Okay, social advertisers—have you laid out your goals for 2019? To help you with strategic planning, we put together a New Year’s resolutions list especially for you.

I will fine-tune my attribution to better understand my biddable performance.

Most advertisers still rely on last-click attribution when evaluating their biddable channel performance. This attribution model has a number of flaws:

• It doesn’t account for social impressions, especially the impact of social video ads.
• It doesn’t consider the complex user journey to purchase, which often includes multiple touchpoints.
• It has a tendency to devalue your paid social activity, and paint an inaccurate picture of which channels are driving conversions and incrementality.

Instead of last-click, we suggest considering more accurate measuring solutions. For example, using Marin’s TruePath, cross-channel advertisers are able to view the full user journey and understand the value of Facebook post-impression conversions alongside search results.

I will include video in my paid social strategy.

Digital video consumption has been growing each year, with Cisco estimating that 80% of internet traffic will be video by 2019. It’s a great way for marketers to tell their stories and get users to connect with the brand.

Over the course of 2018, here at Marin we’ve seen video ads improving in their ability to drive conversions and revenue. Now, we suggest that each advertising campaign aimed at driving conversions include both image and video assets, optimized towards the best performance.

I will open my heart to placement optimization.

Social media algorithms are constantly improving and have gotten really good at matching our ads to consumers. According to a study by Promo, 71% of consumers find Facebook video ads relevant.

With this in mind, we should concentrate on reaching the right people, no matter what device or placement they’re on. Using placement optimization allows you to serve your ads on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and a selection of partner mobile sites, all optimized towards the objective you select.

I will keep testing and learning new things.

The social media landscape is constantly evolving—consumer habits are changing and we should evolve our paid social advertising strategy to match. If a campaign is working well today, this might not be the case in 2019 if we don’t adapt to the changes.

To keep pace, it’s important to be open to new developments and carefully test whether they work for your organization. I’d encourage you to test new placements to see if they can deliver better reach and cost per conversion. Try new ad formats, especially as they tend to be cheaper once they’re first rolled out. Finally, use the split testing feature, which allows you to carefully determine whether the new campaign additions are working well for you.

Here are a few ideas to test in 2019:

• Placements: Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, Messenger Stories, Marketplace
• Ad formats: Stories, Click-to-Messenger ads
• Optimization: Creative optimization for different placements, placement optimization

And there you have it—your social advertising resolutions for 2019. As you get ready for an exciting New Year, we’re here to answer your questions about any of the products or strategies mentioned above. Just get in touch with your Marin Social representative. Or, if you’re new to Marin, schedule a demo and we’ll show you how you can optimize your social ad campaigns.

Instagram Stories are a huge success for Facebook. The format rolled out in August 2016 to the general Instagram public, and then to advertisers in March 2017.

Now, Instagram can boast of 400 million people using Stories every day. This is more than double the 191 million Snapchat users, the platform where stories were first born.

With user habits shifting so rapidly, Stories are poised to be the future of social media. According to research conducted by Block Party, Stories creation and consumption is up 842% since 2016. Facebook also estimates that Stories will surpass sharing to news feeds in 2019.

In light of all this, Facebook recently announced that Facebook Stories Ads are now available to all advertisers globally.

Why are Stories so wildly popular?

A Story’s Worth a Thousand Words

Stories make it easier to share experiences, are easier to consume than text, and are highly immersive, occupying the full screen and often playing with sound on.

Should you drop what you’re doing and start making Facebook Stories Ads right now? Well, maybe not drop everything, but you should add Stories to your social advertising toolkit.

What More Can Facebook Stories Offer Advertisers?

Before you fully dive in, consider these additional stats:

• Facebook Stories have about 150 million daily active users. The reach is a few times smaller than reach on Instagram Stories, but still significant.
• The format’s available to be bought along with Facebook Feed or Instagram Stories ads as a placement optimization. It’s not yet available as a standalone.
• It’s versatile and supports direct response and brand objectives: Reach, Brand Awareness, Video Views, App Installs, Conversion, Traffic, and Lead Generation.
• It includes the entire suite of Facebook targeting options.
• Facebook Stories support image and video ad formats (up to 15 seconds). By comparison, Instagram now supports up to 60-second video in Stories and the Carousel format.

Our Take on Facebook Stories Ads

Facebook Stories ads are available to all advertisers through Marin Social. After initial testing, we have a few recommendations.

• If you’re already using Instagram Stories, extend your reach to Facebook Stories. It’s a no-brainer. As long as you’re using single image or short video ads, selecting the extra placement is an easy way to get additional reach and improve your performance. In this case, you won’t need to develop new assets and can test Facebook Stories in a couple of clicks.
• Don’t expect massive additional reach just yet. Facebook Stories have less reach than Instagram Stories. Also, because you can’t choose Facebook Stories as a standalone placement, the almighty algorithm will control your ads, and they prioritize placements that deliver the best value. You won’t be able to predict how much delivery you’ll get, at first, on Facebook Stories.
• Leave a little space at the top and bottom of the asset, free from text and logos—about 14%. Your profile icon and call to action (CTA) will fill this space. (Note that Facebook requires a profile icon but a CTA is optional. See our example Facebook Story ad).
• Use text overlay and emojis to narrate the story. Text overlays are commonly used in organic stories and can help you add a little humor or context to the story. This is especially useful as Stories are consumed very quickly. Make sure your key message stands out fast.

Learn More

We’re excited about this ad format and can’t wait for more advertisers to try it out. If you’re a Marin customer and want to learn more, get in touch with your account rep. Or, if you’re new to Marin, see it in action by requesting a demo.

Why advertise on Facebook Messenger?

Over the last few years messaging has become more important and popular. Believe it or not, since the beginning of 2015, there have been more people using messaging apps than social networks.

We recommend that all forward-looking advertisers consider where messaging stands in their social media strategy. Businesses might be quick to dismiss this advertising channel, thinking that only the young and tech-savvy use it. However, a few reasons say that’s not the case:

• Messaging apps now have more active users than social networks, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. At over 3.5 billion people, that’s a huge reach—almost half the planet use messaging apps.
• People across generations prefer to message than call or email when chatting one-to-one or with a group.
• Customers like the speed and simplicity of instant messaging. In fact, Facebook research shows that 53% of people are more likely to shop with a business they can message directly.

Facebook Messenger itself has reached over 1.3 billion people, allowing brands and businesses to reach customers at scale. Facebook built out a number of features, allowing brands to:

• Extend their reach on the Messenger placement
• Drive new users to chat with your business
• Re-engage existing customers with Sponsored Messages

Here’s a quick guide on how to use these Facebook Messenger features to drive business results.

Extend your reach using the Messenger placement

One of the easiest ways to add Messenger to your social media strategy is to extend the reach of your Facebook ads to the Messenger Home placement. You don’t need any additional preparation, as this can complement your existing Facebook activity as part of placement optimization.

Here are a few things to consider before testing this placement:

• Messenger Home placement is available as part of placement optimization and not a standalone placement. Although you can’t create Messenger Home-only ads, you’ll still be able to review how the placement performed against others through breakdown reporting.
• You can test this with Link or Carousel ads.
• It supports the Messages, Reach, Brand Awareness, Traffic, Conversions, and App Installs objectives.

Test this placement to see if you can get extended reach and improve your campaign performance. As this will be served as part of placement optimization, the algorithm will aim to serve your ads on a placement that can deliver the best price possible at the time. Make sure you allow enough time for the test and gather data before making big strategy decisions—depending on your audience, Messenger Home might be a small part of your campaign delivery.

Drive people to your Messenger chat

We outlined some of the merits of engaging with your customers via messaging apps. Messaging offers speed and convenience, and can increase customer satisfaction. However, how do you get people to discover your Messenger presence and reach out to you?

There are a number of organic ways you can get discovered—Messenger Codes, adding a button to your Facebook page, sharing an m.me link. However, you can really scale and tailor who you reach with Click-to-Messenger ads. In a nutshell, these are Link ads served in the Facebook feed that entice people to open a chat with you on Messenger.

You can use all of the regular Facebook targeting—demographics, interests, custom audiences, and more. There are a number of different strategies you can explore here:

• Prospecting: Target your audience on Facebook and drive them to find out more about your products through Messenger.
• Retargeting: Use the Facebook pixel to target those customers that viewed your products but haven’t purchased yet. Messenger could work as a great bridge from interest to conversion, allowing your customers to ask important questions and get immediate answers.
• Seasonal: Create a Messenger bot around a season or event that’s key to your business. For example, target a gifter’s audience in the lead-up to Christmas offering to help them choose the perfect gift.

Before testing this ad unit, there are a few guidelines to note:

• It’s supported under three objectives: Traffic, Conversions, and Messages.
• You can use these ad formats to increase Messenger usage: Image Link, Video Link, or Carousel.
• You can place Click-to-Messenger ads on the Facebook and Instagram news feeds.

Re-engage customers with Sponsored Messages

Finally, if you already have plenty of people engaging with you on Messenger, you should consider running Sponsored Messages. These are targeted, in-context ads allowing you to re-engage a warm audience.

The way I like to think about this ad unit is seeing people that have connected to you on Messenger as leads—people who signed up to communicate with your business. They’re already an open audience more likely to show interest in your products, respond to your marketing, and convert.

Sponsored Messages can only be targeted at people who already have an open conversation with you, meaning that your audience size is very limited. You’re able to layer additional targeting, based on Facebook data; however, I suggest keeping it simple and not reducing your audience size too much. A few strategies to consider:

• Using the Facebook Pixel, data exclude people who already converted and aren’t likely to convert again. That way, you can ensure your Sponsored Messages are still relevant to your audience.
• Make the messages personalized by segmenting your ad sets based on gender, age group, or interest.
• Remind your Messenger audience about your business by sending them an offer.

Sponsored Messages are an interesting ad unit in the Facebook ecosystem, reminding me of Sponsored InMail on LinkedIn. As such, there are a few things to note before launching them:

• The ad unit is currently supported by Messages objective only.
• It can only be served in Messenger and only to people who already have an open conversation with your business.
• You will be bidding manually on CPM—the recommended bids are much higher than you would bid on the Facebook news feed.
• It only works on accelerated delivery—due to the smaller audience sizes than you’re used to on Facebook, the goal for this unit is to deliver the messages out, fast.
• You can place 1x message per ad set and serve it at a frequency of 1. This makes sense since you don’t want to bombard your customers with the same message over and over again. If you have 2x messages you’d like to serve, you have to create 2x ad sets.

Instagram Stories has quickly become one of the more exciting products in the Facebook marketing suite. Facebook claims that 300 million people around the globe watch and create Instagram stories every day. By comparison, this tops Snapchat’s reach of 178 million daily global users.

Advertising on Instagram Stories has allowed marketers to place powerful short video or image ads to inspire users when they’re most engaged. Read more about why you should try this powerful feature and what you need to succeed.

The Audience

Instagram attracts a highly engaged global audience looking for inspiration. Unlike on Facebook, where users come to connect with family and friends and see what the newest trending cat video is, the visual nature of Instagram lends itself well to influencer content. People come to Instagram looking to be inspired and discover the things they care about. This includes content from brands and businesses—1/3 of the most viewed stories are from businesses.

While Snapchat is the most popular platform for people aged 12-24, Instagram attracts a broader demographic—more users across more life stages. 59% of Internet users aged 18-29 are on Instagram. With Instagram Stories businesses can reach engaged users at scale.

The Experience

The Stories format has taken the world by storm. Snapchat piloted it and after its initial success, we started seeing stories everywhere—WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, and of course Instagram.

There are a few reasons the format is so successful, all boiling down to the experience it offers. As people’s attention spans are shrinking due to content overload, stories offer more information in a visual format, faster. It’s the format of the future. Which is why brands should get on it.

Advertising on Instagram Stories allows brands to reach users when they’re engaged. Stories are designed for mobile viewing with a visual vertical image or video format. Unlike the Facebook feed, which is often silent, users view 60% of Instagram Stories with the sound on. This creates an immersive experience where brands have a chance to capture attention and showcase what they’ve got.

The Format

The formats available for Instagram Stories ads are designed for the mobile experience. To convey their message, brands can use video that’s up to 15 seconds or static images up to 10 seconds. Both video and image ads are vertical and occupy the full screen, capturing full user attention.

The Objectives

Instagram Stories were first available under the Reach objective only, and was the new shiny tool for brand advertisers. Very quickly, Facebook released other objectives—Video Views, Brand Awareness, Traffic, App Installs, and even Conversions. While Instagram Stories won’t be your go-to for DR campaigns, they can be efficient at driving higher-funnel objectives, such as traffic to your site and awareness of a product.

Tips to Make your Instagram Stories Ads Work

• Being visual is key. There is no space for post copy or link description in Instagram Stories ads. The placement is all about looks—so, it’s crucial to use best quality images and videos. An image from a stock photo library that may have worked on Facebook won’t grab user attention on Instagram Stories.
• Grab attention quickly. As the video on Stories is only up to 15 seconds long, the first couple of seconds need to do the job. Consider including branding at the beginning of the video and not the end. Use text overlays to add a call to action to the ad and influence clicks.
• Use sound. It’s become customary to recommend that advertisers design video for silent social media feeds. Instagram Stories is your opportunity to combine the visual experience with sound, as the majority of Stories are played with sound on.
• Think about the environment. Instagram Stories are great and more than 50% of Instagram business accounts use them monthly. However, they won’t suit every brand and every objective. Be critical and evaluate if your brand suits the Instagram demographic, whether your creative assets are suitable, and if you really think what you’re doing will grab attention in seconds.

The Opportunity

Instagram Stories ads are now available to all advertisers using Marin Social. You can select it as a stand-alone placement and use it for Brand Awareness, Video View, Traffic, Conversion, and App Install objectives. For more information, touch base with your account representative. Or, if you’re new to Marin, contact us today.