Ads
SEO & Reputation Management

When it comes to deciding which product(s) make the most sense for your campaign, knowing the differences between them is vital.  Also, knowing how they are similar is just as important.

When it comes to the above mentioned products, Social Mirror Ads, Native Ads, Video/OTT Ads, and Display Ads all pull from the same list of targeting categories.  Here’s a list of some of the political categories you could choose from:

Now, let’s look at how they work.

Social Mirror

Social Mirror Ads look like posts from your Social Media page, but are ads that appear on thousands of websites and apps we have access to.  The ads can be single image, video, or event carousel.

When users click on the Call-To-Action button, it takes them to your website.  When users click on any of the social icons, it takes them to your Social Media page (like your Facebook page).  Click here to view a Social Mirror Ad in Action.

With Social Mirror Ads, you can target your audience using Behavioral Targeting (sample list used above), Keyword Targeting, Artificial Intelligence, and Retargeting.

Native Ads

Native Display or Video Ads go across all devices and match the look, feel and context of the website or app where they are seen, using targeting strategies.

These ad creatives could be any of hundreds of formats depending on the device and website or app where they are served.  What’s cool, is that they are created in real time to match the format of where it’s appearing.

Here are a few examples of what a Native Political Ad could look like:

Native Ads also use the same targeting strategies as Social Mirror: Behavioral Targeting, Keyword Targeting, Artificial Intelligence and Retargeting.  Native also has the ability to utilize Email Matching.  So, if you have an email database that you’ve collected or bought, you can utilize this strategy to target those email addresses when they are online.

Video/OTT Ads

Video can be Pre-Roll Ads that play before the content someone has clicked to watch and appear on websites or apps across all devices.  Video can also be Over-The-Top (OTT) video ads which are embedded into programming content people stream on their internet Connected TVs.

If you have video content, you definitely want to utilize it, no matter the platform you’re using.  From 2018 to 2020, political spending in online video grew 216%!

With Video Pre-Roll Ads, you can utilize the standard four strategies to target your specific audience: Behavioral Targeting, Keyword Targeting, Artificial Intelligence, and Retargeting.

OTT on the other hand only allows you the choices of Behavioral, Artificial Intelligence and Retargeting.  No Keyword option here.

Again, the Video/OTT options also utilize the same Behavioral Category options as Native Ads and Social Mirror Ads.

Display Ads

Display Ads are your typical “banner ads” that you see online.  They go across all devices, appearing on websites and apps, using targeting strategies.  These targeting strategies are the same four as previously mentioned: Behavioral Targeting, Keyword Targeting, Artificial Intelligence, and Retargeting.

Display Ads also use the same set of Behavioral Targeting categories as Social Mirror Ads, Native Ads, and Video/OTT Ads.

Do you know how many times voters are bombarded with direct mail pieces?  The answer is 24!  That’s the average number of political mail pieces received by registered voters.

With that being said, we have 2 digital options that are a great alternative to direct mail.   Consider these two options Direct Mail for the Internet.

Mobile Conquesting

Mobile Conquesting is using location based, demographic, and behavioral targeting to reach consumers with display and video ads on their mobile devices.

With Mobile Conquesting, there are many targeting strategy options available.  The first is Behavioral Targeting.  There are a lot of new categories that are available, including people that voted in specific elections.  Here’s a sample of some of the categories available to use in your campaign:

Also, there were some new categories that were just recently added, including those that voted in the 2020 General and Primary Election!

Another popular strategy within Mobile Conquesting is Address Targeting (Direct Mail for the Internet Option 1).  With Address Targeting, we’re able to utilize a database of physical addresses that the candidate or organization provides.  We then serve ads to those specific addresses when people are at those addresses, and continue to follow those people after they leave.  (*Note: You cannot use geo-fencing or geo-retargeting strategies around polling stations).

With Mobile Conquesting, there are 4 different ad sizes that would be put into rotation.  Here’s an example as to what they look like.

Household IP Targeting (Direct Mail for the Internet option 2)

Household IP Targeting is where we take a list of physical addresses, find their IP (internet) address, and show them your Display, Native, or Video ad only to those people, across ALL devices.

So, rather than using direct mail, which:

Poor frequency (one time shot)
Expensive to create and print
Expensive to mail
Easy to miss
Hard to tarck

Using either Mobile Conquesting Address Targeting or Household IP Targeting, you can reach your target audience many times (in some cases 25-50 times within a month).

Facebook

Facebook and Instagram is where a lot of changes have recently taken place.  In fact, it’s kind of its own world when it comes to digital advertising as a whole.

One of those changes is the placement of Facebook Ads.  Political Ads cannot run in Messenger, Facebook Marketplace, Facebook Audience Network, Facebook Stories, or Instant Articles.  I guess it’s easier to just say that Facebook has limited ad placement for political ads to ONLY Facebook and Instagram News Feed and Instagram Stories.

There is also a limit to the types of Ads you can run on Facebook.  You can run:

Single Image/Carousel Ads
Collection Ads
Event Response Ads (to help you promote your event)
Lead Ads

The biggest change that came to Facebook and Instagram is the availability of targeting categories.  Unfortunately, Facebook and Instagram don’t have the plethora of categories to choose from like some of the previous products.  In fact, the categories that are available are VERY broad.  Here’s an example of what some candidates use on Facebook:

What Facebook does still offer is the ability to utilize a database of yours to create a “Custom Audience” campaign.  This is where we can take the following info and show your ad ONLY to those people when they are on Facebook or Instagram:

List of Emails
List of Phone Numbers
Full names and Zips

Lastly, you have SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Geo-Framing.

SEO

This is not a form of digital advertising, but the practice of improving and promoting a website to increase the number of visitors the site receives from search engines.  This process is going to allow users to find your website (about you or your causes) organically through searching on Google.

Geo-Framing

This is definitely one of the more niche products out there that can be used to go back in time to previous events where we have captured people’s mobile device ID’s, map those to their homes, and then show them the ads across all devices.

Now that you are a little familiar with some of your options in regard to which digital product(s) you may use for your campaign, let’s talk about some important information to know about political campaigns and digital advertising.

To run ads for Display, Mobile Conquesting, Household IP Targeting, Native Ads, Video or OTT Ads, and Social Mirror, information about the candidate or organization needs to be confirmed.  Here’s the info that they are looking for:

(* indicates a mandatory field):

U.S. FEC Identification Number:
Organization Name*:
Address*:
City*:
State, Province, or Region*:
Zip or Postal Code*:
Country*:
Phone*:
Independent Expenditure Committee: Yes or No? (A political committee that makes only independent expenditures: it spends money on political communications that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate and does not coordinate with a candidate, a candidate’s authorized committee, or an agent of the candidate.)
Treasurer Name*: (Treasurer for the campaign purchasing the ads)
Subject of the Ads*: (The candidate or ballot initiative that is supported or opposed)
Campaign creative must include a “Paid for by” on the ad

When it comes to Facebook, there’s a little more information needed:

(* indicates a mandatory field):

Organization Name*:
Street address*:
Street address 2:
City*:
State/Province/Region*:
ZIP/Postal code*:
Organization phone*:
Email*: (Must have the same domain as the website and you’ll need access to the inbox)
Website*: (Must have the same domain as the email)
Treasurer Name:
Director Name:
Point of Contact:
Committee ID:
Confirm your connection to your organization via email and phone.  You will receive an email or call (we will let you know which one) to the provided email or phone and will receive a confirmation code.  We need that code passed along to us within 24 hours.
Review your information and submit disclaimer.  We will submit this on your behalf and use this disclaimer for all Social ads.
Provide us with your campaign creative.  The images and text do not need a “Paid for by” disclaimer – a disclaimer is automatically added to your ad using the organization information provided above.

A few additional key points to be aware of:

We no longer purchase political ads for PPC or YouTube, although a candidate can purchase directly for themselves.
Political ads are not permitted in certain areas depending on the topic of the ad. It’s important to have a “paid for by” disclaimer to get the ad approved.  Otherwise, you can run political ads within Google as long as you comply with regional policies.  The restrictions are (* indicates a mandatory field):
No ads in Washington state due to a campaign finance law with stringent reporting guidelines.
In Nevada you are not allowed to run ads related to ballot measures and candidates for state and local elections.
In New York you must fill out the following information:
Name of your registered independent expenditure committee. * This must match the name on the registration document that has been filed with the New York State Board of Elections.
Name of authorized representative*
Contact email*
In New Jersey you are not allowed to run ads related to ballot measures and candidates for state and local elections.
In Maryland you are not allowed to run ads related to ballot measures and candidates for state and local elections.
Our Online Audio does not accept Political ads

As you can see, there are a lot of options when it comes to placing ads for your candidate or your organization during political seasons.  There’s also a lot of information that is needed in order to run the campaign.   Don’t count all of your ballots yourself.  Allow a team that knows the ins and outs of political advertising help you win your election!

The post Using digital advertising for political campaigns appeared first on Vici Media.

What Goes Into An SEO Campaign?

It’s crazy to think that you can have a full-blown conversation these days with just letters. Have we come that lazy that we can’t type out “by the way” and instead just type BTW? The answer, sadly, is yes. When texting or emailing, acronyms have become the norm. Some that you might be familiar with are ROFL, LOL, ICYMI, LMK, NVM, IDK, HBU, TBH, SMH, B4N, and FTW. Another one that we use quite often with digital, is SEO.

SEO is an acronym and stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is the practice of improving and promoting a website in order to increase the number of visitors that a site receives from various search engines, primarily Google. Unlike some other digital products that drive website traffic, or result in high conversion rates, SEO is a slow and steady process. It takes time for optimizations to kick in because there are over 200 different factors that are constantly changing that Google looks at when determining where a website should rank.

When we are looking at how to increase the ranking of a website, we are making changes on the actual website (on-page factors), and also off the website (off-page factors).

Because SEO is a process where you aren’t going to see drastic changes overnight, here is an outline on what our team is doing over the course of a six-month campaign, along with when it is taking place.

When doing the SEO Audit, we are looking at a comprehensive review of the entire website from an SEO perspective; so we’re looking at the site from a 10,000 view and focusing on the following elements:

Historical website traffic
Where traffic comes from
Average Organic traffic
Landing Page traffic
Website demographics
Where visitors live
Business Knowledge graph
Top keywords/opportunities
Keyword rankings by geo
On-site website issues
Website speed of loading
Mobile issues
Website content & layout eval
Action plan of what to do

Once the campaign begins, the client will receive detailed monthly reports explaining what changes were made over the course of the month, and how they compared to the previous month.

One of the most detailed ranking reports in the industry is the Ranking Analysis. Our ranking report analyzes where the site ranks across your region and provides information of the site rank in Google by keywords and zip codes in an easy to read and understand chart. This analysis is done in the first two weeks of the campaign, and then again after the third and sixth month.

Every other week throughout the campaign we will be performing an Analytics Analysis and a Google Search Console Analysis. The Analytics Analysis is a review of the sites analytics data and some of the metrics that we are looking at for here include traffic history, a review of traffic sources, the geography of the traffic, and site usage. For the Google Search Console Analysis, it’s a review of the data found in the Google Search Console which yields an understanding of the sites overall health and how Google views that particular site. The Google Search Console data also provides a look at what keywords are driving users to the site, and what rank the site is for those keywords.

When the campaign starts after the initial audit, we are consistently optimizing keywords. “Keywords” is a popular term when referenced in the digital realm, but we’re not talking about keyword advertising here. The keywords we’re referring to with SEO are words that are placed on the website that are utilized to help connect search engines to that website. It sounds pretty easy and self-explanatory, but believe it or not, there is an art and a strategy to this so you don’t want to just put a bunch of keywords on a site. We’re also going to be looking at the quality and freshness of the content on the site. This is an important piece of the puzzle because you want to make sure the website is active and that it’s up to date; Google wants to see that people are visiting the site and that it’s being updated regularly. Some ideas on how to do that could be posting weekly blogs, or updating photos, or even updating menu items. We won’t create the actual content, but we will make suggestions based on what is going to get higher search traffic for certain keywords, and then optimize those keywords for when that content has been published.

Internal Linking Optimization is done every two weeks and what we are doing here is adjusting the internal links to maximize their value. Internal links are links between your own pages, and links from the main navigation. This helps Google to understand what’s important on the site, and also refers to the amount of traffic on the website and the amount of quality links coming into that website. Content Analysis is another key component or SEO because we analyze the content on a web page to understand if it is sufficient to rank in Google. We also look at what other pages or articles a site might need to drive more traffic.

Technical Optimization, which is done in the third and fourth week of the campaign and then again once a month, refers to the review and optimization of on-site technical factors that can help improve the rank. This includes things like site speed, crawlability, use of microdata, and more. If you want a quick peek behind the curtain, a fun tool to use to see how a website speed ranks is to use https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/feature/testmysite/ Using this website will give you a baseline for how your site speed ranks and whether Google thinks it’s too slow or not. Pages that are loading too slow are going to have a lower ranking, and pages that load faster will rank higher in the organic listings because search engines want browsers to be able to find exactly what they’re looking for, as fast as possible. Google recommends as a best practice that a site loads in under three seconds. More than half of visits are abandoned if a mobile website takes more than three seconds to load.

One of the most valuable tools that comes with an SEO campaign is access to the Reputation Management platform. This is a dashboard the business can access and it’s going to act as a listening tool. Through this dashboard, the business can see and monitor what is being said about them online, what listings on the internet have the correct and incorrect information listed, questions and answers that consumers have for that business, mentions of their business on the web, and they can also monitor their competition. The dashboard is always available to access and is constantly being updated.

Review Widgets and Business Listings are also two tools that are accessible during the campaign. For the review widgets, we will use the Reputation Management platform to solicit reviews via email from previous customers. We will send out personalized emails to specific email addresses and ask them if they had a positive experience. If they did, we will ask them to share that onto other review websites which will help their SEO ranking. We can also install a review widget right on the website that will prompting people to leave a review to be displayed right on the business’ website, also aiding in the SEO process.

The last piece of the puzzle to wrap up what we are going to focus on with an SEO campaign is to optimize the Google Business Profile. With the business listings, we are monitoring and updating the websites Name, Address, and Phone number (also known as “NAP”- another acronym for you) as they appear on 3rd party business listings sites like Yelp, Bing, Google and more. The accuracy and completeness of these listings will also impact the ranking of the site.

Being as high up as possible on the Google Search Engine Results Page (or the SERP) is important because 76% of Google searchers clicked on one of the first three organic results, and less 1% of Google Searchers clicked on something from Page 2 of the search results. Those three little letters, SEO, can have a significant impact on the success of a business, so it is very important to make sure it is being maintained properly.

One last acronym for you to decipher is pictured below, and I don’t know if I should be proud of myself or embarrassed that I was able to immediately figure it out.

The post What Goes Into An SEO Campaign? appeared first on Vici Media.

How can I use Social Media Stories to promote my business?

Storytelling, one of society’s greatest tools in sharing the narrative that you want people to understand, has changed a lot since the days of fireside chats and Shakespearean stages.    If fact, stories in general have, in my opinion, been lost unless they are written in the pages of books.

While the art of storytelling has reemerged over the last 6 years, the delivery method has changed.  We now have the ability to share our stories, and businesses can share their stories, through the use of Facebook and Instagram Stories Ads.

On August 2nd, 2016, Instagram created a feature (some say out of SnapChat’s success and to extend the longevity of the Facebook companies) that lets you share all of the moments of your day, not just the ones you want to keep on your profile.  It allows for you to add text, use drawing tools and really bring your story to life.  These stories disappear after 24 hours.  Then, the following March (2017), Facebook introduced Stories as well.

As a business owner, you now have the opportunity to share your story through Social Media stories.  Let’s take a look at how they work and then why they work.

Facebook Stories Ads

Facebook Stories appear at the top of the News Feed.  Your ad can appear between people’s “stories”, which are photos and/or videos that disappear after 24 hours.  The ad that appears uses the same creative as your Facebook News Feed campaign, but it’s just formatted slightly different.

Instagram Stories Ads 

Since Meta owns both Facebook and Instagram, the Instagram Stories Ads actually work the same exact way as the Facebook Stories Ads do.  Instagram, though, is mainly a mobile app only (although technically it can be accessed via laptop or desktop).  According to Facebook, 1/3 of the most viewed Instragram Stories are from businesses.

Why do people love stories?

They are immersive. They are authentic. They’re inclusive.  They’re had to get enough of.  Also, stories match how people are already interacting with their phones. With most people holding their phones vertical, the stories are optimized for a vertical, full-screen view that allows people to enjoy videos quickly, and naturally.

What makes stories ads work for businesses?

Stories stoke customer interest.  They give you a place to share your business message through video to engaged audiences.

Stories inspire action.  After seeing a stories ad, 50% of viewers visited websites where they could buy it and 31% have gone to a store to check it out.

One of the greatest benefits of using Facebook/Instagram Stories Ads is being able to take advantage of all of their targeting capabilities, as their Stories Ads can be targeted in the same manner as their News Feed Ads.

We now know about Facebook and Instagram Stories.  We also know that the growth of Social Media is always on the move.   Now, let’s introduce you to Social Mirror Stories Ads!

Social Mirror Stories Ads are brand new and are one of the creative strategies when using Social Mirror.

When someone clicks on the Stories Ad call-to-action button, logo, name or image, it will take the user to your website (not the social platform).  Your stories ads can be a combination of up to 10 different display images and/or videos with sound (less than 15 seconds), and each one can have different text description.

Keeping the creative process simple, we just ask for the elements or an existing post that you want to mirror.  Then, we create the ad to look like social stories (except no social icons appear on the stories ads) and… these stories run on thousands of websites and apps (NOT on social media).

These ads have several engagement opportunities:

Clicking on the logo or advertiser name is going to take the user to the advertiser’s website
Tapping on the right side of the story, will take the user to the next slide of the ad
Tapping on the left side of the story, will take the user to the previous slide of the ad or start over
Tapping and holding will allow the user to pause the story
Tapping on the last slide will take the user to the advertiser’s website

Some additional info about Social Mirror Stories Ads:

Each slide of the stories ad can have a different description, and the call-to-action button, if clicked, will take the user to the advertiser’s website, as do clicks on the image.
Clicking on the sound button allows the user to unmute the story (if you are using sound)
These Stories Ads can be done in combination with Social Mirror regular ads

Benefits of Social Mirror Stories Ads:

Using the same post from one of the 8 major social media platforms, we can create 2 different types of ads so you can A/B test. First, we’ll create your standard Social Mirror Ad, and then we’ll also create a Stories Ad from the same post.

If Stories Ads are an opportunity you want to take advantage of to help promote your brand or your business, here are a few takeaway tips for creative:

Make it count: Stories only last for 15 seconds, which means you want to get your point across quicky.
Be original: Use original content
Know your goal: Keep the focus of your ad at the center of your ad creative
Don’t tell: Use a story to show how to use your product. Tutuorials or videos showing people using your product in fun and creative ways have show to catch people’s attention.

The art of storytelling has never died. It’s just reimagined itself to a new delivery method.  Whether you’re choosing Facebook Stories, Instagram Stories, or now the new Social Mirror Stories, let your potential customers become fascinated by the story you tell about your business.

The post How can I use Social Media Stories to promote my business? appeared first on Vici Media.

OTT/Connected TV AND On-Site Visit Tracking has ARRIVED

When I was younger, ok MUCH younger, I used to watch the Jetsons during Saturday morning cartoons. If you are not familiar, the Jetsons was about a futuristic family that premiered in 1962 and it was set 100 years in the future, so 2062. So, what did the Jetsons predict that is already here in 2021? Well, things like video calls and robotic vacuums to start. Smart Watches and Flat screen TVs as well. Crazy back then, common place now!   A handful of years ago, while running a digital marketing training session, I had my own Jetsons moment. I said something like, “I believe we will see a day where we can marry online behavior with offline behavior and be able to track ROI by showing people who saw an ad, and then came to the advertisers store.” It was mind blowing to think about back then. Now, it is an absolute reality.  We already have this technology in place with one product at Vici called Mobile Conquesting, however we are about to blow minds again when we launch something totally new and different that will also marry online and offline behavior. Enter: OTT with Visit Tracking!

Let me briefly introduce you a rollout coming late October to all Vici partners, OTT with Visit Tracking!

So how does it work?

Step one: We build an audience based on where people have been. Take me for example, today I have been to my local Starbucks, my local Mercedes car dealership, and I also dropped my dog off for a grooming appointment. If you were trying to reach “coffee lovers” or “pet owners” or “people interested in luxury vehicles” you could target me based on where I have been (with my phone of course, I have not been microchipped…yet ).

Step two: We get more techy. Because I had my phone with me, my device id, say Mobile ID1234 was tracked at Mercedes, which means I am now in the targeting category of “In market for luxury auto” audience through a patented technology called blueprinting. All because I was at Mercedes dealership. Through another technology layer, we can see Mobile ID1234 is tied to my household IP address of 12.34.56. A match has been made and BOOM, another way to target. Magic! Okay not really magic, but now I am synched and primed for step three.

Step three: Now because of where I was and where I live, I might be served an ad for a local Audi dealership because they are targeting people “in-market for luxury auto” – while streaming and watching a show on my Connected TV (remember this type of advertising in streaming video is also called Over The Top or OTT). Let’s say this ad is for a new luxury SUV and it inspires me enough to go check it out.

Step four: I go with my mobile phone (remember I’m Mobile ID1234 and I never leave home without my mobile device) to the Audi dealership. I am now tracked as a visit and that visit is attributed to the OTT campaign the Audi dealership is running. Done. This technology is validated by a 3rd party insights company to verify the precision of data at retailers. This data is utilized by comScore for their metrics and it the best in the industry. In August 2021, our visits are now also Media Rating Council (MRC) Accredited.

Insane!! And that is just one example. We have been busy testing this product and here are a few client campaigns that have used OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking very successfully.

Success Story #1:

On-Site Visits Can Be Tracked For People Who Have Been Served Your Ad

We can track people who see the ad and then come to your business within two weeks, and show that on your monthly reports

Home Furnishings Store sees a spike in visits from OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking

Retail – Home Furnishings

Background:
A Home Furnishings chain with two store locations specializing in every type
of furnishings needed for a home. From furniture, mattresses, bedding, rugs,
lighting and more, there was one goal.  It was to expand their reach to an already successful digital campaign. Previously their advertising had included Amazon Video Targeting and Mobile Conquesting Display & Video.  Amazon Video Targeting is using Amazon targeting data to reach people with video and OTT ads on Amazon owned properties and thousands of other websites and apps Amazon has partnered with, across all devices. Mobile Conquesting allows us to reach people with display and video ads on their mobile devices using targeting strategies including Behavioral, Geo-Fencing and Geo-Retargeting.

Strategy:

With Video being a predominant part of their messaging, adding OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking was a natural fit. This product allows us to target specific individuals on their Connected TV devices. (Our OTT inventory is served 100% on Connected TVs.) Then utilizing mobile tracking, it can also track “on-site” visit data of people who saw their video ads and then visited one of their locations. That was important to the client to track ROI and was one KPI. The behavioral targeting included the same audience and categories like, “In-Market for Home Furniture, Mattress, Recently Moved and Home Remodeling” with the addition of Artificial Intelligence to  narrow in on their target.

Results:
The results for this campaign were HUGE!  After the addition of  OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking, they saw a total of 166 verified store visits across their two locations. For a verified visit to be counted, a consumer must be served an ad, then visit one of the client’s locations within two weeks of being served an ad, have locations settings enabled on their phone and be actively browsing online. Plus, we verify all visit data using a two-prong approach, using Numerator and Media Rating Council for accuracy. With all this in mind, the visit data was remarkable. The client was so happy they have decided to renew this campaign again.

Success Story #2:

Sporting Goods And Outdoor Retailer Harnesses The Power Of Connected TV To Drive Sales And In-Store Traffic.

Client:  Regional Sporting Goods Store

Category:  Retail

Background: 

The client is a large sporting goods retailer with 5 stores in the local area. They initially launched a campaign using Facebook-Instagram and Mobile Conquesting. The targeting strategies consisted of Behavioral Targeting, and Retargeting. The primary target audience they were looking to engage were active consumers who loved the outdoors. A Key Performance Indicator they wanted to track was In-Store Visits. Through Behavioral Targeting, we were able to target Adults 18+, Parents with young children, parents with preteens, parents with teenagers, outdoor enthusiasts, sports and sports equipment, online shoppers and interests in camping, fishing and hunting.

Strategy:

After their initial campaign, they added in OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking to monitor how many people saw their ad on a Connected TV and then subsequently walked into one of their store locations. OTT is an umbrella term for video programming transmitted via the Internet that bypasses traditional cable or broadcast (linear) distribution. Our OTT inventory is served 100% on Connected TVs. We were able to capture how many people saw the client’s OTT ad, and then went to any of their locations within a two-week period. By using a third-party insights company called Numerator, we were able to verify the accuracy of visits for targeting and measuring the campaigns performance. We also used Behavioral Targeting and targeted some competitors in the area with Geo-Fencing as well as Geo-Retargeting with our Mobile Conquesting display product.

Results:

The initial campaign delivered a 0.53% CTR and in one month of running OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking, plus delivered 38 verified visits to the 5 locations We were the first provider to link OTT to physical in-store visits so the Sporting Goods retailer could easily see their ROI.

Success Story #3:

Health & Fitness Campaign Success Story:

Build Relationship, Gain Trust & Recommend New Strategies

Category: Health & Fitness

Background:

A wellness membership specializing in medical weight loss, regenerative therapy, physical therapy, massage therapy as well as games, health, and fitness for kids, wanted design a strategic digital campaign to promote their brand.  The overall goal for this campaign was to increase attendance in their summer youth programs for kids.  From sports camps and swim lessons, to birthday parties and summer pre-school, the goal was to drive top of mind awareness amongst parents in their region.

Strategy:

During the first month of their campaign, the client initially marketed with OTT, Mobile Conquesting + Cross Platform Targeting, and Native Ads.  Being able to target the parents that were streaming was a big focus for this center.  In addition, they also wanted to track on-site visits.  At the start of month two, we added in OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking as an additional product. 

Results:

After the first 3 months, the campaign served over 500,000 impressions, sending 1,250 people to their website.  The OTT itself delivered a 95.99% completion rate and was able to verify 20 visits during that time of people who saw the client’s OTT ad while streaming video and then walked into one of their locations. After month 3, the client was so pleased with the engagement they renewed for another 4 months.

Get excited, the official rollout is October 27th!

The post OTT/Connected TV AND On-Site Visit Tracking has ARRIVED appeared first on Vici Media.

Are You Using Digital for Recruitment?

R-E-C-R-U-I-T- Find out how to do it dig-it-tal-ly! It seems like no matter where you’re going these days, you’re constantly seeing signs hanging in the windows or in the ground outside a business stating, “We’re Hiring” or “Apply Here” or “Join Our Team.”  I’ve seen it everywhere; the grocery store, local restaurants, trucking companies, drug stores, and hair salons. That is just one way that businesses are looking for help. Other avenues they might choose to look at for gaining new employees could be radio ads, TV ads, referral incentives with current employees, and digital ads. There are many perks to using digital as the medium to reach future employees, and it also allows businesses to reach a targeted audience with diverse digital products using targeting strategies.

Now before you go diving into the digital realm and placing ads to fill open positions, it is important to make sure that you have a good foundation set in place so that when users see your ad, they are intrigued to learn more and continue to take that next step. For example:

89% of job seekers agree that an employer’s career website is important for finding key information
Job ads that include a salary range for the job role got 75% more engagement than the job ads that don’t
51% of job seekers are more attracted to an organization that had posted job listings with visual elements (such as images, videos, or both) than to others that didn’t

The first thing you want to make sure when advertising for positions within your company, is to never land a user on the homepage. Why? If I see an ad for a certain position and I click on it, I expect to be brought to that particular job listing/posting, or at least a careers page.

One thing to be cautious of, however, is you don’t want to lead people to then fill out an application and land them on a page that looks like this:

I clicked on the ad because you piqued my interest and now I want to know more. What are the qualifications of the job? What is the salary? What are the requirements? What shift is it? I am not ready to apply to this position that I just saw briefly in the ad; I now want more information and that’s what that landing page should be about.

The next things to consider are, what exactly is that information that a job seeker wants to see? Give the old “elevator pitch” on your company. Talk about the company history, what makes you different than your competitors, what are your company values? Believe it or not, almost 70% of workers want a career change and say they’d take a better work-life balance over higher pay. Mention the fringe benefits that you might offer such as health insurance, company car, vacation time, etc. Some other tips to get that landing page to garner more applicants is to show photos or videos of your staff in real work situations or even outside-of-work gatherings like an employee appreciation luncheon or a holiday party. The candidate application rate goes up by 34% when a job post includes a video. Give a glimpse into what the real-life work culture is like.

This is also a great opportunity to brag about your company. What are the best things about your company? What awards for employee retention or workplace environment have you won? What do current employees say about working there? You’re also allowed to be picky with who you’re looking for, so list the attributes and qualities of the type of person you want to hire. Then last, but certainly not least, you want to have a very thorough job description of the open position(s) that you’re hiring for and explain what the hiring process is like so the applicant has an idea of what kind of timeline they are looking at.

This is all information that you want to include on that landing page so once someone sees the ad and clicks on it, this is what they are seeing. Here is an example of a solid landing page for recruitment from a company named TaskRabbit that lists all the elements that we just went through:

Digital ad campaigns drive awareness, engagement, and strong applicant flow, so now that we have a solid foundation for when job seekers see the ad and click on it, let’s talk about the different types of digital advertising that works well for recruitment:

Facebook and Instagram
Social Mirror
Mobile Conquesting
Video Ads
Native Ads
Display Ads
Amazon
Online Audio
Google Pay-Per-Click

The goal of the campaign is going to help be a deciding factor when determining what product(s) are the best to use for that particular recruitment campaign. If the goal is to find part-time workers, college aged students, to fill entry level positions, or attract those with general skills, the two best products would be Facebook and Instagram, and Social Mirror.  These two products allow for a little more flexibility with how much text is allowed in those ads, and they also typically drive higher conversion rates.

Now, when we are looking at Facebook and Instagram for recruitment, you want to keep in mind that there are restrictions when it comes to how we are targeting job seekers. For example, if you are looking for a very highly specialized type of person like a mechanical engineer, you can’t target by that job description for recruitment. That is one reason we recommend using Facebook and Instagram for more general positions that have more mass appeal. Because of the restrictions in targeting specific job titles on Facebook or Instagram we recommend other digital products if you need to find someone highly specialized.

If the goal of a campaign is to target a highly specific type of worker or a certain type of profession, then you’ll want to look at running Video, Social Mirror, Native, and/or Display Ads. All of these products have over 100,000 categories that we can target by, including B2B and Recruitment categories. With the recruitment specific categories, that allows us to target people of a certain skill, or by specific job titles. We can also utilize Keyword Targeting, Artificial Intelligence, and Retargeting with those products.

So for the example ad above we were able to target people who had job titles such as Security Guard, Police Officer, Corrections Officer.

Now maybe you’re a business that is trying to fill more blue-collar type positions or trying to reach Moms, fast food workers, or want to target employees at a competitor’s location.  This is where you’ll want to utilize Mobile Conquesting.  With this product we can target by Online and Offline Behaviors, and we can also use Geo-Fencing and Geo-Retargeting to reach potential employees at their current place of employment.  With Mobile Conquesting, keep in mind that most people are typically applying for jobs on larger devices like laptops and desktops. They might see the ad on their mobile device and then later go to their desktop to read more about the position and apply, which is going to cause the conversion rate to be lower for Mobile Conquesting.  Something that will help increase those conversion numbers would be adding in Cross Platform Targeting where we are now following people who have been served the mobile ads (whether they clicked on the ad or not), onto other ad platforms on ANY devices they use.

So maybe I see an ad for Infinity on my phone while I’m at work, but I don’t want to apply while I am work, so I don’t click on it. Later that night I go home and get on my desktop and now I have the potential to see that same ad on my desktop. Cross Platform ads can be Display, Native Display, Video Pre-Roll, Facebook and Instagram, and Social Mirror Ads.

If a company is looking to do a recruitment campaign that is tailored more towards driving traffic to their website or reaching a wide audience or increasing branding and awareness, some products to consider would be Amazon Targeting Ads, Online Audio, and/or Google Pay-Per-Click (aka Google Ads). These products would be good for a business that wants to get their name out there for reaching a large, vast audience. With Amazon, we can target by behaviors, or maybe they have a list of people that have applied for positions in the past. We can use that list and serve ads to people while they’re on Amazon.com, using Amazon owned properties (IMDb.com, IMDb TV, Fire TV), and across Amazon Publishers.

Online Audio is a great way to reach individuals who are currently employed and not actively looking for a new job, but who may be open to a good career opportunity if one came along. This audience is also known as a “passive job seeker”. You might be able to grab their attention with an Online Audio ad while they are sitting at their desk at work. They hear that ad after having a not so pleasant encounter with their boss, and then check out the website to get more information.

Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads are going to be a good fit for businesses that have a lot of brand recognition and a larger budget. Using PPC as a strategy for recruitment can get expensive because it can become a challenge to keep the cost per click low when using certain search terms like “new career”, “now hiring”, “recruitment”, and “job openings”. Since these words are considered competitive keywords, they are going to cost more to bid on which can chip away at a budget quickly.

As I stated earlier, there are a lot of businesses with open positions to fill these days in all different types of the workforce, but how do you make it so your ads capture someone’s attention and not your competitors? It is found that 95% of purchasing decisions are subconscious, and reaching someone for job opportunities isn’t any different. Take a look at this for example:

People are spending more money on things that have been branded for certain feelings, emotions, or status symbols. Starbucks isn’t the best cup of coffee, but it’s been branded as a coffee that makes you feel happy. When you see someone wearing a Lacoste shirt, you immediately think “Wow, they spent a lot of money on that shirt” and it becomes a status symbol. Recruitment advertising is the same type of situation. You want to relate to people on an emotional level. I saw a video recruitment ad for a trucking company that hit the nail on the head. They were looking for drivers and they did a video with a high school aged girl talking about her dad always missing family dinners, her volleyball games and track meets because he was on the road working. She then went on to say that ever since he started working at “XYZ Trucking”, he’s been home every night to enjoy family dinner, and he is there to watch her volleyball games and track meets. I am not even looking for a new job, but that video ad speaks to me!

People will not only purchase goods and services based on emotions, but they will also make big life changes based on emotions and that ad right there was a great example of using emotion to reach someone. I’ll leave you with some other clever ads that are making that business stand apart from their competitors by grabbing the attention of job seekers using humor:

The post Are You Using Digital for Recruitment? appeared first on Vici Media.

What Is Twitch And How Do I Use It For My Video Ads?

Sometimes it happens when I’m stressed. Sometimes it happens when my husband leaves his dirty clothes RIGHT next to the laundry basket. Sometimes it happens when I’ve had too much caffeine. We’ve all been there; we’ve all had an eye twitch at one time or another. Well, what if I told you we are now offering a new type of twitch, and it happens to be in the digital advertising world?

Twitch (also called Twitch TV) is the world’s leading live streaming platform for gamers and entertainment seekers and is owned by Amazon. The live streaming service once only for video game live streaming and e-sports competitions, now includes traditional sports, (the Olympics were on the platform in 2021), music broadcasts, concerts, creative content, and “in real life” or IRL streams where you can watch people perform their everyday activities.

When Twitch was first described to me, I had no idea what it was, and the concept was hard for me to wrap my head around (whoa- I feel like my parents now). Think of Twitch as a lot of Facebook Live Streams (but on steroids), being more interactive, and offering ad space. The main demographic of those using this live streaming platform is a younger demo, with over 70% of users falling within the 13-34 age range.

Twitch is a great product for businesses that are looking to reach that younger demographic, gamers, entertainment enthusiasts, males, and/or sports fans. Let me give you a quick rundown of the interface, what kind of ads run on Twitch, and where they appear.

If I wanted to hop onto Twitch and watch people while they are playing various games live, I could click on games and do just that.

After clicking on what type of category I want to watch, now I can choose what type of game I want to watch people play live and can interact with them through a live chat stream.

In the example above, if I want to watch the first choice, someone playing “New World”, I click on that and it will bring up the live steam of a person playing the game where I can now watch live, and can also interact with the gamer themselves, and other viewers with the chat stream.

From here, Twitch Web Video can show an ad prior to seeing content, and it counts down until the ad is over, which is an un-skippable ad. These video ads can be pre-roll or mid-roll:

The same experience occurs on the Twitch mobile app where an ad will appear and then the user sees the content:

Because these ads are un-skippable, there have extremely high completion rates with an average of 96% completion on our beta tests. For those that are less, it’s typically because someone exited out of the content and shut down their stream while an ad was playing. When you are talking to businesses about Twitch as an advertising platform, be sure to set those expectations and let them know they will not have a high click through rate (CTR), but with that comes a high completion rate, which means people are watching the ad in its entirety. Ads are clickable but it is mainly a branding platform.

Since Twitch is owned by Amazon, it will now be included in all of Vici’s Amazon Premium campaigns. At this time there isn’t enough inventory to run Twitch on its own due to limited ad space opportunities, so we include it in our Amazon Premium offering for video only. Amazon Premium is what we call all the placements that are available within the Amazon platform to serve ads- Amazon.com, other Amazon owned properties such as IMDb.com, IMDbTV and Fire TV, and Amazon Publishers. Amazon Publishers is a network of apps and websites that Amazon has partnered with, so ads can be seen on other websites and apps all while using Amazon targeting data. It will also follow the same type of restrictions as a regular Amazon campaign, but one difference is that they do allow real estate and recruitment ads.

Twitch video ads can be targeted through Behavioral Targeting and Retargeting, and ads can also appear on Twitch through a Custom Audience/Lookalike Amazon campaign.

In addition to all the Amazon targeting categories that are available to target users on Twitch there are also some additional new behavioral categories called “Twitch Audiences” which can run across Amazon Premium Display/Video/OTT. These are behavioral categories generated by the users on Twitch and targeting users both on and off Twitch.  New Behavioral Targeting categories include:

Twitch- Console Game Viewers
Twitch- Esports Viewers
Twitch- Game Viewers
Twitch- Mobile Game Viewers
Twitch- New Game Viewers
Twitch- Non Gaming Viewers
Twitch- PC Game Viewers
Twitch- Sports Viewers
Twitch- Top Game Viewers

When it comes to reporting for Twitch, there are two placements that will show if the ads were viewed on the Twitch mobile app or the Twitch website:

Now that we have a little bit of a foundation for what Twitch is and how it works, let’s talk about the benefits of utilizing it as an advertising platform and why advertisers should care. If a business is looking to reach the Millennial audience, especially males, this is absolutely a platform they want to take advantage of because 50% of millennial males in America use Twitch. There are also 15 million daily active users, 2.2+ million unique content creators per month, and people are watching 106 minutes of content per person, per day.

Twitch is more than a live streaming service; it’s a lifestyle. With the average person watching over 100 minutes per day, users are extremely loyal. By having a streaming service that centers around live interaction, it allows users to be “in the moment” and gather real reactions from players and other gamers. This is also a great way to enhance influencer marketing because they are establishing relationships with those gamers and other viewers, creating more loyalty.

Another benefit to advertising on Twitch is that it isn’t oversaturated. The platform itself has been around since 2011, but the user interface isn’t overloaded with ads, which allows for advertisers to reach an audience that might be untapped by your competitors. If you’re a business that is looking for a “new” audience, this is a great opportunity. A lack of saturation also means your ad will have more of impact on that audience and the possibility for a higher frequency.

With so many ways to advertise on the world wide web and through mobile apps, business owners should always be looking for the newest, latest and greatest way to reach new and existing customers, and Twitch is the perfect platform to achieve those goals.

The post What Is Twitch And How Do I Use It For My Video Ads? appeared first on Vici Media.