Facebook recently rolled out their new ad manager, and marketers should be excited about the changes.
It seems like eons since major changes were made to the Facebook ad manager. For the longest time, it has been clunky, unfriendly and difficult to navigate. That is especially true for marketers with multiple accounts to manage. Of course, small additions were made in order to mimic Google: the separation of ads, ad sets and campaign, and the ability to edit on different levels. But these new changes to the Facebook ad manager mean a simpler process, a sleek new look and a much easier life for Facebook advertisers.
Here are some of the more important changes to the ad dashboard that marketers are going to love.
Filters
Yes, there were options to filter results with the old ad platform, but now that has become much simpler.
As shown above, perhaps the most exciting new filter is the ‘Campaign Name’ filter. Searching in the standard ad manager used to be a fairly unpleasant task. Now, simply choosing the campaign name and selecting the ‘contains’ option (shown below) makes searching by name a much more accurate breeze.
Timeline
Again, this is a feature that was available in the old ad manager, but any marketer that had used the feature in the past knew that it presented less than accurate results.
Now, when a date range is selected, the data shown is much more well organized and, to any marketers relief, perfectly accurate. The data breakdown for selected timelines is also much neater.
Everything from results, reach, cost per action, amount spent is well detailed for the selected period, which removes the need to conduct the occasional (educated) guesswork when data was not breaking down properly.
Layers
In keeping with their attempt to emulate (and eventually surpass) Google, Facebook has made considerable improvements when it comes to the campaign layers – from the campaign level right down to the ads.
Now the user friendliness is significantly greater. It is made clear where you are in the process (shown below) and the editing can be done within one cohesive space as opposed to several disjointed steps (which was becoming tiresome for avid Facebook advertisers).
As the arrow indicates above, breadcrumbs are easier to follow here. What’s more, all of the editing can be done within the same page, without the need to open individual ads in new, separate spaces and work on them individually.
Mass Editing
For anyone familiar with the old ad manager, the ability to edit ads on a mass scale with the new manager is a true gift. Marketers can now choose to either edit individual ads (which was always an option) or the ad set as a whole, modifying every one of the ads evenly.
There was always the option of changing targeting and budgets for a campaign or an ad set, but the major focus for Facebook with this new change has been, seemingly, on creative. Of course, the user interface has become much easier to navigate, but the creative has undergone dramatic changes.
It will be interesting to see what comes of the Facebook Ad Manager app, but for the time being, these changes are particularly exciting and will certainly attract a new wave of advertisers due to its simplicity.
New Facebook Ad Manager Features Marketers Will Love
/by Corey PadveenFacebook recently rolled out their new ad manager, and marketers should be excited about the changes.
It seems like eons since major changes were made to the Facebook ad manager. For the longest time, it has been clunky, unfriendly and difficult to navigate. That is especially true for marketers with multiple accounts to manage. Of course, small additions were made in order to mimic Google: the separation of ads, ad sets and campaign, and the ability to edit on different levels. But these new changes to the Facebook ad manager mean a simpler process, a sleek new look and a much easier life for Facebook advertisers.
Here are some of the more important changes to the ad dashboard that marketers are going to love.
Filters
Yes, there were options to filter results with the old ad platform, but now that has become much simpler.
As shown above, perhaps the most exciting new filter is the ‘Campaign Name’ filter. Searching in the standard ad manager used to be a fairly unpleasant task. Now, simply choosing the campaign name and selecting the ‘contains’ option (shown below) makes searching by name a much more accurate breeze.
Timeline
Again, this is a feature that was available in the old ad manager, but any marketer that had used the feature in the past knew that it presented less than accurate results.
Now, when a date range is selected, the data shown is much more well organized and, to any marketers relief, perfectly accurate. The data breakdown for selected timelines is also much neater.
Everything from results, reach, cost per action, amount spent is well detailed for the selected period, which removes the need to conduct the occasional (educated) guesswork when data was not breaking down properly.
Layers
In keeping with their attempt to emulate (and eventually surpass) Google, Facebook has made considerable improvements when it comes to the campaign layers – from the campaign level right down to the ads.
Now the user friendliness is significantly greater. It is made clear where you are in the process (shown below) and the editing can be done within one cohesive space as opposed to several disjointed steps (which was becoming tiresome for avid Facebook advertisers).
As the arrow indicates above, breadcrumbs are easier to follow here. What’s more, all of the editing can be done within the same page, without the need to open individual ads in new, separate spaces and work on them individually.
Mass Editing
For anyone familiar with the old ad manager, the ability to edit ads on a mass scale with the new manager is a true gift. Marketers can now choose to either edit individual ads (which was always an option) or the ad set as a whole, modifying every one of the ads evenly.
There was always the option of changing targeting and budgets for a campaign or an ad set, but the major focus for Facebook with this new change has been, seemingly, on creative. Of course, the user interface has become much easier to navigate, but the creative has undergone dramatic changes.
It will be interesting to see what comes of the Facebook Ad Manager app, but for the time being, these changes are particularly exciting and will certainly attract a new wave of advertisers due to its simplicity.
Avoid These SEO Mistakes [Infographic]
/by Corey PadveenSteering clear of these SEO mistakes will ensure that your pages stay visible on search engines.
Did you know that the top 3 search results for a search term receive 61% of clicks? How about the fact that 75% of search engine users never scroll past the first page? We’ve all heard the joke: the best place to hide a dead body is on the second page of Google. But the reality is that we need to stay focused on optimizing our search efforts, as they do pay off.
These are a few important things to keep in mind next time you’re running a search optimization campaign. Avoiding these SEO mistakes will help keep your brand on top of the results pages.
When Should You Address Negative Comments on Social Media?
/by Corey PadveenThis post originally appeared on CoreyPadveen.com.
When should negative comments on social media be addressed, and how?
I was recently speaking at a conference in Las Vegas, and a particular question kept popping up: “How and when should I deal with negative comments on social media?”
Photo credit: emich.edu
The most common answer is that every brand needs to deal with every negative comment that arises for fear that a single, unaddressed issue will sink a company. But that’s not true. I know that this opinion isn’t the most popular one, but it’s the reality. If we truly aspire to transition into fully integrated social enterprises, then we are going to have to implement a strategy that evaluates, grades and prioritizes negative comments on social media on a case by case basis.
Negative comments and remarks on social channels can be fairly tricky. On the one hand, you want to address those that openly criticize your brand. On the other hand, you don’t want to get into an argument on a public forum. Jay Baer puts it really well: Anything past a second comment, and you’re in an argument.(I’m paraphrasing, but that’s the idea.)
There are two things you want to consider when it comes to handling negative comments.
First, when it comes to a large scale crisis, you want to have a carefully laid out plan in place. When there are comments coming from every which way, you’re simply not going to be capable of handling every one. That is especially true for a brand with a large following. So you’ll want to have a certain set of criteria that outline who gets attention. Does they user have a large following? Have they been a longtime, loyal customer? Do they hold a degree of influence with social users that you would deem to be of high-value to your business? Are they making a valid point, or simply trying to cause a problem by leaving a comment?
These and several other factors should determine the priority by which you answer unhappy customers. You also want to set a cutoff time. If you respond to someone hours after they tweet about your brand, you might revive a sentiment that they had long since moved past, and that presents a whole new problem.
On a smaller scale, when someone posts a negative comment, you will want to have a strategy in place to deal with it sooner rather than later. Again, responding on a public forum hours or even days after a post appears can be as detrimental as ignoring something.
Identify whether or not a user has a legitimate complaint. (After all, sometimes so called ‘trolls’ just want to smear a brand, at which point blocking them might be a good option, but use that carefully.) If they do, handle it as you would any customer service issue. Showcasing that you care and are interested in finding a solution is something people appreciate – whether they issued the complaint or are simply monitoring the conversation.
Often times, addressing negative comments is a case-by-case issue, but having strategies for both versions in place so that you can deal with these issues easily and without any major hiccups is important.
70+ Blog Post Title Templates [Infographic]
/by Corey PadveenWhat should you title your next blog post? What will attract readers?
These are a few questions most bloggers and marketers face when deciding what to title a blog post. Considering how much content is flooding news feeds and streams, a catchy title is crucial. It is the first thing a prospective reader will see and it is a determining factor in whether or not they will click through to your content.
These blog post title templates are designed to drive higher clicks on your content and follow some proven formulas that work online. Take a look at TwelveSkip for an even more comprehensive list of great blog post title templates, and check out HubSpot for the original infographic!
New Ways to Improve Customer Service on Twitter
/by Corey PadveenSome recent changes have made it possible to really improve customer service on Twitter.
Customer service has long been an area where Twitter has proven to be a valuable asset. The ability to communicate directly with clients (or prospects) in real time has made it possible to satisfy even more customers on a very public stage. That said, at 140 characters, there have been some limitations to what can be voiced.
That has all changed.
Twitter recently announced the lifting of those limits to allow users to communicate via direct message the same way they would via text: without any limits to how long a message might be.
Why are they doing this?
It is no secret that Twitter has been looking for ways to improve its business performance. Everyone loves using Twitter; the network is simple, it has proven to be extremely effective for brands and it can be quite versatile.
But that has not translated into huge sales or skyrocketing stock prices. The result has been a number of efforts to change, including the recent resignation of CEO Dick Costolo, and now, some changes to the platform itself.
80% of Twitter users are active on mobile, and finding a way to increase the native value of the social network (particularly on mobile) is crucial. The difference between Twitter and, say, WhatsApp? Character limits. People love (and sometimes hate) that about Twitter. Your feed is easily digestible, but when you want to go into more detail, it can become tedious. You need to use the direct messaging capability to exchange phone numbers or emails, then communicate off-network.
Twitter is now trying to change that by lifting those character limits in direct messages.
How does this impact brands?
For brands, this change means a lot more time can be spent dealing with customer service issues on the network itself, without asking customers to take a conversation off-network or offline.
In a lot of cases, customers simply want to have their issues heard. People (for the most part) are realists. They know that an issue might not be resolved (perfectly or immediately) but they still want a place to vent and an acknowledgment that they are being listened to by the brand. By opening up the direct messaging in this way, Twitter is providing a space for exactly that.
Now, customer service conversations that do not involve personal or financial information can take place entirely on the network. This allows brands an opportunity to communicate more thoroughly, as opposed to simply using Twitter as a starting point.
This also presents a new opportunity for Twitter.
Where will Twitter go with this?
It wouldn’t be surprising to see Twitter make a move into a pseudo-SaaS space with a customer service platform separate from its existing direct messaging space. This would have to be carefully calculated by Twitter, as this is a fairly crowded space with some big players (think Desk, Zendesk, Zoho, Capterra, etc.). But Twitter has one thing going for it that others do not – it’s Twitter.
By creating a customer service portal that businesses can subscribe to, brands can begin to offer in-network service that essentially makes the process of communicating with brands seamless. This is similar to what Facebook is trying to do with Messenger, and it will be an interesting experiment (from which Twitter might be able to build).
Conclusion
There is, of course, the possibility that Twitter is simply trying to make the communication between parties a little easier (when they move into a more private setting) in an effort to compete with the plethora of messaging apps that currently dominate the market (mostly owned by Facebook).
What comes of this is anybody’s guess, but in the meantime, it makes servicing customers a little bit easier for brands.
Some Key Social Business Metrics
/by Corey PadveenWhat are some of the most important social business metrics?
When it comes to running a successful social business, one of the most important thing to consider are your metrics. Knowing what you will be measuring as a marker for success is something that should be established at the outset of your social business strategy’s implementation.
In this video, a few of the more important – both obvious and less obvious – social business metrics are covered. Remember: you can never know if your program or campaign is successful unless you know (from the start) what your measurement criteria are going to be!
2015 Internet Trends (What to Watch For)
/by Corey PadveenFor 20 years, Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has been producing her report on Internet trends.
Some of the 2015 Internet trends to watch for might seem obvious. After all, there are certain trends that began years ago that are still on an upward tick. That said, there is still a lot to be excited about when it comes to what’s trending in the online world. Sift through the SlideShare below to see what we can be looking forward to in the coming year!
8 Google AdWords Best Practices to Keep in Mind
/by Corey PadveenTo get the most out of your next SEM campaign, keep some of these Google AdWords best practices in mind.
Google AdWords can be a complicated beast. While it is simple on the surface – a campaign is fairly easy to set up and automate – there is so much more happening beneath that top level. Next time you plan on running a Google AdWords campaign, keep some of these best practices in mind to get even more out of it.
Take Advantage of Remarketing
There are people out there that have already expressed an interest in your product or service. They’ve come to your website and visited certain pages. By dropping a simple pixel on a specific page, you can remarket to these users – users who are, essentially, low hanging fruit – and drive more clicks (and conversions) at a lower cost.
Customize Your Messages
The messages you serve to a remarketing list need to be different than those you serve to the average user. In fact, the messaging you use in each of your keyword groups needs to vary based on the specifics of the audience (and content) that you are targeting. A generic ‘click here’ message will almost certainly be overlooked. Personalization – even just a little bit – is going to make a huge difference in your click-through rate.
Get Creative with Your Creative
It is no secret that the glory days of the banner ad are behind us. Most web users have become so accustomed to seeing ads wherever they turn that they tend to ignore virtually all of them. So, when it comes to a display campaign, let the creative juices flow. Use different colors, highlight your product and make your call-to-action as clear as possible. Standing out is going to be the best way to drive valuable clicks.
Use Your Extensions
If you have the opportunity to use extensions in your AdWords campaign, do it. Extensions are factored into your Ad Rank, and they offer an opportunity for a user to do more than simply click to a landing page. Call extensions are particularly useful if you plan on running a mobile campaign, since a user will simply have the ability to click-to-call if your product or service is relevant.
Think Mobile
Every year, mobile becomes more important to the success of an advertising strategy. When running an AdWords campaign, consider the implications of mobile, and optimize your campaign, creative and, perhaps most importantly, your landing page, with that in mind. The last thing you want to see is an extremely high bounce rate because your mobile audience landed on a page that wasn’t mobile-friendly.
Monitor Your Bids
It might seem like an easy option to let Google set the bid for your campaign, but you might be spending more per click than you need to (with a few changes). Try instead to set the bid yourself, monitor the campaign and make changes where necessary in order to ensure that you are getting the most bang for your buck.
Capitalize on Your Opportunities
Google AdWords presents you with a number of prospects – from new keywords to campaign adjustments – in the Opportunities tab. Pay close attention to what’s being recommended, as these tend to work quite well. Remember, while Google might be trying to make as much money as possible, they also need to ensure that their product adds value to those who use it. This is one way in which it does that.
Leverage Google Analytics
While there are insights available in the AdWords backend, there is plenty that can be learned from your Google Analytics dashboard as well. Be sure to link your AdWords account to your Analytics profile before beginning your campaign so that you can keep a close eye on the performance of the campaign on your website as well.
How To: Boost a Facebook Post to a Targeted Audience
/by Corey PadveenAs Facebook transitions into a purely pay-to-play platform, marketers need to be familiar with the ins and outs of boosting posts on the network.
It might seem like a simple task, but in order to succeed with Facebook marketing (paid Facebook marketing, in particular) marketers need to know how to boost a Facebook post.
The following steps outline not only how to go about implementing the boost (there isn’t much to pressing a button and inputing credit card information) but how to target a boost to the correct audience segment in order to ensure that your dollars are going to the right place.
1. Determine Your Target Audience
First and foremost, you need to know what type of audience segment will be most responsive to the content. Not everyone will react to a piece of content in the same way. What value does a ‘Like’ have? Certainly less than a click-through or conversion. You want to focus on an audience segment that will produce the latter.
Take some time and go through your post-level engagement data on Facebook. Determine, based on the history of your content, what audience segment will be most responsive to the content you are planning to boost. If you’re looking to boost an image, for example, will your audience be different than that which engages most with links or videos? Do your research, and determine the answer to that question first.
2. Get Granular with Your Targets
A bigger audience will not necessarily mean greater results.
If you’ve done your research in order to determine where you want to spend your money, start your boost by picking the very targeted audience that you plan on targeting with the new content. While you might have built an archetype for the boost, you’ll want to get very specific.
Think more in terms of criteria such as interests and behaviors over top-level demographics, such as age and location.
3. Allocate a Budget and a Timeframe
So you’ve figured out the audience to which you would like to promote a given piece of content. Now it’s time to establish how much you’re willing to spend on the boost.
Remember, a boost is not the same as an ad that you build and for which you create goals (like website clicks). When you boost a post, your budget is spent in every which way, from CPM to CPC to CPSA (cost-per-social-action, such as a ‘Like’ or share) so you want to make sure that the audience you target and the budget you allocate will result in business-relevant actions.
With regards to time, try to avoid having too much content boosted in any given period. If News Feeds are flooded with your boosted posts, you’re essentially yelling into your own noise. Boost strategically so that your content appears in front of your target demographics, but doesn’t clutter their space.
4. Monitor and React
Keep a close eye on your boosted post and determine if it is performing up to your standards. Just because you’ve set a budget and a time period, it does not mean you have to let a flop live out its days. If your campaign is draining funds, stop it and reevaluate your selected audience, then consider restarting it elsewhere.
Following these steps will help improve the overall performance of your mini campaign next time you decide to boost a particular piece of content on Facebook!
Demographics on Major Social Networks [Infographic]
/by Corey PadveenIt’s always valuable for marketers to know about the key demographics on major social networks.
Communications on social networks vary from one medium to the next. The reason for this is simple: there are different demographic makeups of all the major social networks where your brand has a presence. Knowing the demographics on major social networks means having the ability to craft more targeted messaging strategies.
The infographic below from Sprout Social highlights the key audiences that marketers might expect to find on major social networks from Facebook to Snapchat.