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.

OTT & On-Site Visit Tracking: Two Great Strategies Come Together

In my last blog OTT/Connected TV AND On-Site Visit Tracking has ARRIVED, I referenced the Jetsons and Saturday morning cartoons, which I know showed my age. If you are old enough to have experienced Saturday morning cartoons and the Jetsons, you may also recognize this next reference as well! During those Saturday morning cartoon marathons, we also had awesome commercials. Anyone remember the “You got your chocolate in my peanut butter?” Two fun young people walking the busy streets, both with a Walkman on, one eating peanut butter (because isn’t that a great on the go snack?) and one eating chocolate.  They round the corner and collide, and “Reese’s” is born with the tagline: “Two great tastes that taste great together!” The moral of this nostalgic memory is that some things just make other things better, and I would argue peanut butter is that thing. Am I right Jelly?

So, let’s now take something that is already good – OTT. OTT is already good, and if you do it with Vici, it is better than good, it is great! It is premium and desirable. Sort of like chocolate.

Now what if we add some PEANUT BUTTER. Okay, not actually peanut butter, because weird, right? But what if we add VISIT tracking to our OTT? BAM, something new and cool and I would argue delicious is born. OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking. Two great strategies that are even more impactful together!

Let’s break down how it works, and start with our definitions of OTT (Over the top), and what makes our OTT premium:

Now let’s talk about how you could use OTT and your Targeting Options for OTT Ads WITH On-Site Visit Tracking. It starts with Behavioral Targeting, but not with online behaviors, this is based on where people have been with their device.

Take my past weekend for example. On Friday night, I dropped my younger son and his friends at the movies, and I went shopping while they watched and hit several boutiques nearby. I attended a festival with friends on Saturday, full of live music and beautiful weather! On Sunday I did a Costco run, I hit my gym for a class, and then I was at soccer complex watching my older son play.  Because I had my phone with me the whole time (using RetailMeNot while shopping, snapping selfies at the festival, I used my shopping list app for Costco, I checked into the gym with my phone and I took a few videos of my son saving goals), I have put myself into several targeting categories based on my physical proximity like: Big Box Shopper, Fashion Shopper, Health Clubs and Gym, Live Event Attendee, Sport Enthusiasts.

From my movements and interests, my mobile ID can be mapped to my household IP address, and I can be targeted with ads that match my categories on my Connected TV. INSANE!

Now, let’s say my local grocery store is having a sale and they want to reach big box bargain hunters. Their marketing team can use this product to run an ad within a radius of their store, targeting my big box shopping behavior on my connected TV. If I am inspired to go to their location (with my phone and shopping list), I can be recorded as an on-site visit and shown on a monthly report to demonstrate ROI.  Incredible!

The official definition of OTT with In-Store Visit Tracking is showing your up to :30 OTT video ads to specific consumers on Connected TVs streaming programming and then tracking them if they come to your on-site location.

Here is a visual journey of what I just shared:

There are thousands of categories available to choose from, this is just a sample, and my weekend put me in more than a few of these:

Keep in mind we only run on 100% Connected TV’s and provide publisher reports each month.

If you want more specifics on how it works, let’s get technical: we use a cross-device graph (TapAd) to identify IP Addresses connected to CTV/OTT, Desktop and Mobile.  When that mobile device enters a Blueprinted location, that is recorded as a visit post ad exposure.

You may have more questions, and we have answers! In fact, for our Vici Partners, we have a whole new set of FAQ’s on this product. Here are a few:

Can you track conversions through a container tag with OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking?

No (same as our other OTT products) but we recommend tracking ROI through off-line visit tracking.

Is OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking 100% CTV like our other OTT?

Yes!

What’s the average CTR of OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking?

Because it’s connected TV devices only, the CTR is very low. Our average was .01% since most people can’t click through on a full-size TV screen.

Can I get a heat map of where my impressions ran?

Yes, with the location reports down to the zip code level.

Are OTT with Visit Tracking Ads skippable?

They are not unless you shut off your tv.

Are OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking Ads protected by DoubleVerify?

Yes they are.

What are additional reports I can request for OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking?

On-Site Visit Break Outs By Geo:
We can break out on-site visits by States, DMAs, or Zips Codes and also show impressions, clicks, as well as visits. (Keep in mind CTR for OTT with Visit Tracking is very minimal due to running 100% on CTV devices).

On-Site Visit Break Out By Location:
If a client is tracking visits to multiple locations, we can break out each location’s number of visits.

DNA Report By Click:
If we are Geo-Targeting areas (geo-targeting is targeting all devices in large geos), we can pull a DNA Report that shows top categories for people who were in the Geo-Fence that clicked on the ad. (Keep in mind CTR for OTT with Visit Tracking is very minimal due to running 100% on CTV devices).

DNA Report By On-Site Visit:
If we are Geo-Fencing areas (geo-targeting is targeting all devices in large geos), we can pull a DNA Report that shows top categories for people who saw the ad and then visited the client’s location.

Who validates our OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking visit data?

The technology is through Numerator, who in 2019 purchased Market Track and InfoScout, a third-party insights company built from the largest U.S. purchase panel to verify the precision and coverage of its 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.

Now we have a two-prong approach: Numerator measures our accuracy and MRC vetted our entire methodology/accuracy of visits for targeting and measuring campaign performance.

Our OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking is accredited for:

Visitation data set

Place data set (i.e., Blueprints)

Location data set (i.e., location accuracy)

Okay, so that was more than just a few FAQ’s! We are super excited about this new product. It is DVR proof, and it’s not something you have to watch 4 minutes of ads, it is a spot or two and then it’s back to content so you’ll see excellent completion rates. It’s extremely user friendly since there aren’t a lot of competing ads. We have blueprinted every major retailer in the U.S. and are actively adding other points of interest. On average we add 200,000 blueprints per month. We run 100% on connected TVs- full screen and because we run on full size TVs, CTRs are going to be low, so it’s always hard to track return on OTT.  That is- until we had visit tracking data! We can track the device in the household (their phone) who is served the connected TV ad who then walks onto your clients’ locations.

So there you have it. Modern day version of two great tastes that taste great together, now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m craving a Reese’s.

The post OTT & On-Site Visit Tracking: Two Great Strategies Come Together appeared first on Vici Media.

What are LinkedIn Ads?

Have you ever wanted to reach a specific type of person at a specific business? Or wanted to try and recruit a specific job title or person in a certain field? Well, now you can with LinkendIn ads. With more than 72% of full-time employees on LinkedIn and 4 out of 5 people on LinkedIn “drive business decisions” it is a great place to be for B2B and Recruiting needs.

LinkedIn allows you to use the largest professional network to reach the people you want to target, in their News Feed and on the LinkedIn Audience Network, across all devices.

So let’s talk about all the options LinkedIn has to offer.

First, where do the ads run?

At Vici the ads can run in two places. The traditional News Feed and LinkedIn Audience Network. The News Feed is consistent with most social media platforms. When you log into the LinkedIn platform on your device, you naturally scroll top to bottom to see the latest posts and news. Ads will appear along that feed to targeted individuals. The ads include a Call-To-Action button and Like, Comment, Share, and Send buttons. Advertisers also have the option to add placement in the LinkedIn Audience Network. Much like the Facebook Audience Network (FAN), it enables you to extend the reach of your ads by delivering them beyond the LinkedIn News Feed, when members go onto other websites and apps who have partnered with LinkedIn. Examples of some of those partner websites and apps are Fox News, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Daily Mail, USA Today, Tech News and many more. It is recommended that the LinkedIn Audience Network is added to any campaign as it increases the ad reach by 25% and 2 x higher view thru rates.

Now, what kind of ads can I run?

LinkedIn has many ad types, again very similar to other social platforms. Allison- instead of a graphic with the blue underlines on it can you copy and paste the test? Also better for SEO.

There are four different types of LinkedIn ads.

Single Image Ad– LinkedIn Sponsored Content ads average 28x higher CTR than right-hand column text ads. *We do not run, Right-hand column text ads. They only show on desktops and do not perform well.
Video Ad– These ads run in the News Feed and auto start on mute as the person scrolls and the ad comes into view.  LinkedIn users are 20x more likely to re-share a video post.
Carousel Ad– This multi-image (display only) ads run in the News Feed.  Each image can link to a different page on your website.
Lead Ad– When clicked the ad opens to a lead generation form with the questions you select and pre-populates with the person’s contact info

Let’s talk targeting!

LinkedIn has several targeting options, it’s like winning the lottery for ad targeting.

The first option is Category Targeting. This is showing your ads to specific LinkedIn members by choosing targeting categories from information they have provided about themselves and their companies. There is a comprehensive list of targeting to choose from like, Member Age, Member Gender, Degrees- Any, Fields of Study- Any, Member Schools- Any, Job Seekers, Open to Education, Open to Relocation, Recently Promoted, Recently Relocated, Recently Switched Jobs, Job Titles- Any, Job experience and more! In addition to this, there is company targeting options like, By Company Name, By Company Size, By Company Category, By Company Connections, By Company Follower of, By Company Growth Rate and By Company Industries and more!

It is also one of the only digital products where you can PAIR your targeting for example:

Company Name (s) + HR Professionals or Industry Type + Job title. It makes targeting that specific individual even easier.

The next type of targeting available is Custom Audience Matching & Lookalike. This is showing your ads to LinkedIn members who match to a database list you provide and targeting a Lookalike audience of similar members. There are two options:

Member Contact List: That Includes At Least One of The Following Fields (the more fields the higher the match rate): Email address, First & Last Name, Job Title, Company
Company List: That Includes At Least One of The Following Fields (the more fields the higher the match rate): Company Name, Company Website, Company Email Domain, LinkedIn Company Page URL, Stock Symbol, Industry, Address

LinkedIn recommends a starting list of 10,000 entries, (requires a minimum of 1,000) and to run campaign 300 matches are needed. If your list has at least 300 matches, you can add a Lookalike Audience!

Lastly, we can also include Retargeting for LinkedIn ads. This is following people after they leave your website and showing them your ad when they go onto LinkedIn and the LinkedIn Audience Network (if desired). Retargeting assists with frequency on a campaign to drive web conversions. 98% of web traffic does not convert on their initial web visit.

With 50% of companies using LinkedIn for marketing exposure, it begs the question, “Does it really work?” And the answer is, “Yes it does!” Research has found the LinkedIn is 277% more effective at generating leads over Facebook and Twitter. And lead conversion rates are 3 x higher than other major ad platforms like Google Ads.

Plus at Vici, we have had our success stories to share.

The first success story is for a transportation company that was trying to target a niche audience.  National transportation and logistics company was looking to reach decision-makers in logistics and supply chain managers to launch its newly designed fleet. Digital had not been something this company had utilized in the past because they felt their audience could not be reached this way.In order to reach a specific niche audience of business type + job title as well as an existing database of prospects the client had, LinkedIn Custom Audience matching and LinkedIn Member Targeting was recommended.  Ad creative included a combination of LinkedIn video to visually showcase the new fleet advantages as well as single image and carousel ads highlighting multiple features for the transportation of bulk products.

The results from this campaign were through the roof! The campaign averaged a .51% click-thru rate across three months. And in 3 months’ time, it yielded over 1800 click conversions and over 2,000 view thru conversions. Conversions included going to specific fleet web pages, the company page to learn more about them and most importantly many conversions to the Contact Us page. Ultimately the campaign yielded a great amount of exposure to a captive audience to assist in the sales process and many sales contacts and leads.

The next success story was for utilizing LinkedIn for recruiting for a Building Supply and Construction company. A dominant and innovative leader in the building supply sector shifts its focus to online marketing with a primary focus on B2B targeting contractors and builders. A second strategy was also launched to recruit hourly workers at multiple locations and improve and grow the flow of applicants.   The goals were the following: Drive awareness with Contractors and builders, attract new employees, engage them after they leave the “careers page” on the site, increase/improve the quality of applicants.

A comprehensive online campaign was designed and launched in the Summer of 2021. The primary target was builders and contractors targeting specific zip codes and using Native Display-Mobile Conquesting – OTT/Pre-Roll Video and Social. Each month there were approximately 300,000 ads served and the CTR for all tactics was in the 0.30% range or 4x the national average. The campaign was performing so well, a decision was then made to use LinkedIn to bolster their recruitment efforts and drive awareness- applicant consideration and engagement.  The target profile were those unemployed or employed part-time, high school grads or job seekers who were looking for entry-level positions and a company that would provide training and development. Conversions being tracked were visits to the “Careers” page on the website as well as overall applications.

The LinkedIn recruitment campaign results just in the first month, saw great traction. It ran for one month and served 62,222 ads with  an engagement rate of 0.39% or 5.5x the national average.  In addition, the client saw 28 post click conversions and 64 “View Through” conversions. The client was very happy with the engagement and saw an increase in applicant flow. In just it’s first month, the campaign contributed to hiring 4 new employees.

So if you have been searching for a new B2B or Recruitment digital tactic, look no further.

The post What are LinkedIn Ads? appeared first on Vici Media.

How To Use Digital Ads To Target Travelers For Tourism & Travel Businesses

I’m leaving on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again. (Did you just reread that so you can sing it?)  OK, I’m not currently taking a trip, though that sounds amazing right now, but a lot of people are.

It’s no wonder that people who were homebound for a majority of 2020, had a lot of time to plan their next adventure.  So when local and state officials began easing travel restrictions and mask mandates, those adventures became a reality!

According to TSA, Memorial Day generated a 60% increase of consumers that traveled more than 50 miles from home in 2021 compared to 2020.  And, according to MediaRadar, air travel during that same time period was up 450% from 2020.  That math equates to 1.3 million people and an average of 52,947 people traveling through the airport that weekend alone.

The travel didn’t stop there.  The surge continued through July as 48 million Americans took to the roads during the 4th of July weekend, just shy of a 50% increase over 2020.

When it comes to advertising, Media Radar shows that travel brands spend more than $210 million in US Advertising during June alone, more than double what they spent in 2020.

If you are a business looking to target people interested in traveling for business or pleasure, digital advertising has excellent ways to reach them and access to strategies that can make your money work for you.  To do this, let’s look at a few key factors when it comes to travelers, both business and leisure.

Business Travelers.  What do we know about them?

They are Dependable. Typically business travelers are “regulars”.  Whether that’s once a quarter, or once a month.  Besides, business travelers usually travel year-
They are loyal. Once a business traveler gets used to a place, they will become loyal to that business.
They are easy to please. Business travelers usually have so much going on while they are traveling, they tend to overlook the fine-tuned details in exchange for good, convenient service.
They aren’t typically price sensitive because their company usually foots the bill, or at least part of it.
Business travelers don’t have a lot of time on their hands. So, they go for convenience.

Looking at the above pieces of information, the first strategy that comes to mind is Mobile Conquesting.  With the average business traveler checking their smartphone 34 times per day, this is a great place to reach them.

Once you’ve decided on the geographic area you want to target around your business, we’d first layer in behavioral categories to reach this audience.  Here are a few that would work well:

Business Traveler
Commuters
Frequent Travelers
International Travelers

Then, once we’ve got the behaviors locked in, the next strategy would be to add in some Geo-Fencing and Geo-Retargeting to target these travelers in specific locations.  For example, you could target hotels, airports, car rental agencies and be able to target these business travelers while they are inside of these locations and continue to serve them ads after they leave.

Remember, business travelers are all about location and convenience.  With this product, your ads can showcase how far the viewer of the ad is from your location withy dynamically updating ads.   The business traveler can see exactly how far they are from your location.

Another great aspect to this strategy is the ability to track on-site visits. One of the major key performance indicators (KPI) that sets our Mobile Conquesting apart is being able to track if someone saw an ad and physically walked into a client’s business, as long as their GPS is enabled. Typically, this data is tracked throughout the duration of the campaign, but we’ve found visits continue to happen days after a campaign has ended. To make sure we are capturing all information relevant to a campaign, we’ve extended all visit data to be tracked up to 14 days after a campaign has ended, so marketers can continue gathering data without the ad spend.

Now, let’s look at Leisure Travelers.  Here’s where the real fun and opportunity begins to unfold.  According to Waze, more people are driving today than even pre-pandemic, but their patterns are different.  “Commutes are way down, and leisure travel and weekend driving is way up.”

What are some of the best ways to reach Leisure Travelers? Social Media.  People on vacation are always sharing their experiences with friends and family through Facebook and Instagram.  Whether they’re updating their profile, sharing to their stories, or reading reviews on local businesses, people on vacation are spending time on Social Media.  That’s great news for you!

As you know, there are a LOT of places within the Facebook and Instagram platforms where you can advertise.

But, the question really come down to what type of messaging should you use.  Personally, I love carousel ads.

These ads allow you to highlight multiple services or attractions that may connect with different people.  As the user swipes (or clicks) through the carousel ad, they can find something that resonates with them.  Maybe it’s the happy hour special?  Maybe it’s the ATV rental?  Maybe it’s a specific display at the children’s museum?  A benefit to this type of ad is that each panel can link to a different page of your website.   Got different tours that you offer?  Have each panel link to that specific tour’s booking page.  A great way to make it easy for your soon to be customer to book a tour with you!

Also, if you’re a business that hosts events, using Event Response Ads are a great way to educate these travelers about events they may be interested in.   Event Response ads can work with all kinds of events because you get to choose the targeting criteria.   Facebook layers thousands of targeting categories according to who you want to reach, like where they are, their job title, their age, gender or interests,  to target potential attendees inside their News Feed.   When someone expresses interest in your event by clicking “Interested” on your ad, Facebook continues to remind those who are interested by posting alert reminders about the event as it draws closer.   Your event also will show up in those people’s friends News Feed as something they could be interested in.

When it comes to Facebook targeting, there are probably hundreds of ways to identify travelers.  Here are a few:

Adventure Travel

Air Travel

First Class Travel

Travel & Leisure

But then, think about the services/products that you offer.  For example, if you’re a restaurant, look at categories that make sense for restaurants:

Fast Casual Restaurant

Fast Food Restaurant

Or, if you’re in the outdoor adventure business, you could also target categories like:

Outdoor enthusiasts

ATV’s

Off Road Vehicles

As you can see there are a lot of ways that you can target on Facebook and Instagram.

What if you could plant a seed before someone starts their travel journey?  With talking to a local ski rental company in Colorado, we discovered that this was a target of many businesses that rely on the travelers to support their business.  So, whether you’re a hotel, an amusement park, or a conference center, one tactic that you can use to reach travelers before they travel, would be Social Mirror Ads.

Social Mirror ads look like your social media display or video posts but appear on other websites and apps, linking back to the social media platform and your website, and run across all devices using our targeting strategies. We are “mirroring” the EXACT look of your social post as an ad that runs on thousands of OTHER websites and apps, targeted just to the people you want to reach across all devices.

For this to work, you should know where (what city) the majority of your customers come from.  For instance, talking with this ski rental company, most of their clients came from Dallas/Ft. Worth, New York City, Tampa, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. One way to know this is to look at your Google Analytics Geo Report.

If you could get in front of them while they are searching for, or making travel plans, don’t you think that would increase the likelihood that they would do business for you?

Keyword Targeting is one of the strategies used with Social Mirror campaigns.  With Keyword Targeting, what we do is show your ad to people when they visit a website (or app) that contain keywords related to your business.

With this ski rental company, some of the keywords they wanted to focus on were Ski Resort, ski rentals, snowboards, winter gear, snowfall, and specific ski resorts within a certain distance.  If someone in Tampa was reading an article on ski resorts, this company could potentially have their ad showcased on that website and get that individual to think about traveling to Colorado and renting gear from them.

Keyword Advertising is only one of the strategies that Social Mirror has the ability to use.  You could also utilize Behavioral Targeting and target people interested in skiing, snow boarding, and outdoor enthusiasts.  You could utilize Artificial Intelligence to find people similar to those interacting with your ads (maybe those that just haven’t fallen into those behavioral categories yet).  You could also utilize Retargeting to follow those people that come to your website and leave without doing business with you.

No matter how you want to target the traveler (business or leisure), there are lots of ways that you can accomplish that.  Just keep in mind these few tips:

Know your target consumer. Do your homework and know who your customer is so you can target them better.
Social Media helps travelers find inspiration for their destinations and discover exciting activities and attractions.
Identify key moments on the booking journey. From dreaming about their vacation, to planning, booking, and actually being on vacation and experiencing their vacation, you can target them across all moments.
Know which devices they use and when. (think Mobile Conquesting)
Encourage your current patrons to leave reviews so when these travelers come in and do their homework, they see how great of a time others have experienced with you.

The post How To Use Digital Ads To Target Travelers For Tourism & Travel Businesses appeared first on Vici Media.

Are You Considering a New Digital Provider?

Are you an ad agency considering or perhaps re-evaluating how to manage all your digital advertising for clients? Whether you are a one-person agency, a startup, or a team of seasoned professionals, everyone reaches the point where they can not efficiently do it all on their own. Hiring and training staff members to specifically work on digital marketing can be time consuming, expensive, and extremely stressful. Oftentimes, you need several people with different talents to bring it in house. You need people in between full-time and part-time, and you also need them to be experts in a wide variety of digital strategies and execution. You also need them to be Google certified, navy seals of all prominent DSPs and constantly learning about and testing new strategies to remain on the forefront of digital. That’s a tall order and usually not the way to make digital a profitable powerhouse for your agency.

Enter Vici Media! We work with boutique agencies across the country to expand their offerings beyond traditional media buys. We have cutting-edge digital products and reporting that will wow your clients. We have a fully staffed team of experts who offer unparalleled customer service and support, and we provide full digital training and implementation. We also stay white labeled and behind the scenes, an extension of your agency who act not just as a partner, but part of your team.

If you have a need for a group of rock stars like this, or perhaps you want to replace your current band, I’ve got some tips and questions you should consider asking any providers you are considering hiring (or replacing). To make it really simple for you, I’ve also included our answers!

Top 10 Questions You Should Ask Your Digital Provider

What digital products are available to me?
Can your mobile ads or OTT ads track people who see the ad and then come to my client’s location?
What types of video products are available?
What type of reporting will I receive – do you have an online dashboard for agency and our agency clients?
Do you measure View Throughs and Conversions on my client’s website?  How can I show them Return On Investment?
What types of targeting do you do on Facebook & Instagram? News Feed ads or Right Hand Column ads?
Can you target ads down to individual households or just neighborhoods?
Can you target people who see the ad on one device and then follow them onto another device?
Do you offer a Live Chat function for my client’s website?
How do you protect my campaigns from fraud?

Here are Vici’s Answers:

What digital products are available to me? Here is our list of products and a short description of each.

What is Live Chat?  Get more leads by engaging your prospects with a chat box on your website.

What is Display? Display ads go across all devices, appearing on websites or apps, using targeting strategies including Retargeting, Behavioral Targeting, Artificial Intelligence, and Keyword Targeting.

What is Online Audio? Audio ads served to targeting online listeners who are consuming audio content across all types of devices, using the targeting strategies of Behavioral Targeting and Artificial Intelligence.

What is Facebook and Instagram Targeting? Targeting people across all devices with display or video ads on Facebook and Instagram in their News Feed, on Facebook Audience Network, Messenger, Facebook Instant Articles, Stories, Marketplace, Search, or a custom audience of your database of emails or addresses; using any of the types of Facebook/Instagram ads.

What are Native Ads?  Native display and 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 of Retargeting, Behavioral, Targeting, Artificial Intelligence, and Keyword Targeting, or to a custom audience of your database of emails and lookalike audience.

What is Mobile Conquesting? Reaching people with display and video ads on their mobile devices using targeting strategies including Behavioral, Geo-Fencing, Geo-Retargeting, Geo-Retargeting Lookalike, and Weather Triggers. OR a custom audience of your database of addresses. On-Site Visit Tracking to your business is available.

What are 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, or can be Over-The-Top (OTT) video ads which are embedded into programming content people stream on their Connected TVs. On-Site Visit Tracking to your business is available with OTT.

What is Household IP Targeting? Matching IP addresses to your database list of names and street addresses and showing your display, native or video ads only to those people, across all devices.

What is SEO and Reputation Management? Improving and promoting a website to increase the number of visitor the site receives from search engines.

What is Pay-Per-Click? Showing your text ads on the Google Search Engine Results Page when a user searches keywords related to your business, across all devices.

What is Geo-Framing? Going back in time to previous events where we have captured people’s mobile Device ID’s, mapping to their homes, and showing them display ads now.

What are Amazon Premium Ads? Using Amazon targeting data to reach people with your display, video, or OTT ads on Amazon.com, Amazon owned properties and thousands of other websites and apps Amazon has partnered with, across all devices (display only on Amazon.com).

What are Social Mirror Ads? Social Mirror ads look like your social media display or video posts but appear on other websites and apps, linking back to the social media platform and your website, and run across all devices using our targeting strategies of Retargeting, Behavioral Targeting, Artificial Intelligence, and Keyword Targeting.

What are LinkedIn ads? Using the largest professional network to reach the people you want to target, in their News Feed and on the LinkedIn Audience Network, across all devices.

2.  Can your mobile product track people who see the ad and then come to my client’s location?

Yes!  With our Mobile Conquesting product, we can track “on-site visits.”  It’s an additional way for you to see return on your advertising investment.  This product can also track the top 10 characteristics of people who either click on your ad or come to your location whom we have been geo-fencing, and report on what those characteristics are.  With our OTT With On-Site Visit Tracking product, we can track people who have been served your OTT ad on a Connected TV and then visit your location with two weeks of seeing that ad.

3. What types of video products are available?

We do many different types of video products: Retargeting, Keyword Targeting, Behavioral Targeting, Artificial Intelligence Targeting, IP Targeting, Facebook/Instagram video, YouTube, Native video, LinkedIn video, Amazon Targeting video (including Twitch TV), and OTT/CTV. We buy across multiple video exchanges:  SpotXchange, GoogleADX, BrightRoll, LiveRail, Facebook/Instagram, Amazon owned properties.

4. What type of reporting will I receive?

We provide you monthly reports that include impressions, clicks, conversions, and view throughs on all reports.  In addition, for certain products we are also able to provide website/app breakout, creative performance, video completion, and device performance. Compare our reports to other providers!  We also provide an online dashboard that you can log into to view your campaign’s progress and give your client’s access as well.

5. Do you measure View Throughs and Conversions on my website?

Yes, we do.  A conversion is any action that a person takes on your website including filling out a contact us form, making a purchase, downloading a coupon or info, signing up for a newsletter, scheduling an appointment, and many others.  A View Through is when we track when someone sees an ad, doesn’t click, but returns to your website via search or directly typing in your website address at a later date.  Most people don’t click on an ad (less than 1 in one thousand people) so tracking the people who see your ad, don’t click, but come to your website later (View Throughs) is an important indicator of the effectiveness of your ad.

6. What types of targeting do you do on Facebook & Instagram?

Carousel News Feed, Collections Ads, Event Response Ads, Branded Content Ads, Job Listing Ads, Lead Ads, Offer Ads, Custom Audience Matching to Email & Phone Database, Lookalike Audience Ads, Video.  These types of ads go across all devices (Right Hand Column Ads are desktop only so we don’t buy those).  We also run across Facebook Messenger, Facebook Audience Network, Facebook Marketplace, Facebook & Instagram Stories, Facebook Search and Facebook Instant Articles.

7. Can you target down to individual households or just neighborhoods?

Yes, we can target individual household with Household IP Targeting or Mobile Conquesting Address Targeting and Address Retargeting. We can target:

Any data list you have.  All you need is: First Name and Last Name (if possible) and Full Address
Any data list that can be purchased from a direct mail vendor – any public data

8. Can you target people who see the ad on one device and then follow them onto another device?

With our product called Mobile Conquesting we can target people on their mobile devices and then use our Cross Platform Targeting to follow them onto other devices and platforms they might use.  This includes display ads, native ads, video pre-roll, Facebook and Instagram and Social Mirror Ads.

9. Do you offer a Live Chat function for my client’s website?

Yes, we have Live Chat which can be customized to the information you want conveyed to your website visitors.  It is staffed 24/7 by the Live Chat agents and they are humans, not bots.  You receive an emailed transcript of the chat immediately after it concludes.  You only pay for the chat lead if the agent has gathered the person’s name, email or phone, what they are interested in is something you offer, and that the person is in your designated service area

10. How do you protect my campaign from fraud?

Your digital advertising with us will automatically include a DoubleVerify filter layered on top of the campaign.

What is DoubleVerify?  DoubleVerify authenticates the quality of digital ad impressions for the world’s largest brands ensuring fraud-free, brand-safe, ad environments.  With this partnership, we now will only bid on inventory that matches your stipulated targeting strategies AND is on websites/apps that are authenticated by DoubleVerify.   This comes at no additional cost to you.  With most digital providers there is an additional surcharge to use DoubleVerify’s filters.  We are absorbing that cost.

In addition to the questions and answers above, you should also ask who their technology partners are. Here is some additional information about Vici and terms to know:

We work with an estimated 444 Private Marketplaces (PMPs) and 1385 Ad Exchanges, through our Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) partners.

Some of the major Ad Exchanges we work with are:

Our Behavioral Targeting data comes from our partnerships with 3rd party data providers including:

What is a Private Marketplace (PMP)?

PMP is a programmatic marketing term that stands for Private Marketplace. Private Marketplace is a private advertising auction, as opposed to public marketplaces. Advertisers can only access the private marketplace with an invitation, and it’s a real-time bidding environment.

Typically, top publishers (websites and apps) take part in private marketplaces and offer their ad inventory to highest bidders among the select advertisers.  The buying platform or DSP directly enters the publisher’s inventory, each buyer gets a Deal ID, the terms are pre-negotiated, and the advertiser needs to get approval to buy the advertising space.

This approach allows publishers to select who advertises on their pages, and they retain exclusivity. On the other hand, ad buyers (like Vici) can create a relationship with the publisher, get access to premium inventory, and custom deals.  Another advantage of a PMP includes access to inventory not available on open auctions and premium access at a lower price.

What is an Ad Exchange?

Ad exchanges are digital marketplaces that enable advertisers and publishers to buy and sell advertising space, through real-time auctions (also called buying programmatically). They’re most often used to sell display, OTT, video and mobile ad inventory.

Ad exchanges work with multiple seller sources to auction off impressions through real-time bidding or programmatic direct. Ad exchanges often connect to DSPs and SSPs, which are software platforms that link up to the exchanges’ inventory and enable you to place the bids.  Those bids are made in real time based on information such as the previous behavior of the user an ad is being served to, time of day, device type, ad position and more.

What is a Demand-Side Platform (DSP)?

It is a technology platform that allows buyers to manage, purchase and optimize programmatic inventory from multiple ad exchanges and SSPs through one interface. Inventory can be purchased through real-time bidding or programmatic direct.

What is a Supply-Side Platform (SSP)?

A technology platform that allows publishers (websites and apps) to manage, sell and optimize programmatic inventory for advertisers to bid on. SSPs connect to multiple ad networks, exchanges and DSPs at once to maximize the opportunity to sell inventory.

For example, a publisher (website or app) has an ad space that’s coveted by multiple advertisers. Its supply-side platform will tell the ad exchange that the space is available and wait for the different demand-side platforms (DSPs) to send their bid. Here’s the difference between an SSP and a DSP:  The role of a DSP is to aid media buyers in bidding and optimizing digital inventory across the entire media landscape. The purpose of a SSP is to help publishers manage how they sell impressions, manage their inventory and its price, as well as maximize the advertising revenue. In a way, it’s the publisher’s counterpart of a demand-side platform.

What DSP do we use?

We use multiple DSPs (Demand Side Platforms) to offer the most diverse and targeted product set and our inventory reaches a majority of online inventory. Additionally, we integrate with top 3rd party data providers like BlueKai, DoubleVerify, Eyeota, Factual, Lotame, and Oracle, so almost any audience we want to target is available to us.  We work closely with our technology partners and are involved in “beta tests” for new products and offer feedback and direction to shape and improve the platforms we buy across.

Vici Media is the best in the business and we’ll back that up with references from our clients. Vici moves at the speed of your business. Our Vici Trainers and operations teams offer support in multiple time zones on the phone, via email, or login to our “Frequently Asked Questions” portal that gives you instant access to a vast array of answers on digital topics, which is updated every week. We pride ourselves in above and beyond customer service for all of our clients.

Even better? You will see a 50% profit margin with NO additional overhead or expense.  Want to learn more? Get in touch and let me show you what 250 Agencies have already discovered!

The post Are You Considering a New Digital Provider? appeared first on Vici Media.

Digital Buzzwords and Acronyms

What’s the Buzz, tell me what’s happening!” All these words and phrases can make your head spin.
We not only live in a world where things change daily, but we abbreviate and shorten everything.

Take LOL. It does not mean “Love you Lots” it means “Laugh Out Loud”.  How about “Ok” or “kk”?

When texting “Okay”, “Ok”, “k” and “kk” all have totally different meanings? Say what? Yes “okay” is a more formal response, but can sound sarcastic or stern, especially when paired with a period. “kk” is the most “acceptable” response which means “got it” or “Gotcha” and plus it looks cute. BUT, “Ok” or worse just “K”, which I use in my text conversations all the time with my husband because I thought it was cute, is actually “offensive” and considered rude and almost equal to flipping someone off. Who knew removing one letter could do so much? We have so much to learn.

Now when it comes to digital it can equally be frustrating being in the know with all the terms and abbreviations swirling around. Here is our digital dictionary to bring you in the loop.

Affiliate Marketing
In affiliate marketing, a brand (merchant) partners with affiliates (content creators, bloggers, websites, coupon deal sites, etc.) to promote their brand, products, sales, etc.  Affiliates are paid a percentage of the sale they helped generate from their site.

Similar to influencer/endorsement marketing, where the influencer gets paid a flat-fee (usually) to promote the brand. The influencer might also get free products in return for their endorsement.
This is not a service Vici provides.

Back Links
Links on websites other than your own that go back to a page on your website. Backlinks are also called inbound links because they represent another website’s traffic coming to your own site.

The quality/quantity of your backlinks can help you rank higher in Google because backlinks are considered an indicator of how popular your website is with users.
This is a tactic we use in our SEO Appraoch.

Geo-Targeting vs Geo-Fencing
These terms are often misused but mean two totally different ways to target.

Geo-Targeting is the geographic area (“Geo”) you want to show your ads in, usually a zip code, large radius around a location, city, state, etc. and generally we would add behavioral targeting in this larger area.

Geo-Fencing is a TIGHT RADIUS around a location, less than a mile usually, no behavioral categories layered in, as tight as 500 feet or .1 miles.

A.I./Artificial Intelligence
Refers to systems or machines that mimic human intelligence to perform tasks and can improve themselves based on the information they collect.

For example:

Recommendation engines can provide automated recommendations for products a person might be interested in based on users’ shopping habits.
With our digital advertising AI we are using a specific type of AI called machine learning which is systems that learn or improve their performance based on the data they consume. It’s important to note that although all machine learning is AI, not all AI is machine learning.

A.I. can be used with these Vici products: Digital display, native, Social Mirror, video pre-roll, OTT, and online audio.

Tracking Pixel
A small piece of code placed on a website that allows the website owner to gather information about visitors on a website—how they browse, what type of ads they click on (to determine behaviors), device, browser, IP Address, or to track conversions or serve Retargeting ads. We use container tags to add and manage tracking pixels. Typically, multiple pixels are contained in our Container Tags.

Pixel vs Cookie? What is the difference?
Very similar and are often used together. Both can be used to track the behavior of users across websites.

The difference is how the information is delivered and where it is kept. Cookies are saved in an individual’s browser, such as Google Chrome. They cannot follow users across their devices, and users can block cookies or clear their cookies.

Tracking pixels send information directly to servers, so they do not rely on the user’s individual browser. Pixels are able to follow users across all of their devices, and users cannot disable pixels like they can disable cookies.

Ad Exchanges
A technology platform that works with publishers and ad networks and purchases their impressions to then sell them to advertisers. Advertisers can purchase directly from an ad exchange, or access ad exchanges through a Demand Side Platform. We work with an estimated 444 Private Marketplaces (PMPs) and 1385 Ad Exchanges, through our Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) partners.

DSP/Demand Side Platforms
A technology platform that allows buyers to manage, purchase and optimize programmatic inventory from multiple ad exchanges and Supply Side Platforms (SSP) through one interface. Inventory can be purchased through real-time bidding or programmatic direct deals (direct deals between ad sellers and ad buyers).  Vici uses multiple DSPs so that we can access any inventory we want regardless of what ad exchange of DSP a publisher has a deal with to sell their inventory.  That’s better than having just one DSP because it means we can be tech agnostic and not put all our eggs in one basket.

SSP/Supply Side Platform
A technology platform that allows publishers (websites and apps) to manage and sell programmatic inventory for advertisers to bid on. SSPs connect to multiple ad exchanges and DSPs at once to maximize the opportunity to sell inventory.

Programmatic
The use of automated technology for media buying.  Programmatic advertising encompasses multiple ways of placing digital ads. It includes things like Real-Time Bidding, Private Marketplaces (PMPs) and Programmatic Direct buying.

RTB/Real-Time Bidding
Real-time bidding (RTB) is an automated process where advertisers can place bids, in real-time, for specific display ad placements. RTB is a programmatic process, but not all programmatic advertising takes place through RTB technology.

Private Marketplaces
Advertisers can only access the private marketplace with an invitation. Typically, top publishers (websites and apps) do this and offer their ad inventory to the highest bidders among the select advertisers with whom they’ve done deals granting access to inventory not available on open auctions and premium access at a lower price.

Programmatic Direct
It is a very similar model to the private marketplace, with the exception that advertisers and publishers agree on specific inventory based on a fixed CPM (Cost Per Thousand). Because the CPM is predetermined, there is no bidding process involving other publishers.

 Vici uses all these types of programmatic. Vici does programmatic, real-time bidding and has dedicated digital buyers for campaign check-ins and optimizations.

Third-Party Data
We integrate with top 3rd party data providers like BlueKai, Eyeota, Factual, Lotame, and Oracle, so almost any audience we want to target is available to us through these data provider companies.  This data is layered over the ad inventory we bid on.

Isn’t third party data going away?

No, it is NOT going away. Third-party data providers collect info in many types of ways, not just targeting through cookies.  Census data is third party data, credit cards selling purchase data to them, public records, direct mail lists, magazines selling their subscriber list to data companies is all third party data.  These have nothing to do with third-party cookies.

Third-party cookies ARE being phased out.  Safaria and Firefox already block them. Chrome will start blocking them in 2023.  Other tracking mechanisms are being tested to replace cookies that offer better privacy.

Some businesses may say they only use our own first-party data and that is better. But, it is not really better.  It just means the only info they have is about their own subscribers/members.

Third-Party Cookies
Tracking pixels (code) that has information about a website visitor that is then shared with another company (not the company that owns that website). OR another way of saying it is information about a user that is tracked by websites other than the one you are currently visiting.  For example, Retargeting and Conversion tracking uses third-party cookies.

Third-party cookies are going away
Not all of our products use third-party data.  Mobile Conquesting, OTT with On-Site Visit Tracking, Facebook & Instagram, and Amazon Targeting (display, video and OTT) are all first-party data each of those companies has collected about their users.

First-Party Cookies
Tracking pixels (code) that has information about a website visitor that is used by the website (or app) that the user is on.  For example, filling in your username and password automatically because you’ve told the website to save your login – uses a 1st party cookie.

For example, a website publisher can still collect behavioral data about its users – what they click on, what content they engage with, etc. – but the website publisher (or app) can’t SHARE it with other companies without the users consent (like clicking on a button that asks you to allow cookie tracking).

These 1st party cookies are not going away

Google Business Profile
The new name of Google My Business.  This is an online dashboard where businesses can login and tell Google information about their business.  Google uses this information to populate knowledge graphs, Google Maps, Google search results.  Sometime in 2022 Google will retire the online dashboard and businesses can update information right on their Google listing or in Google Maps.

AVOD
Ad-supported Video On Demand” are streaming platforms (Tubi, Pluto, YouTube, Crackle) that make their money off ads in between their content. As a result, the platforms are free for viewers.  Ads run between the content. In other words, if you are watching a streaming program for free, it’s AVOD. This is our OTT inventory.

SVOD
Subscription Video On Demand are streaming platforms (Netflix, Disney+, Discovery+) whose content requires access to a paid subscription, and typically (although not always) doesn’t have ads.

 Addressable TV
Serving different ad content to different audience segments watching the same TV program on IP connected TVs and set-top boxes of cable companies or satellite providers (Comcast, DIRECTV, and Dish). Targeting is limited to the subscription data the company has access to.

Linear TV
Traditional television viewing. In order to watch a show, the viewer must tune in (or DVR) a specific channel on a television at an appointed time.  Viewers access linear TV via cable or satellite or through over-the-air broadcasts. Basically, the way we ALL watched TV many years ago before streaming was introduced.

ATT

App Tracking Transparency was introduced for Apple mobile devices using iOS 14.5 and higher.
It requires apps (although not websites) to ask the users permission to track information
and share it with other websites and 3rd parties. As of November, 2021 87% of iOS Apple mobile devices
are running iOS 14.5 or higher and of those, 38% are opting-in, and 62% are opting-out.

Privacy Sandbox
Launched by Chrome in 2019, it is a collaborative, open-source effort to develop technologies to replace third-party cookies with alternative tracking methods that preserve one-to-one privacy.  Over 30 proposals have been or are being tested.

Private Relay
Safari browser users will now have their IP address hidden when browsing on Safari. Apple will do this by re-routing the server requests which will conceal the identifying headers and IP address.  This update inhibits a client’s ability to send geographically targeted email marketing messages.

Apple Mail Privacy Protection
Inhibits the ability to accurately track open rates of Apple Mail users.  Apple Mail will pre-load script and code data when the email is received, rather than when it’s opened.  Open rates will look like they are significantly higher, but it will be impossible to tell whether or not more people are actually opening your emails.

Hide My Mail
Users with Apple iOS 15 or higher can create a ‘disposable’ email address when interacting with businesses — like filling out a form. This is basically a fake email address that will route messages to the real one, but it prevents the business that is sending the email from knowing or verifying the subscriber’s real address. 

Privacy Policy
Any website that collects ANY information (does Retargeting ads, has a contact us form, uses Google Analytics, has e-commerce) must have a privacy policy on their website. It should include what information is collected, how it is stored, how it is used, and how it is shared, or the website owner is subject to fines.

Secure Website
Websites that are secure have an SSL Certificate, meaning any data being passed between web servers and clients is encrypted. If a website is non-secure, any information a user inputs on the page (e.g., name, address, credit card details) are not protected and can be stolen.  A secure website begins with https://.  To run an Amazon campaign, the client’s website must be secure.

Ad Trackers
Collect data from online ad campaigns by using tracking pixels on ads and websites/apps.

HTML 5
Instead of just a flat image or text, HTML5 ads (also called Rich Media) can include graphics, animation, video, sound, and interactivity with the user.  Some ad exchanges do not accept these types of ads.

VCR
Video Cassette Recorder? NO. Video Completion Rate. This is what percentage of the video ad was watched (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%).  Vici will include for video products that report this information.

KPI
Key Performance Indicators are quantifiable goals that help an advertiser to track and measure success.  It should measure what is most important to an advertiser. Clicks are not a good KPI, but conversions are.

Ad Verification
The process that advertisers take to quality check their ads and digital media from a safety, transparency, and accountability point of view.  Ensuring their ads are served within brand-safe environments to maximize viewable and valid (fraud-free) impressions. This is achieved by displaying the right ads in the right context, at the right time to the right audience.

CPC/Cost Per Click/Cost Per Action
Instead of paying per ad impression served, the advertiser pays when the user clicks (Cost per click) or paying when the user does another action such as a click conversion or view through (Cost per action).  It is the total cost of an ad campaign divided by number of clicks (or clicks + click conversions + view throughs).

CPI
Cost Per Inquiry, (sometimes called Cost Per Lead) is a marketing metric that is the total ad spend divided by the number of inquiries (or leads) received.

For example, a company spends $2,000 on an ad campaign in a month.  The campaign results in 100 phone calls or contact form fill-outs.  The CPI is $20.

What’s a good CPI?  Depends on the value of what your client is selling.

CPA
No, in this instance we are not talking accountants. CPA – Cost Per Acquisition is a marketing metric that measures the cost to acquire one paying customer from an ad campaign. It is the total ad spend for a campaign divided by the number of customers who’ve purchased.

For example, if you spent $2,000 a month and got 8 new customers your Cost Per Acquisition in $250.

What’s a good CPA?  Depends on the value of what you are selling.  Averages are anywhere from $200-$1,000.

CLTV
Customer Lifetime Value (sometimes abbreviated as CLV) represents the total earnings from a customer over the duration of their relationship with the business. It is Average Transaction Size x Number of Transactions x Retention Period.

For example, if the average sale is $500, the average customer buys 4 times a year and the average customer stays for 3 years the CLTV = $6,000 (500 x 4 x 3)

Advertisers will use this number to determine what is a viable Cost per Acquisition they should spend.

ROAS
Return On Advertising Spend, is a marketing metric that is total ad spend divided by revenue generated by that ad spend, expressed as a ratio. For example, a company spends $2,000 on an ad campaign in a month. The campaign results in revenue of $10,000 (client would need to track this). Therefore, the ROAS is a ratio of 5 to 1 (or 500 percent) as $10,000 divided by $2,000 = $5.

For every dollar that the company spends on its advertising campaign, it generates $5 worth of revenue.

What’s a good ROAS?  3:1 ratio is considered a good ratio.

Apple Search Ads

Ads for apps that appear in search results in the Apple App store.

Set-Top Box
Connect to TVs for internet access and convert digital video signals into TV signals.  For example, Apple TV, Fire TV, Android TV, and Roku boxes convert video from Netflix, Hulu and other providers into TV signals.

Algorithm
An algorithm is a set of instructions for machine calculations that learn and adapt over time. This data is leveraged for improved analysis to generate more efficient and effective digital ad campaigns.

Point of Attribution
This is also referred to as “last click” or “last touch” or “last point of attribution.”  It is the last step the user took before converting.  Attribution models should be multi-touch if employed.

For example, a person sees a video ad for Tom’s Bakery and decides to go there.  He can’t remember the address.  He Google’s Tom’s Bakery and sees a PPC ad on the search page that he clicks, and he lands on the client’s website and goes to the Contact Us page.  That conversion would get credited to the PPC ad even though the video ad is what initially got the user’s interest.

UTM
Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) codes are snippets of code — attached to the end of a URL — used to measure the effectiveness of digital marketing campaigns. They are also used to pinpoint specific sources of traffic to your website. UTM codes, at a minimum, include a traffic source, a medium, and a campaign name.  These codes send information back to the advertiser’s Google Analytics.

EXAMPLE:

http://www.client.com/services?utm_source=DynamicDigital&utm_medium=DisplayAd&utm_campaign=WinterSale

UTM Codes can be great, but the tracking is not perfect. Make sure you research how these might work for your digital campaign or any discrepancies that could be involved.

Facts.
Short for true, or this is true, or I know this is true, or I agree, or “word”.

Just thought we would end your buzzword and acronym education today with a FUN buzzword. My teenager says this all the time at the end of our conversations. And now ladies and gentlemen, you are much smarter in the world of digital buzzwords and acronyms. Facts!

The post Digital Buzzwords and Acronyms appeared first on Vici Media.

Who’s spending money on digital advertising and what products are they using?

Whether you’re a business owner looking for the right product to carry your message to potential customers, or a salesperson looking to help a local business, it’s always nice to see success stories to help solidify your choice in your marketing efforts.

There are so many different industries out there.  Last year, here are the top 15 verticals that we saw spending money in digital:

Health Care Services
Educations
Automotive
Events/Concerts
HVAC/Home & Commercial Services
Retail – Furniture/Mattresses/Home Goods/Jewelry
Financial – Bank/Credit Union
Political
Legal/Attorney
Winery/Alcohol/Brewery
Recruitment
B2B
Real Estate/Residential/Commercial Construction
Tourism/Resorts/Museum/Casinos/Golf
Government Services/Chambers of Commerce

We’ll take a look at some of the top products (most often used) chosen by some of these verticals, as well as some of the targeting strategies used.  Keep in mind that these aren’t the only products that you could use for these verticals.  This is just the most often used.

Healthcare –

OTT – Over the Top Video. (this is programming on a Connected TV that is being streamed through the internet.)

Targeting strategies used – Behavioral, Artificial Intelligence, Retargeting and On-Site Visit Tracking.

Why these strategies work:

OTT is great for branding & awareness, and if you’re a medical practice, everyone may need your service at some point.
There are some really specific targeting categories available. If you’re a dentist or a pediatrician, you can target by recently moved.  You can also target by disease, meaning if you are a hospital focusing on cardiac care, you can target people researching heart disease and other additional causes.  You could also target by specialty, meaning if you’re a dentist and specialize in crowns, you can utilize that opportunity as part of your targeting.
Typically, OTT doesn’t have conversion tracking. So, if you’re a business, or talking to a business that is looking for conversions, then you could add in On-Site Visit Tracking, which is a great metric to show for Return on Investment.  On-Site Visit Tracking tells you of the people who were served your OTT ad, how many then came to your business location.

Another strategy used for Health Care is Live Chat.  A lot of our healthcare clients utilized this service for a few reasons.

It is HIPPA compliant
We can offer Call Connect to the client. Once the Live Chat agent is done collecting contact information, he/she can offer to connect that potential client to your business via the phone.
The majority of leads come outside of business hours. So, if most of those chats are happening outside of business hours, you would normally lose those potential customers if you don’t have live chat.

Education –

Mobile Conquesting

The targeting strategies used most were Address Targeting and Address Retargeting, along with On-site visit tracking.

Why these strategies work:

Leverage huge database lists – colleges, universities, trade schools and private schools typically have big databases, especially at the university/college level.
You can reach 100% of the list that you are using, since we are actually geo-fencing every household on the list.
You can utilize both display and video (though video will have a small percentage, typically between 5-10% of the impressions) for the same costs
The On-Site Visit Tracking allows you to track ROI, seeing how many people were served your ad and then come onto your campus.

Another product that was used was Facebook and Instagram.  The top strategies used were Custom Audience Matching and Lookallike Audience, as well as Behavioral Targeting.

Why these strategies work:

Facebook and Instagram utilize so many different platforms to share the message, and if you’re trying to utilize a younger audience, Social Media makes a lot of sense.
Leverage the huge databases with Custom Audience and Lookalike
Using Event Response Ads to promote open houses and other campus events
Target by parents with teens. This just speaks to the specific targeting categories offered by these platforms.  Moreso on the college and university side, these schools can be targeting the parents of teens as well as the teens.
Target by some college or junior college. Maybe this is an opportunity for a college or university to target those people that have started school, and maybe just have an associate degree so they come back and finish their education.

Automotive –

Even with the automotive industry in such low supply and high demand, we still saw a lot of dealerships using their budgets to secure their share of their respective markets’ business.

Mobile Conquesting

The strategies used by automotive clients were: Address Targeting & Address Retargeting, On-Site Visit Tracking, Behavioral Targeting, Geo-Fencing, Geo-Retargeting and Cross Platform Targeting.

Why these strategies work:

Car Dealerships (most of them) have amazing CRM’s and have access to all of their data, plus access to almost any type of list imaginable. Towards the end of the year, we noticed a lot of the dealerships were utilizing their marketing dollars to promote their service departments.
Behavioral was targeting people in the market for a car.
Geo-fencing and Geo-retargeting are targeting people at other competing car dealerships before they purchase from somewhere else.
Cross Platform is a great idea for this vertical because people spend a lot of time researching what they are going to buy, comparing different makes and models. In doing so, people are usually utilizing multiple devices and can target those people that got served an ad on their mobile device.
On-Site Visit Tracking is one of the best metrics to show a dealership because you are showing them actual visits to their dealership.

Another product used was Amazon Targeting.

The strategies used by automotive dealers were: Amazon Behavioral Targeting, Amazon Product Targeting, Amazon Custom Audience and Lookalike, and Amazon Retargeting.

Why these strategies work:

Dealerships know that Amazon has rich targeting data about their users.
Leverage database list with OTT Custom Audience both on Amazon and off Amazon.
Amazon collects really detailed information about what type of cars people are driving (make, model, and year) through Amazon Vehicles and Amazon Garage data.
Target by specific makes and models (currently owns) to match exact make/model/age.
Target by auto products – tires, oil changes, etc.
Polk data – Amazon partners with Polk Data to get specific data to target by.

Events/Concerts.  These came back strong during the 2nd half of 2021.

The first product used most often was Facebook/Instagram.

The targeting strategies most used were Custom Audience Matching & Lookalike, as well as Behavioral.

Why these strategies work:

The ads for these events can go across all of the Facebook platforms, reaching their target audience anywhere they go within the platform.
Lots of these events, specifically the larger ones, keep sophisticated databases on who buys tickets each year, and to any of their other events. Using the Lookalike audience also allows you to target people that look like those in your database.
Event response ads were specifically designed to promote these types of events.
Events that have sponsors can utilize Carousel Ads to tie in and promote their sponsors. Using up to 10 frames, you have the ability to highlight some of your
The targeting allows you to be able to target by type of event/concert/festival.

Another product used was Social Mirror.  Social Mirror ads look like organic posts from a social platform but run across thousands of different websites.

The targeting strategies used were Behavioral, Artificial Intelligence, Retargeting and Keyword.

Why these strategies work:

This is a vertical that really likes Social Media, so being able take advantage of their increase in activity on their Social Media channels.
We can match keywords to their type of event, specific artists, etc
For behavioral, we can target by type of music, festival, event, sport or even in-market for entertainment

As you can see across some of our top verticals for 2021, there is a wide range of products that were used to accomplish their goals.  This brings up the importance of knowing exactly what a business is trying to accomplish with their marketing.

Here are a few tips to help you find out which product(s) would be the best fit for your business, or your client:

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you’re responsible for the marketing (and return on investment) of those marketing dollars, you want to know the basics of:

Who is the specific target audience?
What geographic area do you want to focus on? How far is someone willing to travel to come to your business?
What traditional, and digital, advertising mediums have you used in the past? Both successful and unsuccessful?
What’s the message that you want to deliver?
What’s the end goal of your campaign? On-site traffic? Online ticket sales?

There isn’t a “silver bullet” that is the be all, end all for a specific industry, in regards to product used. There can be several opportunities to create successful campaigns, and some of those opportunities may require multiple products.
Review your progress. One of the things that we strongly encourage is monthly reviews of the campaign.  Doing this will enable you to uncover what’s working, and sometimes what’s not working so that changes can be made to get back on track.
There are professionals in this industry to support you with your digital journey. Just like you might be an expert at fixing cars, or selling houses, working with a professional that knows what they are doing will save you a lot of time and money in the long run!

Good luck with your digital advertising!

The post Who’s spending money on digital advertising and what products are they using? appeared first on Vici Media.

Facebook is making more Chhhhhhanges

Facebook has made a whole slew of new updates. Lucky for you, Vici is giving you the latest and greatest information and how this can impact campaigns and Facebook moving forward.

First things first, Facebook and connected entities like Instgram and WhatsApp, announced they will now be known as part of the Meta brand.

What exactly does this mean? Meta or the metaverse brings together their apps and technologies under one new company brand. Meta’s focus will be to bring the metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology.

How will this affect how Facebook operates now? Facebook will still be known as Facebook and operate as Facebook.

The Facebook app used by almost 3 billion people around the world every month will keep its name. But speaking at the company’s Connect Virtual Reality Conference, Zuckerberg said it’s time to overhaul the corporation’s identity to reflect its broader ambitions.

Zuckerberg notes, “It is time for us to adopt a new company brand to encompass everything that we do,” he said. “From now on, we’re going to be metaverse first, not Facebook first.”

For now, Facebook is business as usual. There’s no doubt more is on the horizon to integrate the phases of the “metaverse” creation and how this will impact the other apps under the Meta umbrella.

There is a page that can be followed to learn more about their advances and integration.

https://www.facebook.com/MetaforBusiness

One recent update to that has taken place is for Facebook Business Manager. This is now Meta Business Suite. With Meta Business Suite, you can manage all your business activity on Facebook, Messenger and Instagram from one place.

Some highlights include:

Post across platforms. Publish feed posts and stories for both Facebook and Instagram without switching accounts. …
Manage your Inbox.
Create ads.
Track insights and trends.
See all activity at a glance.
Access helpful tools.

For now it appears to be more of a facelift with integrated management options, but this will likely evolve as well.

Now on to more Facebook updates and how this will impact paid campaigns.

On January 19, 2022 Facebook/Meta removed targeting options that relate to topics people may perceive as sensitive, such as options referencing causes, organizations, or public figures that relate to health, race or ethnicity, political affiliation, religion, or sexual orientation. Examples include:

Health causes (e.g., “Lung cancer awareness”, “World Diabetes Day”, “Chemotherapy”)
Sexual orientation (e.g., “same-sex marriage” and “LGBT culture”)
Religious practices and groups (e.g., “Catholic Church”, “catholic” and “Jewish holidays”)
Political beliefs, social issues, causes, organizations, and figures. After this date you can’t target “liberal”, “conservative”, “Democrat”, “Republican” as examples.

The official policy states: Ads must not discriminate or encourage discrimination against people based on personal attributes such as race, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family status, disability, medical or genetic condition.

This is a part of their Discriminatory Practices.

These changes will directly impact medical and political campaigns and any campaign that is wanting to target by health, race or ethnicity, political affiliation, religion, or sexual orientation. Although this means many of the categories have been pruned, there are many behavioral categories still available to target for almost every business vertical.

One new vertical that is creeping its way into Facebook is CBD. We all know Facebook is a very conservative platform that is constantly under a lot of scrutiny. But CBD has finally made its way on the Facebook map. And so far, we are seeing great success with these campaigns on Facebook.

hemp leaves on wooden background, seeds, cannabis oil extracts in jars.

Now here are a few ground rules.

You can run CBD and hemp product ads on Facebook if you remove all explicit mentions of CBD, hemp, or cannabis from your content.
Run an ad that uses a landing page where your TOPICAL (only) CBD product is sold (or even non-CBD pages). You may be able to have landing pages that solely feature edible hemp products. You can’t have cannabis on the landing page.
Don’t make medical claims and/or mention CBD in the ads at all. Opt for words like “Naturally derived ingredients” or “plant-sourced ingredients” instead.
Don’t use CBD images in the ads.
Custom Audience/Lookalike, Event Response, FAN, FB Premiums available as well, with CBD, as well and Instagram.

Here’s categories approved to run on Facebook for CBD Campaigns:

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

What about Kratom and Hemp or Delta 8? We have not tested these and may need to run a test ad before this campaign sells because it could get disapproved.

Now with good news, there always come some bad. Aren’t you glad I shared the good news first?

As of October 11, 2021, Facebook has deprecated the offer ads product. Offer ads allowed businesses to add a unique offer or promo code to their ads on Facebook and Instagram, and use an offer-specific call-to-action like “Get Code”.

Facebook notes, “after extensive analysis, we’ve taken the decision to deprecate this product as we build a new Shops offer ads product. Supporting commerce businesses remains an important priority for Facebook, and we’re continuing to explore ways to help businesses further personalize their ads with special offers or promotions to shoppers.”

https://www.facebook.com/business/help/374943579189527

Bye Bye Offer Ads!

Digital and couponing were never a perfect match. Consumers are just not trained on how to deal with coupons and offers amongst all our devices, so it becomes clunky at best. So this could be a blessing. Maybe the new metaverse can figure out a way in augmented reality?

I promise you more Facebook updates, changes and enhancements are coming. But don’t worry, we got you covered.

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