How Will Facebook’s Audience Targeting Update Impact Your Ads?
Welcome to 2022! We figured we’d kick off the new year with a post on a change coming to effect very quickly that will shake the advertising industry!Meta, Facebook’s parent company, announced in November 2021 that they would be removing specific audience targeting options. In this blog, we’ve go over: What Lead to Facebook Updating Their Targeting Options? What is Facebook Changing to Audience Targeting? What Are the Changes Happening to Facebook Audience Targeting? What Can We Do About the Facebook Audience Targeting Change? Final Words What Lead to Facebook Updating Their Targeting Options? Marketers have loved Facebook advertising and what it offers from the get-go. The substantial amount of user data Facebook collects from their users meant countless options of granular audience targeting for advertisers. It meant we could serve highly-personalized ads and anticipate a decent Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). Facebook Ads have always been a vital channel for most brand advertisers. However, this also became a double-edged sword in many ways. Facebook faced criticism for allowing for discrimination in its ads. For example, in 2019, the US Department of Housing & Urban Development claimed the ad platform enabled home sellers and landlords to restrict who could see their ads based on people’s national origin, race, and religion. As a result, Facebook introduced the Special Ads Category, which forbade advertisers from targeting certain people for housing, credit, or job opportunities. That’s why if your product offering falls under these categories, Facebook may reject your ads due to stricter guidelines. Revisions might need to be made to your ad copy, imagery, or targeting. PS. As an agency, we work with our Facebook rep to ensure our clients’ ads follow the guidelines and ads are greenlighted and launched successfully! Meta’s VP of Product Marketing (Ads), Graham Mudd stated in a blog post that this change is a “difficult decision.” But the goal is to: …better match people’s evolving expectations of how advertisers may reach them on our platform and address feedback from civil rights experts, policymakers and other stakeholders on the importance of preventing advertisers from abusing the targeting options we make available. What is Facebook Changing to Audience Targeting? Starting on January 19, 2022, Facebook will be eliminating the ability for brands to run ads targeting people based on the following sensitive parameters: Race & Ethnicity Political Belief (social issues & causes, organizations, and figures, such as political party or candidate) Religion Sexual Orientation Health Conditions etc Examples of removed keywords from targeting might be “chemotherapy,” “Catholic Church,” etc. So, hypothetically, a pharmaceutical company may no longer directly choose to target those who have diabetes. The change means advertisers have to pivot and think of other ways to serve their ads on Facebook (and Instagram) to their target audience. You can imagine the panic that’s broiling for everyone in the advertising industry! What Are the Changes Happening to Facebook Audience Targeting? Editor’s Note: This section will be updated as new information is released So far, here are some things we know from Meta’s announcement. Facebook says if you already have campaigns running targeting the soon-to-be eliminated parameters on January 19th, they will be allowed to be served to your target audience until March 17, 2022. Until then: Advertisers will be able to edit most things at a campaign level (such as campaign name, spending limit, etc.), without impacting the targeting. If you make changes at an ad set level, it might affect your target audience (ad placement, targeting options, etc.). Changes you can still make at an ad set level include flight dates and budget. If you pause your ad set before March 17, 2022, you won’t be able to turn that ad sets back on without it automatically updating to the new targeting options. So your audience targeting settings will be impacted. If you don’t have active ads in that ad set, Facebook will turn the ad set off. At the ad level, you’ll still be able to add new ads or edit existing ads with new copy and creative. After March 17, 2022, it will no longer be possible to edit existing campaigns that are impacted by the audience targeting changes. No edits will be available at the campaign, ad set, or ad level. What Can We Do About the Facebook Audience Targeting Change? With the removal of the option to target sensitive parameters, Meta had suggested brands leverage their other targeting offerings such as: Lookalike audiences Location targeting Engagement Custom Audiences There is no doubt the digital industry is headed towards a cookieless and privacy-centric future. What are some things you can do right now to prepare for it? Build Relationships With Your Consumers Directly Ever since Google announced that they’d be retiring third-party cookies in 2023 a few years ago, here at War Room’s Advertising Institute, we’ve been emphasizing the importance of building first-party data. There has been a distinct shift towards data privacy across the tech industry. Facebook is no different. The updates they’re changing are to address the sensitivity of hyper-targeted ads. First-party data can be collected through lead generation and nurturing. Brands need to provide value for consumers to provide their contact information willingly. May it be a landing page with a downloadable, a newsletter informing them of your latest offers, etc. This way, you create rapport by engaging with your audience, but you also have their data to create Lookalike audiences on Facebook. Think with Google had a PepsiCo case study on 3Xing their ROI by building direct relationships with their customers. In 2022, be sure to review your brand’s digital marketing customer journey and think of other ways you can connect with them. Track All Appropriate Metrics and Data Programmatic ad tech simplifies this integral step in digital advertising. It consolidates all of your ad channels into one ecosystem. Data tells a story. You learn about your audiences’ behavior through the performance of your ads. That’s where you find areas of opportunity to make optimizations. Did you know that UK online clothing retailer ASOS increased conversions by 31% by using first-party data to measure their ad campaigns? With Facebook’s update
War Room: 2021 In Review – Highlights Of The Year
Wow–2021 is coming to an end. Where did the time go? At the end of each year, we like to reflect and share what made us proud as a team. First, we’d like to share an infographic of our year summarized. You can think of it as War Room’s own version of Spotify: Wrapped. We’ll break it down into Milestones and Most-Read Blogs. Here we go! Now, we’ll break it down into Milestones and Most-Read Blogs. Here we go! Milestones Resiliency Amidst the Pandemic & Growing the Team One of the biggest takeaways from the pandemic was learning to roll with the punches by staying calm and focusing on being solution-oriented. Consumer behavior and government mandates have ebbed and flowed since 2020. For our campaigns, it meant we had to apply more agility than ever. As we grow as a business, we want to consistently maintain our high-touch customer service and provide an exceptional experience. That’s why we actively grew our team by 50% amidst the pandemic to support our growing client base! We love that we’ve been able to spend more time with our team now that everyone is double-vaxxed. We are excited to have more face-to-face meetings and enjoy outings like movies and outdoor potlucks. We have also introduced a hybrid working model to give our team members more flexibility in work-life balance. To stay agile as we continue to expand our business, we are actively hiring. To learn more about careers at War Room, see our Careers page here. The people are the number one reason I love working at War Room. The management is great, they promote and sponsor ongoing personal and professional development. Staying on Top of Shifts in the Digital Advertising Industry As a team of digital nerds, we’ve been having fun applying what we know and are good at to what we don’t know yet. This includes building our own solutions or workarounds for all the algorithm updates. Take the announcements of Google’s Privacy Sandbox, Apple’s iOS 14’s privacy policies, for example—the landscape is constantly changing! We are always on the lookout for changes that will affect the digital ad industry and proactively inform our clients, so they know what to expect and be prepared ahead of time. It gives everyone involved peace of mind. Aside from our clients, we want to be a contributing peer in the ad industry, so we create blogs and resources to educate our fellow marketers with tips and action items to stay agile and deliver great ad campaigns all the time. This can all be found at the Advertising Institute. Fostering a Record Amount of Kittens In 2021, British Columbia suffered from heatwaves and forest fires, which meant more cats were in need of help. Throughout the entire year, we fostered a total of 22 kittens! We’ve always been a pet-friendly office, but on top of that, we are a long-standing partner of local animal rescue organizations. We foster kittens in the office, care for and socialize them, so they’re ready to be adopted into their fur-ever homes! Check out more adorable photos of our office animals and learn why War Room is One of the Most Pet-Friendly Offices in Vancouver. Launching In-House Charity Program, Kedet Kares The pandemic has made us cherish the community we have around us more than ever before. That’s why we looked inwards and thought about how we could help give back to those in need. Kedet Kares was the answer: a donation matching program for our team members and clients. They would choose a charitable organization of their choice, make a donation and we would match that to double the impact. So far this year, we’ve donated to the Vancouver Food Bank, Make a Wish Canada, and Qmunity, to name a few. Being Named AdExchanger’s Programmatic Power Player Advertising authority, AdExchanger highlights the leading players in the industry in various award lists. Read more about our accomplishment in the featured blog, “War Room is AdExchanger’s 2021 Programmatic Power Player!” Refreshing the Brand Refresh & Redesigning the Website As part of our growing team, we created a Brand Team that works on marketing for our agency. We’ve updated our brand with new colours, fonts and set brand guidelines in place. Next, we started working on redesigning our website. We took our mascot Kedet into the third dimension for the first time! Check out our website to see how awesome it looks! We also created a sidekick character named Kolbe the Goat. He is Kedet’s best friend and is a wise and chill lad. When it’s work time, they turn data insights into stories to help businesses elevate their advertising! They enjoy frolicking about, meeting new people, and learning about absolutely everything in their free time. They also volunteer in the local community to spread joy, truly embodying the core values of War Room: passion and service. How do you like his look? PS. Kolbe is a Baaa-chelor 😉 Trending Ad Channels in 2021 As an agency that focuses 100% on paid advertising, we pride ourselves on offering our clients access to 90,000+ ad publishers and an extensive list of channels to choose from. This year, we’ve seen these channels gain some popularity: Social Display Ads: many of our clients have been loving this new, exclusively-programmatic ad format. It takes an existing social post of your choice and serves it as an ad across the Display Network. You get to save time and money from skipping the step of creating a new ad creative. Plus, Click-Through Rates for these ads have frequently been outperforming regular display ads. These are great for retargeting or when you want to run a short flighted campaign. Digital Out-Of-Home Ads: 2021 has seen an accelerated shift from traditional to digital ad formats. A digital billboard can serve up different ads at different times (eg. morning rush hour) or change with the weather (eg. rainy day vs sunny). Your messaging can be updated automatically to always fit the setting. These ads are located in high foot traffic
The Anatomy of a Landing Page
When it comes to an ad campaign, whether it be Paid Search or Display Ads, your goal is to get the user to click on the ad and go to your landing page. In a previous blog, we dissected the anatomy of an ad creative. This blog is a direct accompaniment, with a focus on how to build an effective landing page. In case you’re short on time, feel free to jump to a certain section: What is a Landing Page? An Anatomy of a Landing Page Elements You Need on a Landing Page Additional Elements That Would Be Nice On Your Landing Page Landing Page Best Practices Copy Form Call-To-Action (CTA) Additional Resources What is a Landing Page? Let’s say a user came across your ad online and they were enticed enough to click on it. That means your ad creative was effective for them to take action, yay — but now what? The user will then be directed to your Landing Page. A Landing Page is a designated webpage that is created specifically for a digital marketing campaign. Unlike your website or homepage, it’s not supposed to be jam-packed with information. Instead, it is going to have goal: a Call-To-Action (CTA). Whether it be generating more leads or driving more sales, it’s meant to increase conversions. You can build your own, or consider partnering with a web design agency to help you create an effective landing page that aligns with your brand. An Anatomy of a Landing Page In this anatomy of a standard landing page, we break it up into two sections: mandatory must-haves and optional, nice-to-haves. Elements You Need a Landing Page The centerfold of your landing page IS the money shot. This is the first thing they see when they click through and the page loads. What you need are:Headline: Hook the user in with a strong headline and state your value proposition. It should be a short statement that matches the language and offer you had in your ad creative. Supporting Copy: This is usually found right below the Headline. It provides more context, typically highlighting the benefits of your brand’s offering. Hero Image/Video: use an attention-grabbing image that tells a story that aligns with what your ad copy is conveying. Another option is a video placed front and center that summarizes your landing page’s core message. Benefits: The most common layout is to share three main benefits, completed with blurbs and corresponding icons that illustrate each benefit concept. Show off why you’re the absolute best option for them. Lead Form: the ultimate action we want the user to take is fill out your lead form and hit your CTA button. It is usually created in and synced with your Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Call-To-Action (CTA) button: we know the entire landing page acts as a CTA, but an actual CTA button is essential! It’s typically placed right under the lead form and is in an eye-catching color (think color contrast)! Social Proof: feature one or more client testimonials: they can help build trust amongst your audience. You can also create compelling testimonial videos and showcase them in the most important places according to the page’s context. Additional Elements That Would Be Nice On Your Landing Page The rest of the landing page below the centerfold can incorporate these elements to elevate the user experience. It provides them with more context to better understand your brand and offering. Features: if the user is scrolling past the centerfold, that means you’ve successfully captured their intrigue, and they want to learn more about you! This section is where you can discuss more in-depth what you have to offer and SELL, SELL, SELL! Additional CTA: Sprinkle a few more CTA buttons throughout the page so the user can take action when they reach a new section and decide to make the decision. Make it easy for them, so they don’t have to scroll back to the top. Footer: this is a visual indication for the user that they’ve hit the end of the page. It typically showcases your logo, Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions page links, and social media channels. For more details and tips, download our resource, “Blueprint for a High-Converting Landing Page!” Landing Page Best Practices Ensure the landing page for ads has content that is consistent with your ad’s offering, language, and theme. Utilize concise bullet points so people can quickly scan your content. 80% of users spend their time above the page fold so make sure you convey important points above the fold. Reduce the number of links on your landing page to avoid users clicking away. If there is a lot of detailed information on the page, consider adding redirect link click buttons to allow users to jump over to the section they are interested in. Choose visuals that reinforce your message, such as icons or product photos. To enhance scroll depth, try placing a feature video or essential information in the middle of the page. Create an Accelerated Mobile Page (AMP) version of your Landing Page. Consider A/B testing for headlines, imagery, CTA, etc, but test one change at a time to accurately observe what should be optimized. Before you launch your landing page, run an on-page SEO test to ensure it’s performing well and make optimizations accordingly. Copy Your landing page can look sleek and represent your brand in the most visually appealing way. But you need compelling copy to complete this beautiful picture you’re building for your audience! Here are essential factors to take into consideration when writing landing page content: 1. Before you start crafting your ad copy, ensure you have a fully fleshed-out target persona. You know their struggles and needs inside out, and you cannot wait to share your offer. You will know who you’re talking to directly, and they will be more receptive because it’s highly relevant to them! 2. On the centerfold of your landing page, you should address these items at first glance: Who you are What your
8 Digital Marketing Tips to Drive Holiday Sales in 2021
Wow, did 2021 fly by or what! The holiday season is coming–that means Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Boxing Day etc. are all lined up for the end of this year, and consumers are ready to shop. A survey conducted recently showed that 55% of consumers plan to shop for the holidays BEFORE Thanksgiving! So by now, you should be building out your holiday digital advertising strategy to reach them in time. Some of our previous blogs covered practical tips on creating promotions and enhancing shopper experiences: Holiday Marketing Tips for 2020 Post-Pandemic Digital Marketing Tips for Success In this blog, we will focus on ways to spruce up your holiday advertising! We’ll share the same data insights into consumer behavior and eight tips to capture your audiences’ hearts and drive more sales. Read on! Digital Tips & Insights to Drive Holiday Sales in 2021 Jungle Scout presented an in-depth look at holiday shopper trends. They identified, in order, where early holiday shoppers will look for products online: Amazon Google, Bing and other search engines (Learn more: Microsoft Bing Ads vs. Google Ads) Walmart Facebook Youtube Instagram Brand websites TikTok Other social channel Some other takeaways are: 1 in 4 people are planning to spend more on Christmas this year (compared to 2020) 60% of people say they would consider purchasing a product that is recommended to them by brand or influencer content (on TikTok, Youtube, or Instagram) Ensure Your Website is Optimized for Mobile The purpose of a website is to educate our audience about a company’s brand and its products and services and drive sales. It’s your company’s best, around-the-clock salesperson! Why should you optimize your website for mobile? Well, take a look at these astonishing statistics about mobile eCommerce from TechJury: By the end of 2021, mobile eCommerce sales will hit $3.56 trillion 67% of all eCommerce is done through mobile By the end of 2021, 73% of all eCommerce will be mobile! 79% of smartphone users have made a purchase on their mobile device Mobile optimization is a no-brainer for eCommerce or B2C companies. But the same principle still applies to any company trying to increase brand awareness or generate more leads. Your website is sometimes the first destination after someone clicks on your ad, and first impressions are everything! To drive more online sales, mobile optimization has to be part of your website strategy! Note that some elements on a page may require different dimensions for tablet and mobile. Be sure to create a seamless user experience, no matter how the user is accessing your site. Create a Specific Promotion and Stick with It! Whether it’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or closer to the actual holidays, you’re offering some great deals, right? Think about a promotion that offers great value and keep it simple. You could then promote it through multiple channels to maximize Click-Through Rate and conversions. A multi-pronged digital approach is best. If you run seasonal promotions, reflect across all your ad channels. It can amplify your efforts when done right. Imagine a user hearing your audio ad on Spotify that talks about your promo code, “BLACK FRIYAY” and then, later on, sees your retargeting Display Ads that further promote your ads. Having more touchpoints across different media will keep your brand top of mind. Build a Dedicated Holiday Landing Page Whether it’s for Black Friday or Boxing Day, you might have specific products you want to promote. Why not build a dedicated landing page for it? Take some time to build out content that highlights the benefits and encourages users to convert. If you already have a specific page for your featured items, make that your landing page instead of your homepage! Users won’t need to sift through a lot of content or get distracted. Here are some tips for your landing page: Create a sense of urgency by emphasizing the time-sensitivity of your offer. Ensure your CTA buttons are mobile-optimized so users can interact with them even on a smaller screen. When designing any banners, be mindful of your text size as it should still be readable when switching from desktop to mobile (and vice versa). Minimize the touchpoints from product pages to checking out. The easier, the better. Be sure to showcase your seasonal promotion and have it visible throughout your website. For a detailed breakdown of how you can increase conversions, download our Blueprint to Building a High-Converting Landing Page. Drive Website Traffic with Existing Assets from Social Media A great Instagram hack to drive more traffic is to repurpose a post on Instagram that performed well last holiday season. Now, thanks to programmatic ad tech, you can serve it as a display ad across the entire display network! This means people who don’t follow you on Instagram or haven’t even heard of you can see your awesome post if you choose to target them. This is called Social Display Ads. It saves you time and money because you don’t need to design any new visuals. You’ll get more time to focus on the rest of your holiday marketing efforts, all while knowing you’re showcasing your brand through proven, successful visuals. Not to mention, the Click-Through Rate of Social Display Ads consistently outperforms regular display ads. It’s an excellent option for retargeting. Feel free to learn more about this option in our blog on Social Display Ads. Or, if you’re interested, contact us today to learn more! Have Fun with Your Email Marketing Campaign Get creative! Aside from your holiday promotion being a center star, throw in extra, enjoyable content to spread the holiday cheer. This could be a holiday-themed blog, a carousel of images, or you can get creative and share a seasonal recipe. Take this opportunity to get even more personable than any other time of the year. As an example, we really like what Flippingbook did: they created an interactive flip book that includes their team’s favorite recipes, playlists and to-dos for the Christmas season. Boost In-App Purchases with Pinterest Pinterest is a social media
Marketing Tips For Singles’ Day
Shop til you drop? Now, it’s more like: online shop ’til ya’ keyboard flop! Our article, “How Amazon is Dominating eCommerce,” mentioned that Amazon pushed Prime Day to October 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In November, there are typically huge sales, both in-store and online. Yes, Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are always when people like to shop till they drop. However, a new emerging “day” has come, and it’s a force to be reckoned with! Say hello to Singles’ Day, November 11th. This day originated from China; the main goal is to bring attention to and celebrate those whose relationship status is single, which has now evolved into an epic sales event. In this blog, we will explain how Singles’ Day is single-handedly dominating global online sales. In this article, we will cover the following topics: How Did Singles’ Day Come About? The Power of Singles’ Day Marketing Tips For Singles’ Day TL;DR – What Have We Learned How Did Singles’ Day Come About? The “day” itself is said to originate back from the early ’90s in China. College guys supposedly started this unofficial day to celebrate their singlehood and have a day that’s “anti-Valentine’s.” This date’s numerical visuals: 11/11 looks like lonely matchsticks standing by themselves, which is why this day was chosen. It wasn’t until 2009, when Chinese eCommerce giant Alibaba brought it to the limelight. They took the concept and structured an online event around it. Think of it like Amazon Prime Day but not exclusive to just Alibaba’s online sales. It’s a socially-constructed, 24-hour, epic sales event that many Chinese businesses have rallied behind and fully-embraced. This trend has now been brought all across the world! The Power of Singles’ Day Here are some compelling statistics to get you thinking about maybe you want to plan a campaign for the upcoming Singles’ Day!When Alibaba debuted the event of this sale back in 2009, 27 vendors participated. Fast forward to 2017; there were 60,000. In 2019, 200,000+ brands participated! Singles’ Day is now the biggest shopping event in the world. They grossed approximately $30 billion in sales, which completely blows Black Friday sales out of the water. Take a look at Business Insider’s graph from 2018: Take a look at the Year Over Year revenue growth rate: 2009: $7 million 2010: $135 million +1700% 2012: $3.04 billion +267% 2013: $5.75 billion +83% 2014: $9.3 billion +63% 2015: $14.3 billion +60% 2016: $17.7 billion +32% 2017: $25.3 billion +39% 2018: $30.7 billion +27% 2019: $37 billion The numbers have skyrocketed and had significant growth, year over year. We are curious to see what will happen in 2020 because COVID-19 has exacerbated online shopping behaviour amongst different age groups. 1 in 4 US retail brands plan to get involved with the sales event, such as Apple and Estee Lauder. It has become such a hyped-up event that they hosted a countdown gala with a Taylor Swift concert in 2019. Kim Kardashian also launched her fragrance on the platform through a live stream for the event. With this much star power and participation from big brands, it’s hard not to be tempted to participate! Update Oct 2021: In 2020, despite the pandemic, the total value of orders across Alibaba’s shopping platforms was $74.1 billion, which is about double what it was 2019. Wow–with this event growing by the year, brands should definitely be paying attention and consider testing out a campaign for themselves! Marketing Tips For Singles’ Day Are you interested in planning for a marketing campaign on Singles’ Day? We have a few useful tips for you to consider: #1: Create Authentically Chinese Campaigns You need to have relevant ad creatives to capture the Chinese audience’s heart and attention. This means ad copy in the Chinese language. You can team up with a Chinese translation contractor to come up with the creative copy and work with an advertising agency, like War Room, that is familiar with digital advertising on Chinese platforms, such as Duoyin (Chinese version of TikTok), WeChat, Weibo, and more.Besides just having Chinese campaigns, consider creating a Chinese version of your website or a dedicated landing page. This will create a sense of familiarity and automatically build some rapport. Speaking directly and natively allows you to expand your brand’s horizon to a new audience. #2: Advertise On Chinese Platforms Building off our previous point, it’s crucial to get into the mindset of Chinese marketing. The big three advertising platforms: Google, Amazon, Facebook are non-existent in the Chinese market. Google and Facebook (and Instagram) are censored in China, and Amazon does not have as prominent of a market share. The Google equivalent in China is the search engine, Baidu. In 2018, Baidu’s market share was almost 80%. Can you even imagine that audience reach? That’s why it would be beneficial for any business to work on some Chinese SEO to rank on there. Make yourself accessible to the Chinese audience! Compared to North America, Amazon doesn’t dominate the eCommerce market as much in China. The primary online marketplaces are Alibaba’s main product sites: Taobao and Tmall. For international shoppers, they access the sales and products from Aliexpress. All these platforms are like a combination of Amazon and eBay, and they also ship worldwide. Explore chinese advertising services #3: Not Advertising in China? That’s Okay, Celebrate In Spirit! Alright, you don’t necessarily have to sell directly on AliExpress to participate fully! You can be there in spirit. Many brands hold sales on their own site to echo Singles’ Day. Here are some examples of brands and their Singles’ Day marketing campaigns: Some brands decided to go cheeky, some did puns and have discounts offered at 11%. We always love creative advertising examples! We highly recommend marking down 11/11 into your brand’s content marketing calendar and make a sales offer. Use your usual marketing strategies, such as promoting on social channels, one-off email campaigns, or video advertising. #4: Get Creative & Fit The Theme Aren’t the campaign examples above quite darling? It’s all about celebrating singlehood. Instead of wallowing in
War Room is AdExchanger’s 2021 Programmatic Power Player!
AdExchanger is a digital marketing authority, and they put together a searchable, elite list of the best programmatic ad tech providers, agencies, and partners. To select the top Programmatic Power Players, AdExchanger’s team had to evaluate hundreds of submissions worldwide. They examined each company’s programmatic service offerings, capabilities, and strengths looked into case studies and checked client references. Here at War Room, we’re a digital advertising agency that specializes in programmatic. We are both happy and proud to announce that we are named one of AdExchanger’s 2021 Programmatic Power Players! The digital landscape is ever-changing, and it’s even more after COVID-19! Consumer behavior has shifted, and agencies need to be nimble. War Room’s client roster grew despite the pandemic, and we also expanded our team by 50% between 2020 and 2021! A highlight of how we adapted is utilizing our proprietary technology, Klick&Mortar to target new audience segments. Klick&Mortar uses device tracking and can attribute ad dollars to physical store visits. Our clients who have physical locations love it because they can start tracking the customer journey the moment a person sees their ad online to when they show up to the location in person. We can now offer audience segments such as Year Over Year retargeting to lapsed visitors (pre-COVID store visitors). We provide our clients with strategic recommendations on re-emerging audiences: targeting and segmenting ad messaging based on different demographics and their propensity to re-emerge from the pandemic, such as still strictly isolating, cautiously re-emerging, and those who are already re-emerged. Our team also built some new APIs from scratch in the past year, including a Social Sentiment Analysis Tool for analyzing user emotions on social platforms through machine learning. We also built lead collection APIs that sync with our clients’ CRM of choice. Another item we are incredibly proud of is the development of an in-house charity program called Kedet Kares (named after our mascot, Kedet). The pandemic gave us a lot of time to reflect on what was important to us, and a big part of it was the local community. Now, any employee or client of War Room could submit a donation receipt to their non-profit organization of choice, and we will match their donation amount! War Room is incredibly proud of the growth, innovations, and achievements we’ve made during this pandemic! You can also learn more about our award-winning programmatic ad services! Let’s Work Together Say hello to customized advertising strategies that convert.Get in touch with our programmatic experts today! Contact Us
Why Brand Advertisers Shouldn’t Panic About iOS 14.5
Our blog, “How iOS 14’s Update Will Impact Your Facebook Ads,” has consistently taken the #1 spot in bringing the most traffic to our website for the past few months. It’s evident that brands and advertisers alike are concerned about how Apple’s revolutionary move towards a more user-privacy-oriented future. So, we figured a follow-up, companion piece might be helpful for our readers. Apple released a privacy feature with iOS 14.5 back in June of 2021. A prompt would pop up and ask users whether they want to allow Facebook and other apps to track their user data. Almost half of the global population of iOS devices have installed the latest version of 14.5. As of August 17, 2021, research shows that only 15% of US users and 21% of global users have opted-in and agreed to allow their data to be tracked. This means that over 3/4s of all iOS users have denied data tracking! This change has undoubtedly caused a blow to the advertising industry, as we all know audience targeting plays a big role in campaigns. Think of the previous data tracking with Facebook as a bike with training wheels. It was steady, and we got to where we wanted, easily. But there is a day where we need to learn how to balance and ride on our own, without training wheels. Right now, it feels like we’re falling over, getting bumps and scratches with the introduction of iOS 14.5, but we’re going to put on a helmet, maybe some knee pads, and keep trying until we figure it out. Like this post-pandemic consumer landscape, this iOS 14.5 reality is the new normal. As players in the digital field, we got to find a way to survive and thrive. We’re here to reassure you everything will be okay and why you shouldn’t panic about the iOS 14.5 update. What You Already Should Be Doing with iOS 14.5 & Facebook Ads Facebook ads saw the most significant impact from the iOS 14.5 update. Here’s a quick recap as to what you should have already done with your Facebook Ad campaigns so far: 1. Depending on your audience size, you should consider splitting up your audience by device. That means iOS and Android users should be in different segments. This will give you a cleaner look at your data. Android users’ data integrity should not be affected. 2. Set up new pixel event tracking and identify the top eight events you want to be tracking on your website, such as scrolls, clicks, add to cart and conversions. If you or your marketing agency has already done this, you shouldn’t be anxious. (For other action items, check out our blog). It’s up to what you do next that matters. Check out this comprehensive video by Hubspot, their expert summarizes the changes and shares some tips and workarounds for marketing success: Tech Giants Are Aiming to Bridge the Gap Okay, maybe Apple and Facebook are going down separate paths, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the digital industry can’t join forces to navigate this change! With the missing data from iOS users, many tech companies are stepping up to bridge the gap. It’s especially evident in the social commerce space. For example, Shopify recently announced that they’d be the first eCommerce platform to bring shopping tabs and organic product discovery to TikTok. Creators are paving the way for a new kind of entrepreneurship where content, community, and commerce are key. By enabling new in-app shopping experiences and product discovery on TikTok for the first time, Shopify is powering the creator economy on one of the fastest-growing social and entertainment platforms in the world. We are excited to help this next generation of entrepreneurs connect with their audiences in more ways—and with TikTok as a visionary partner. — Harley Finkelstein, President of Shopify This means brands can target audiences interested in specific genres and create original content or paid ads that link directly to your in-app shop. Essentially, consumer behavior can be tracked on both TikTok and Shopify and you can access analytical data on both accounts. Other social media platforms have similar functions in place too, such as Instagram and Pinterest. What all these platforms have in common are that: they’re all built around visual content, enable brands to directly connect their product catalogue, and offer in-app shopping options.Customers see it while scrolling, are intrigued by it, click on it, and can buy it directly. Easy peasy! In our Guide to Pinterest Advertising, a highlighted stat showed that half of Pinterest’s users use the platform to shop. Full Steam Ahead with First-Party Data With Google’s announcement of the removal of third-party cookies and the introduction of the Privacy Sandbox, we can’t emphasize it enough: first-party data is the future! Yes, it does mean brands need to establish an email list or newsletter and work on customer engagement, which takes time and effort. But it also means you’re building a loyal audience that is proprietary to your brand! By offering value (through content, discounts, etc.), people would willingly give you their contact information to keep in the know of your brand! You will then be able to get creative with your advertising. Lookalike audiences can be created with your email lists and other First-Party data, so there shouldn’t be any “downtime” for your advertising efforts once you switch gears. Plus, iOS 15’s preview showed another privacy function where it would hide the users’ location so marketers won’t be able to pinpoint and target ads. So by having first-party data, you wouldn’t have to worry about this. Check out our blog to learn more about how First-Party Data and advertising go hand-in-hand. Opportunity to Diversify Advertising Channels Facebook is one of the most effective social media advertising channels, and it always will be. However, suppose your business is reliant on this channel (we’re seeing eCommerce hit hard), we recommend stepping outside your comfort zone, allocate part of your ad budget to new channels. If your ad strategy focuses on capturing your consumers’ attention visually,
Post-Pandemic Digital Marketing Tips For Success
We are on the cusp of entering a post-pandemic era.It’s been a year of lockdowns and social distancing. With the rollout of the vaccines, it’s like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! People can see their loved ones again, hang out, socialize and travel soon. However, many consumer behavior and trends may be here to stay, at least for the near future. So, let us dive into what has changed and what your brand can do on the marketing end. We’ll focus on how to keep on top of things to retain and grow your customer base and business! In the summer of 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we published a 3-part blog series on how to navigate marketing: How COVID-19 is Changing Marketing Planning Marketing During COVID-19 Post-COVID-19 Marketing – What To Expect? In today’s blog, we identify the new shifts of the marketing sphere and share the essential tips to navigate in the post-pandemic world. Here are the main points we’ll cover, and each section will have tips under each section: Bigger Shift Online Show Compassion Be Customer-Centric Promote Enticing Offers Shift Marketing Dollars Strategically Embrace Innovation Remain Agile Let’s get started! Bigger Shift Online It doesn’t matter if you’re a big box brand or a mom-and-pop shop. The pandemic has propelled the need to establish your brand’s online presence further. Sure, you might already have a website, but you can do more online to connect with your audience. Multiple Touchpoints As we’ll expand in later points, keeping in touch with your users is essential. Social media, online webinars, and newsletters are all ways to create multiple touchpoints for you to keep your audience engaged on what you’ve been up to! Build Valuable Content Also, being online is how people (both old and new customers) can find you. An excellent way to extend your website presence is through blogs. By building out content, you can share knowledge about the industry, showcase your offerings, establish your brand as a thought leader, drive organic traffic and improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This strategy can work for any industry and business. Incorporating the best knowledge management tools into your website strategy can further enhance your online presence by facilitating the organization, sharing, and dissemination of valuable industry knowledge, empowering your brand to establish authority and attract both new and existing customers through informative content.” Establish eCommerce Presence If you sell products, an online shop should be a no-brainer. It’s important to have your eCommerce platform have optimal performance and provide a seamless user experience. Due to social-distancing practices in the past year, people are buying products online more than going to the store. For example, Target has seen a 175% surge in online sales since 2019. In fact, here’s a quick look at the top eCommerce US retailers ranked by eCommerce sales: Amazon completely dominates this chart by having more sales than the other 9 in the top 10 combined. So if you’re an eCommerce vendor, you should consider listing your products on Amazon and even run Amazon Ads. However, if you plan to advertise via email, consider creating an online catalogue with your products and sending it in the form of a link or free QR code. Digital Advertising Whether you’re a B2C or B2B company, digital advertising should be a major part of your marketing strategy. For example, Social Display Ads are a terrific way to repurpose your awesome social media content and share it across the internet as Display Ads. Customer Service Management Google released a report on pandemic consumer trends in July 2021. One of the points was: “25% of consumers reported pain points in their online customer journey, such as payment issues, lack of customer support, or availability“. Customer service and relationship management are crucial, not just in person but online as well.Your brand should be accessible to your customers. That’s why you should think about investing in reliable Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. Some good vendors include Zendesk, Hubspot, and Salesforce. For businesses struggling to meet customer support demands, customer support outsourcing can be a viable option to provide 24/7 assistance and improve customer satisfaction. People should look you up online to find out your store hours and inquire about your services easily. Consider setting up live chat or FAQs on your website and social media to automate the process and provide a seamless customer experience. If your business has a mobile app, you can also consider integrating live video and chat in your app to enhance the customer experience. All of the tips mentioned above takes time, expertise, and planning. You may consider partnering with a digital agency for your needs. Also, check out our favorite list of digital marketing tools to use to enhance your online strategy! Show Compassion The pandemic has caused a lot of stress and anxiety amongst people. Therefore, you need to be compassionate, caring, empathetic, and trustworthy as a brand. Be more human Now more than ever, people are seeking to purchase from brands that align with their values.It doesn’t mean you have to immediately become a sustainable brand or post a rainbow logo for Pride Month. It’s not about performing but more about being genuine. Do what is realistic and appropriate for your brand and its values. For example, celebrate your team’s cultural diversity by hosting team activities. Or, maybe every Thanksgiving, your office goes volunteer at the soup kitchen, spread the love, and share it on social media! People want to see your personality and what you’re about as a company. It puts a face on your brand, and it creates that human connection. Revamp Your Communication Strategy It’s no longer just about selling to a customer. Your communication strategy should be connecting authentically with your audience. Whether as a guru or a friend, you’re there to offer a solution. By providing value through your words and copy, people will find you helpful and want to buy! Stay true to your brand’s voice, but think about tweaking your communication strategy a little bit to be