Tag: facebook ads

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Social Media

Facebook iOS 14 Update: How Will It Affect Your Ads?

Facebook recently published an informative post warning marketers of certain upcoming changes to web and mobile ad campaigns as a result of Apple’s AppTrackingTransparency framework, which will prompt users to give explicit permission to apps that track them for advertising data. These changes, introduced with iOS 14, have required Facebook to respond and reassure businesses that rely on Facebook ad campaigns to reach a target audience.

What’s Changing with the iOS 14 Update?

Among other things, Apple is aiming to reaffirm their commitment toward user privacy and data use. As per their explanatory post, Apple says: “In order to submit new apps and app updates, you need to provide information about some of your app’s data collection practices on your product page.

“And starting with iOS 14.5, iPadOS 14.5, and tvOS 14.5, you’ll be required to ask users for their permission to track them across apps and websites owned by other companies.”

More directly, users will now be able to learn, in detail, how any app or product tracks them, what kind of data it collects, and whether that information can be pinned to their device or identity.

On the flip side, apps on the App Store need to provide an in-depth rundown on their privacy practices, from third-party data collection to proprietary collection systems, and more.

Apple will require that users explicitly provide permission to apps that intend to track them via the AppTrackingTransparency framework. Apple defines tracking as: “the act of linking user or device data collected from your app with user or device data collected from other companies’ apps, websites, or offline properties for targeted advertising or advertising measurement purposes.”

A few given examples of tracking include:

  • Display apps based on user data collected from other websites, and apps that are owned by other companies.
  • Sharing location data or email lists with data brokers.
  • Sharing ad IDs, emails, and other IDs with an advertising network to retarget users in other apps.
  • Using a third-party software development kit (SDK) built to combine your collected user data with data from other developers to target users or measure advertising efficiency.

Apple allows a few use cases without requiring that users provide permission via their AppTrackingTransparency framework. These use cases include when:

  • User data or device data is not sent off the device in any way that can identify the user and is only matched with third-party data stored on the user’s device.
  • When the data is being sent to a data broker who solely uses it for fraud detection, prevention, or security.
  • When the data broker is a consumer reporting agency and is collecting credit information.

Apple further specifies that developers may not block functionality behind allowing tracking, nor incentivize allowing tracking.

User Privacy and Ads Personalization

Now, does this mean that every iOS user will become untraceable, and you will be unable to apply personalized ads to that entire demographic of users?

No, it doesn’t. Not all Apple users are cutting off permissions to apps to track them. However, it must be said that the number of people making use of Apple’s data privacy features is increasing. More and more users will choose to not give permission when prompted.

How does this affect the functionality of Facebook ads? Well, it will introduce limitations in a few select areas. Specifically:

  • Ad Creation
  • Ad Reporting
  • Ad Targeting
  • Dynamic Ads

Let’s take a look how Facebook has responded.

Facebook’s Aggregated Event Measurement

As a compromise between user privacy and effective ad campaigns, Facebook will be rolling out the Aggregated Event Measurement feature, which basically allows ad campaign managers to track web events rather than the users who cause them. This means that ad managers will be able to manage their ads based on data collected from conversion events linked to their different Facebook pixels.

This will allow ad campaign managers to continue to gauge ad campaign effectiveness through Facebook and measure the success of their efforts.

A Facebook pixel is an analytics tool in the form of a string of code placed on your website. These events are reported, and can be reviewed via our Business Manager Account. Aggregated Event Measurement allows for the management and analysis of 8 conversion events from one or more pixels, per verified domain. The process of enabling conversion event analysis through Facebook’s Aggregated Event Measurement is as follows:

You can learn more about the process via Facebook’s Help Center post on the Aggregated Event Measurement feature.

How Will the iOS 14 Update Affect Ads?

Regarding ad creation limitations, there are new limitations in place regarding the number of iOS 14 campaigns you can run per business app. There is a 72-hour reset period when you delete one of your campaigns before it stops counting against your limit.

On the topic of reporting limitations, real-time reporting will not be supported. Data can take up to 3 days to be reported. Statistical modeling will be used to produce estimated results. Delivery breakdowns based on user factors like age, gender, etc. won’t be supported.

As for user targeting limitations, the size and activity of your Custom Audiences may decrease over time. As will the size of your app connections.

Facebook is also introducing new statuses under the Delivery column in the Ads Manager, specifically for iOS 14 app campaigns. These will warn you of updating limits and pending limits, as each app ID is limited to 9 iOS 14 campaigns.

Check out Facebook’s post for more in-depth updates on the topic.

What Should You Do?

If you want to continue to measure the performance of your campaigns with iOS 14 users, Facebook is suggesting the following steps be taken:

  • Update to Facebook’s SDK for iOS 14, version 8.1. You can do so from the Events Manager page.
  • Utilize the Aggregated Event Measurement feature by adding a verified domain to your Business Manager Account and measure up to 8 prioritized conversion events at once to gauge ad performance.
  • Check out Facebook for Developers for news on future updates and changes as the team figures out other solutions.

These changes aren’t by any means new – the writing has been on the wall for a while, and Facebook has been preparing accordingly. But we do expect to see greater changes throughout the dynamic ads and personalized ads landscape as more and more apps are pressured into conforming to increased user privacy demands. Watch this space.

Categories
Digital Marketing

Using Power Editor for Facebook Ads

Power Editor is a Facebook advertising tool designed specifically for large advertisers who need to create, edit, and publish several ads at once, while still maintaining precision control over each of their campaign.

Though a Power Editor account is a bit more complex than the standard Facebook Ads Manager, the main advantage is that new ad formats come to Power Editor before being released to the Facebook Ads Manager – so if you want to be the first to get in on new features, you should rely on Power Editor. Some features within the Power Editor may never actually be released to the standard Ads Manager.

Instagram Ads, behavior and device targeting, and video ads were once only available via Power Editor – though they are now available in the Ads Manager. As of May 2017, Lead Ads, Canvas Ads and Dark Posts are in testing phases and only available to advertisers who are using Power Editor.

Step One: Install Power Editor

Power Editor will only work if you are using the Google Chrome browser. Open the browser on your computer. Go to Ads Manager.

Click Power Editor on the left side of the screen. Install the Power Editor and open it.

Click “Download to Power Editor” at the top. You’ll be able to download all of your Facebook Ad accounts, or just certain ones.

Step Two: Learn to Navigate Power Editor

The Power Editor works much like the Ads Manager in that you set up campaigns, then ad sets within the campaigns, and ads within the ad sets. While the structure doesn’t matter much within Ads Manager, it is really important in Power Editor. That’s why you must know how to navigate Power Editor before you start to manage multiple Facebook Ad accounts with it.

Use filters to sort by campaign, ad set, and more. There’s a search bar on the left side to search for things by name.

Change between ad sets, ads, and campaign views by using the headers at the top. While in the Ads or Ad Sets view, adjust the data presented in the columns by clicking on “List Settings” in the top right. You can choose to add more columns or to remove columns based on the data you need at the time.

Step Three: Set Campaign Objective

Create your new campaign by going to the Power Editor and choosing Campaigns. Click “Create Campaign” and fill in the details including name, buying time, and objective. You should create separate campaigns for each objective.

Step Four: Create Ad Set

Create ad sets within each of your campaigns. Organize your ad sets by audience. Set their budget and schedule. Ad sets will contain at least one ad.

You’ll define the targeting, budget, schedule, bidding, and placement at this level. You should have a different ad set for each audience. This ensures your ad sets won’t be competing against each other.

From within the Power Editor, click “Ad Sets” view at the top. Click “Create Ad Set.” Choose the campaign you want to assign the ad set to. You can choose an existing campaign, or create a new one.

Enter a name for the ad set and click Create. Choose either a daily or lifetime budget for the ad set.

Choose the start and end dates to allow Facebook to optimize it within those dates.

Step Five: Create Ad

Here is where you build the creatives for the ad set. Creating multiple ads within a single ad set can help you test which ones your audience responds to the best. You can create variations with images, video, and text, or links. You are limited to 50 ads per set, though any deleted ads will not count toward this total.

Check your performance often so you can turn off the poorly performing ads and reallocate your budget.

Click the Ads button at the top of Power Editor. Click “Create New Ad.”

Choose the existing campaign and ad set you created.

Enter a name for your ad and click Create.

From here, you can enter the information about your creative and choose your audience accordingly.

Power Editor vs. Facebook Ad Manager

With Power Editor, you can manage multiple ads at one time. You can create, duplicate, and edit multiple ads in your account. You can import ads with Excel. All you have to do is download an import template from Power Editor to Excel, then fill in the information, and import it into Power Editor. You can also use search functions and apply filters to find the specific campaigns, ad sets, or ads in Power Editor.

You can manage ads and Page posts in bulk, and save time by mass-editing ads and Page posts across ad sets, campaigns, and more.

Tip: You can click the “Duplicate” Button at the top regardless of which view you’re in to copy and modify a new campaign, ad set, or ad. You can also select multiple rows to apply the same edits across all rows within any of the views.

In September 2017, Facebook decided to combine Ads Manager with Power Editor into a single platform known as “Ads Manager” so it is easier for everyone to create and manage ads from a central location. The new interface will roll out gradually, and some advertisers may notice things looking different.

If you’ve not already started using Power Editor, you’ll notice that there’s a new workflow for creating ads, but you’ll still have the option to use the original ad creation workflow. You’ll also notice you have to review draft items every time you make a change to an ad. You’ll have to confirm the edits before any changes will be made, and you’ll also use the same process to confirm the deletion of any ads.

As Facebook continues to work on improving the advertising experience for everyone, updates are released every month. You can keep up with the updates as they are released in the Advertiser Help Center.

More and Better Control Over Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads are a wonderful way to build a fan base on your Page, but they can do so much more. You can drive traffic to your website, promote your app and get installations directly from Facebook, and more. When you’re managing multiple Pages and accounts, relying on the standard Ad Manager can get overwhelming. But, for many, the idea of using Power Editor is overwhelming, too.

As long as you understand the hierarchy of Campaigns, Ad Sets, and Ads, there are a number of advantages to the Power Editor features.

Are you happy about the integration between Power Editor and standard Ad Manager? Share your thoughts below.

Categories
Digital Marketing

5 Steps to Teach You How to Use Power Editor for Facebook Ads

The Power Editor tool for Facebook ads allows advanced ad creation and management. It’s useful for handling large ad volumes, offering precise targeting options, and bulk editing features. Understanding audience segmentation, A/B testing, and detailed performance analytics are essential. Familiarity with its interface and features like custom audiences and lookalike audiences can maximize ad campaign effectiveness.

Power Editor is a Facebook advertising tool designed specifically for large advertisers who need to create, edit, and publish several ads at once, while still maintaining precision control over each of their social media campaigns.

Though a Power Editor account is a bit more complex than the standard Facebook Ads Manager, the main advantage is that new ad formats come to Power Editor before being released to the Facebook Ads Manager – so if you want to be the first to get in on new features, you should rely on Power Editor. Some features within the Power Editor may never actually be released to the standard Ads Manager.

Instagram Ads, behavior and device targeting, and video ads were once only available via Power Editor – though they are now available in the Ads Manager. As of May 2017, Lead Ads, Canvas Ads and Dark Posts are in testing phases and only available to advertisers who are using Power Editor.

Step One: Install Power Editor

Power Editor will only work if you are using the Google Chrome browser. Open the browser on your computer. Go to Ads Manager.

Click Power Editor on the left side of the screen. Install the Power Editor and open it.

Click “Download to Power Editor” at the top. You’ll be able to download all of your Facebook Ad accounts, or just certain ones.

Step Two: Learn to Navigate Power Editor

The Power Editor works much like the Ads Manager in that you set up campaigns, then ad sets within the campaigns, and ads within the ad sets. While the structure doesn’t matter much within Ads Manager, it is really important in Power Editor. That’s why you must know how to navigate Power Editor before you start to manage multiple Facebook Ad accounts with it.

Use filters to sort by campaign, ad set, and more. There’s a search bar on the left side to search for things by name.

Change between ad sets, ads, and campaign views by using the headers at the top. While in the Ads or Ad Sets view, adjust the data presented in the columns by clicking on “List Settings” in the top right. You can choose to add more columns or to remove columns based on the data you need at the time.

Step Three: Set Campaign Objective

Create your new campaign by going to the Power Editor and choosing Campaigns. Click “Create Campaign” and fill in the details including name, buying time, and objective. You should create separate campaigns for each objective.

Step Four: Create Ad Set

Create ad sets within each of your campaigns. Organize your ad sets by audience. Set their budget and schedule. Ad sets will contain at least one ad.

You’ll define the targeting, budget, schedule, bidding, and placement at this level. You should have a different ad set for each audience. This ensures your ad sets won’t be competing against each other.

From within the Power Editor, click “Ad Sets” view at the top. Click “Create Ad Set.” Choose the campaign you want to assign the ad set to. You can choose an existing campaign, or create a new one.

Enter a name for the ad set and click Create. Choose either a daily or lifetime budget for the ad set.

Choose the start and end dates to allow Facebook to optimize it within those dates.

Step Five: Create Ad

Here is where you build the creatives for the ad set. Creating multiple ads within a single ad set can help you test which ones your audience responds to the best. You can create variations with images, video, and text, or links. You are limited to 50 ads per set, though any deleted ads will not count toward this total.

Check your performance often so you can turn off the poorly performing ads and reallocate your budget.

Click the Ads button at the top of Power Editor. Click “Create New Ad.”

Choose the existing campaign and ad set you created.

Enter a name for your ad and click Create.

From here, you can enter the information about your creative and choose your audience accordingly. If you need help, check out our Ultimate Guide to Facebook Ads.

Power Editor vs. Facebook Ad Manager

With Power Editor, you can manage multiple ads at one time. You can create, duplicate, and edit multiple ads in your account. You can import ads with Excel. All you have to do is download an import template from Power Editor to Excel, then fill in the information, and import it into Power Editor. You can also use search functions and apply filters to find the specific campaigns, ad sets, or ads in Power Editor.

You can manage ads and Page posts in bulk, and save time by mass-editing ads and Page posts across ad sets, campaigns, and more.

Tip: You can click the “Duplicate” Button at the top regardless of which view you’re in to copy and modify a new campaign, ad set, or ad. You can also select multiple rows to apply the same edits across all rows within any of the views.

In September 2017, Facebook decided to combine Ads Manager with Power Editor into a single platform known as “Ads Manager” so it is easier for everyone to create and manage ads from a central location. The new interface will roll out gradually, and some advertisers may notice things looking different.

If you’ve not already started using Power Editor, you’ll notice that there’s a new workflow for creating ads, but you’ll still have the option to use the original ad creation workflow. You’ll also notice you have to review draft items every time you make a change to an ad. You’ll have to confirm the edits before any changes will be made, and you’ll also use the same process to confirm the deletion of any ads.

As Facebook continues to work on improving the advertising experience for everyone, updates are released every month. You can keep up with the updates as they are released in the Advertiser Help Center.

More and Better Control Over Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads are a wonderful way to build a fan base on your Page, but they can do so much more. You can drive traffic to your website, promote your app and get installations directly from Facebook, and more. When you’re managing multiple Pages and accounts, relying on the standard Ad Manager can get overwhelming. But, for many, the idea of using Power Editor is overwhelming, too.

As long as you understand the hierarchy of Campaigns, Ad Sets, and Ads, there are a number of advantages to the Power Editor features.

Are you happy about the integration between Power Editor and standard Ad Manager? Share your thoughts below.

Categories
Digital Marketing

Learn How to Properly Optimize Your Facebook Ads Strategy

If you’re running any kind of ad campaign on Facebook or Instagram, you could be spending way more money than you need to. Before you start running any new campaigns, take a few minutes to read through this to make sure your ads are as optimized as possible.

Are your ad conversions where they should be? Are you paying too much for each click? This guide will help.

 

Get Your Goals Straight Before You Begin

If you don’t know what you’re hoping to get out of your campaign before you start building it, you’re at risk of making missteps that could negatively affect your results – thus causing you to waste money. You can use Facebook ads to:

  • Build your fan base: If you’re looking to increase the number of people who like your page, there’s an ad type specifically for that. You should focus on getting likes only from highly targeted users, so you’ll need to target people who like your competitors’ pages, those with similar interests to your target persona, and using a custom audience to target email subscribers who aren’t already fans of your page.
  • Generate more fan engagement: If you want to get people more active on your page, there are a number of ad types you can use, including link ads, video ads, and photo ads. Regardless of which ad type you choose to use, focus on creatives that are highly visual. Start by advertising directly to your audience of fans. If you don’t have fans built up yet, set you ad targeting to match your customer personas.
  • Generate sales: If you’re in B2C, use page post ads to promote your products and services in the news feed with large images. If you’re in B2B, use a combination of news feed and right-hand column ads to generate leads. Once you’ve got them in your funnel, you can take the necessary steps to nurture them through the pipeline. In either case, you’re trying to get more traffic to your website or landing page. Target based on interests, age, and gender (if you’re marketing a gender-specific product.)
  • Get people to install your mobile app: There’s an ad type dedicated to motivating this action. Run the ad once the app has been published in the app store and ready for people to install it. Use screenshots of the app as part of your creative, and implement Facebook event tracking. Set targeting to match those who are your target app user.
  • Get more people to use your mobile app: Setup a mobile app engagement ad campaign. This targets people who have already installed your app, so you need to be specific and direct users where you want them to go. It’s good idea to use custom audience targeting here. Make sure you’ve got Facebook event tracking setup in the app so you can keep an eye on what users are doing, to target them better.

 

Segment Your Audience

Facebook is capable of reaching millions of people, and though you’d like to reach as many as possible, it doesn’t matter if they’re not interested in what you have to offer. That’s why it helps to break your audience down into smaller segments, so you be sure you’re reaching that target audience of people who are interested, and most likely to buy. You can run simultaneous campaigns to each segment to determine which segments respond better.

 

Run Mobile and Desktops Ads Separately

Because calls to action are likely to perform differently on mobile than they are on desktop, I recommend people always separate their ad campaigns accordingly, even if they’re aiming to achieve the same goal.

This tactic ensures you can optimize your ads for each platform, choosing only the ad formats that you believe will be most effective with each audience. And, you can ensure your bids and conversions are optimized based on device type as well.

 

Use Custom Audiences and Lookalike Audiences

Custom audiences are completely within your control, and you can set up as many as you need, depending on the goals of your campaign. For example, you can create a custom audience of email subscribers to advertise special deals to, or to encourage them to become your fan on Facebook. You can create a custom audience made only of people who’ve purchased from your company in the past to help encourage repeat purchases, and so on.

Lookalike audiences, on the other hand, help expose you to more people who match the target audience you’re looking to connect with. They share similar interests and demographics as the people who already like your page, or already your customers.

To create your own audiences, login to your Facebook ads manager account and click “Audiences > Choose Audience > Lookalike Audience.” From there, you’ll be able to choose the source of the audience, such as the people who’ve already liked your Facebook page, or people who’ve visited the Thank You page on your website. Then you’ll choose your target audience size. The smaller you choose, the more targeted it will be.

 

Keep Copy Short and Simple

Ad copy needs to be short, simple, and to the point. Focus more on your call to action, because if that’s not what it should be, you’ll have a hard time convincing people to click your ad. It’s a good idea to have a few variants of your ad copy and calls to action for split-testing purposes.

 

Split Test Your Ads and Landing Pages

Beyond the ad’s copy, you should also have variants of images you use with the ads, since no two people will respond to your imagery the same way. Run small scale campaigns with each ad variant and see which one your audience responds to the best. Run a larger scale campaign with that ad to see if you get the same results. Beyond the ads themselves, split-test your landing pages to make sure you’ve created the best possible scenario for your audience.

 

Make Use of Carousel Ads

If you want to use more than one image in an ad – particularly when it comes to showcasing the products you have available in your store, this type of ad is a great choice. You can use it to cross-sell complimentary products, or re-target customers who abandoned their shopping carts.

A variation of this type of ad is the multiple product ad – which allows you to showcase more than one product within a single ad. Or, you can show multiple benefits of a single product. Studies show these ads have a more efficient cost per acquisition, saving up you up to 35% in cost per click because they increase engagement. Not only this, but they can also increase your click through rates up to 300%.

 

Set Up the Facebook Pixel

With the Facebook pixel, you can track events that happen on your website, to translate that to offline activity. You can find out how well your ads are converting to drive traffic, and then see what that traffic is doing on your website.

Lots of people who visit your website are going to be in the research phase. They want to learn more about the products and services and make sure they are getting the best. By the time they’re ready to make a purchase, they may have forgotten about you. The Facebook Remarketing pixel allows you to target anyone who’s visited your website but didn’t convert with ads. This way, you remain fresh in the mind when they’re ready to buy.

To set up the Remarketing pixel, login to your Facebook ads manager. Click “Audiences > Custom Audiences > Website Traffic.” Then, you can start the process of creating your remarketing pixel.

You’ll install the code in the footer of your website, and in a couple of days, you’ll have data you can use to target people with Facebook ads.

 

Schedule and Rotate Your Ads

If you’ve opted for the lifetime budget rather than the daily budget, you’ll have the option to segment your ads by days and hours. Using this approach means you’ll need to consider the total budget of your ad set. If this is your first ad campaign, or previous campaigns haven’t given you a successful performance pattern over time, I recommend avoiding this option. But, if you’ve had success in the past, you can set your ads to run on the days and times you know it will be successful. You can find this option in the “Budget and Schedule” section of your ad set.

 

Facebook Ads Can Be Hit or Miss

Don’t be discouraged if you see an ad you thought would be a hit doesn’t perform like you thought it would. Targeting is important, but getting too targeted could drive the cost per click up. Targeting too loosely could keep the cost down, but dilute your audience. It takes experimentation to strike the right balance – and the more you know about your ideal target audience, the better.

Tell me more about the Facebook ad campaigns you run in the comments below.

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