Google AdWords conversion tracking has been available for a few years, but very recently Facebook woke up and gave all Facebook advertisers access to conversion tracking for ‘off-Facebook’ ads. These are ads that direct people away from Facebook and onto a different web address (i.e. your landing page/website). We have tested Facebook Conversion Tracking and it works much the same as Google AdWords:

To generate a Conversion Pixel, simply navigate to the Facebook Ads Manager and select “Conversion Tracking” on the left hand side.

Then click “Create Conversion Pixel” in a green button on the far right, give it a name and select the conversion category.

A Java Script code will be generated after you create the conversion pixel, copy this code and place it on the confirmation page of your website (instructions for your developer), then join all the dots in your Facebook Ads Manager by linking your ads to the Conversion Pixel (edit your ad, tick the Conversion Tracking box and select the corresponding Conversion Pixel). Next you’re ready to check the tracking status of your Conversion Pixel. This can be done by visiting the conversion page where the code was placed, thereafter in your Facebook Ads Manager, the tracking status should be updated to, “Active” (people who have visited the conversion page within the last 24 hours). The Facebook Conversion Pixel will only report conversions that happened as a result from clicking on a Facebook ad.

Along with conversion tracking, Facebook offers Optimised CPM bidding for conversion driven campaigns, not only focusing on clicks. Optimised CPM bidding will dynamically adjust your bids in order to capture the highest-value impressions that are most likely to convert, in-line with your campaign goals and hence delivering the best possible ROI. It is said that Optimised CPM campaigns will deliver better returns than CPC or CPM campaigns, but standard CPC or CPM bidding is still available for the automated skeptics.

Our tests over the last four weeks have converted post click and at a reasonable cost. Conversions fall under “Actions” in your Facebook reports, so you can run an “Actions by Impression Time” report and filter down to ad level, you’ll find your Pixel name under the “Action Type” column (post impression/click). Conversion tracking allows you to determine which ad delivered the highest ROI, so you can make data driven decisions regarding campaign or website optimisation.

It can be argued that users who are on Facebook, want to stay on Facebook and that purchase intent is much lower on Facebook, so why send people to a website? I think it all depends on the objectives and strategy of the campaign. At least now there is an additional way to attribute return from ‘off-Facebook’ ads.

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Originally you only had four IS columns, namely: IS, Lost IS (budget), Lost IS (Rank), Exact Match IS. You’ll notice historical data is no longer available before October 2012, this is to enable the new IS column transition, all new data will go as far back as 1 October 2012. The changes below are set to arrive immediately for some advertisers or by February 2013 for everyone!

What are the Changes?

1. Distinct Search and Display Columns. New columns separating Search and Display IS.
2. “Hour of Day” Segmentation. Evaluate ad coverage by segmented time “Dimensions”.
3. Filters, Charts and Rules. Apply filters, automated rules and graphs using IS metrics.
4. Accuracy. Improvements to the calculation of IS.

The new columns are simply Search and Display variations for each original column, as above – Now here’s a question: Can you tell us why there’s no Exact Match IS for Display? comment and WIN a massive, virtual high-five!

Source | More Source

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Unlike Analytics, Google AdWords has previously only ever allowed advertisers to select a set group of possible dates (this month, last month, last 7 days etc) with only one customisable option. Today, we noticed that Google has finally added a “Compare Dates” feature to the date range options in AdWords. Now allowing advertisers to choose/compare two custom date ranges and data is also displayed in your AdWords performance graphs. Now you can see at a glance the stats between two date ranges, instead of switching back and forth or exporting and arranging the data. Custom date ranges seem to remain saved when switching between accounts in your MCC.

Well done Google AdWords, we take our hats off to you on this one. Been waiting ages for it.

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Earlier this month, Google made some changes to how marketers are able to use this feature. The first change allows for Remarketing lists to be created and managed within Google Analytics, allowing for deeper analysis of these ads. This can be found in the Admin section under “Remarketing Lists”.

The second change is the ability to create various Remarketing lists using one piece of code instead of many.
Before, if you wanted to separate ad messages according to the page category that the user was browsing before they left the site, a unique code for each of those categories would have to be generated and implemented within the corresponding webpage. For example, if you have a site selling shoes, you would have to have a unique code for running shoes, a unique code for boots etc., in order to be able to deliver Remarketing ads specific to those shoe types.

Now, only one Remarketing code needs to be generated and implemented across all pages of the site. Some accounts may already have this code automatically generated. If you have this, it will be found under the “Audiences” tab, within the shared library, named “Main List”. If your account does not have this pre-generated list, then click ‘New audience’. Select ‘Remarketing list’ and then ‘define a list of site visitors by placing a new tag on selected pages’. Select the ‘+New tag’ button, name your remarketing list as ‘Main List’.

When the code of this Main List has been implemented across the site, you will then be ready to create category-based lists. From the Audiences tab, select ‘New audience’ > ‘Remarketing List’. Then select ‘Define a list of site visitors based on the selection below’. You can then create a list defined by the contents of the URL. For example, if you want to create a list for all users who viewed running shoes on your site, you would select all URL’s containing the term “runningshoes”. This method is therefore dependant on the URL structure of your site.

If you have already been using Remarketing, you can continue to use the old method, but some changes will need to be made in order to be able to use this new feature. See an explanation from Google on these changes here.

This new way of Remarketing has the obvious benefit of not having to deal with too many separate pieces of code, which can get especially complex when emailing to clients with explanations on implementation. It is also a time saver in that you would no longer need to keep adding additional code when there are changes to landing pages and promoted products.

Image source.

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If you provide paid search marketing, you will often require your client to implement the AdWords conversion code somewhere on their site to track how many leads or sales have been generated by your campaigns. So far so good – you will contact your client, who will forward the request to their IT, who will implement the script for you and ideally it will work as intented. If the script has not been correctly placed, you will have to repeat this procedure. The larger a client, the longer it can take to forward your request through all the necessary instances. Now you also want to remarket certain sections of the site by placing individual scripts on pages of these sections and showing users who have looked at washing mashines different ads than users who have demonstrated interest in high-end gaming PCs. You will have to explain your exact requirements to the client again, who will have to execute the implementation of the needed scripts for you. This costs both you and the client time, resources, and therefore money. If you are offering web analytics advice and implementation, the list goes on .. events want to be tracked, user behaviour measured, e-commerce scripts enabled and tracking scripts amended. Every time a change is needed a new communication process will have to be initiated.

Container tags can take care of this issue for you. A number of different vendors with varying service and pricing models have come up over the last year. These so-called tag management solutions provide you with a JavaScript tag similar to any other tag you would use for Google AdWords or Analytics. However, this tag can contain numerous other tags which you can specify and edit at any given time using a web interface. So you would simply ask your client to implement one single tag across their whole site, and you can take care of the rest. You can include AdWords, Analytics and any other scripts you need in this tag – it empowers you to immediately make changes when needed and to always stay on top of tracking traffic and conversions in the correct way. I think that all of these systems provide you with the possibility to only place certain tags on certain pages you define, and many allow you to pull data from the HTML of a page (or, better, data layers – see reference below for more on this topic) and amend your tracking accordingly (great for instance if you are using Google Analytics e-commerce tracking).

There are of course also downsides to using container tags for your tracking. If you would like to read up on these and find out more about tag management, I highly recommend Google’s Justin Cutroni’s concise and highly informative article on the state and possible implementations of tag management here: http://cutroni.com/blog/2012/05/14/make-analytics-better-with-tag-management-and-a-data-layer/

The post Container Tags Can Save Time and Resources appeared first on Trafficbrand.

Example:

Phil is an online retailer selling a large variety of shoes in South Africa. He’s AdWords account has campaigns targeting 3 different regions (Western Cape, KZN and Gauteng). Within each campaign he has separate ad groups for generic and brand keywords. His structure (e.g. – Cape Town – Sneakers – Generic and – KZN – Sneakers – Generic) means that he has the same ads and keywords spread across different parts of this account. By applying a label “sneakers”  he can now easily sort his account or quickly run a labels report to see how well “sneakers” related keywords are performing in terms of sales across all three regions.

He can also now compare the performance of different types of shoes he is selling across these regions.

Labels can be used to organize your campaign elements in a way that you choose. Report on brand keyword performance versus all other non-branded keyword performance. You can measure how ads that mention “20% off” versus ads that mention “Save up to 25%” perform. You could also simply label your best performing keywords across ad groups in order to quickly review them. AdWords labels is a simple, yet handy tool have for any campaign manager’s tool box.

Source: http://adwords.blogspot.com/2012/04/slice-and-dice-your-data-using-adwords.html

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The first big change is that most of these video ads will no longer be charged for per click, but per view. A view counts as either a full watch of the video, or, in the case that it is longer than thirty seconds, a view of the first thirty seconds of the video. This will clearly make the video ad formats more lucrative for advertisers, as they will only be charged for potentially interested viewers. Users who skip their ads won’t leave a dent in the advertisers’ marketing budgets. Video ads will now also receive a sort of “quality score” similar to search ads that can, for instance, determine their position on the YouTube search results page along with the bid. This also adds a dimension of ‘engagement’ to the video ad model. Google thinks advertisers will aim for shorter, high quality clips more than ever to assure good scores, which would also be a definite win for the users.

The second big change is that you can manage all this from within AdWords now. You will also get additional metrics (such as view rate, thumb impressions and video impressions) and will be able to search for your YouTube videos from the AdWords interface to easily upload them. First and foremost, however, you will have access to AdWords’ highly sophisticated targeting methods. You can now target users by audiences consisting of interest categories, topics, content keywords or YouTube search keywords, for instance. This should make video advertising much more efficient.

The four ad formats promoted as “TrueView” video ads are as follows:

• In-search (previously known as promoted videos, showing on the YouTube SERP and targeting YouTube search keywords)
• In-stream (videos that show within a video – mostly up front, but can also be shown in the middle or at the end – and that can be skipped after five seconds)
• In-slate (this is a new format where users will be shown a selection of three videos, and can choose the one they want to watch before proceeding to the actual video they came for – this will be more “opt-in” than in-stream ads, as the user is given a choice, however note that with this format the advertiser will already be charged for the click of the video)
• In-display (these ads can show on YouTube or the GDN – for instance as a promotion on the right hand side of a YouTube video that is currently being watched)

Thinking about getting your advertising YouTube-ready? Remember that rich-media ads are becoming more important and effective than static banners in many cases and that YouTube is in fact the second largest search engine in the world. Two good reasons to give these new formats a try! Visit http://www.youtube.com/advertise/trueview.html for more!

The post TrueView Video Ads Bring AdWords and YouTube Together appeared first on Trafficbrand.

The question of whether to let AdWords handle your budget for you in the name of conversion goals is a tough one to answer. Do we trust these features? Are they more effective than manual bidding practices? When a typical online marketer asks these questions they will probably be thinking of Conversion Optimizer, and the available Enhanced CPC feature can often be overlooked.

How Does Enhanced CPC Work?

Each time an ad is activated, the maximum CPC on keywords or placements will be automatically increased or decreased, based on the chances of a conversion being achieved. The following variables are considered to predict the conversion rate:

• Location
• Browser
• Language settings
• Time of day
• Day of week
• Words in search query
• Match type
• Historical performance

Bids can be increased by up to 30%, and there is no limit to decreases.

Initially, Enhanced CPC will take effect on 50% of the auctions entered into. After gaining enough data to analyse performance of the feature one of two further steps will be taken. If it has been found that it has not benefited performance of the campaign, it will reduce its effect, but will not stop running entirely. If it has had a positive impact on the campaign, it will start to modify bids on up to 75% of auctions entered into, and if positive impact on modified bids continues 100% of the auctions will be affected by Enhanced CPC. There is no notification given when the feature starts to modify more than 50% of the auctions.

How is Enhanced CPC Enabled?

Activation within a campaign that has conversion tracking is simple. Within your AdWords account, go to Bidding and budget section under the campaign Settings tab and click “edit”. Then check the box under Enhanced CPC that is labelled “Use my conversion tracking data and bid to optimize for conversions”.

It can also be activated within AdWords Editor on the Campaigns tab, by selecting the drop down under Enhanced CPC to change from “Disabled” to “Enabled”.

How Does it Differ to Conversion Optimizer?

Enhanced CPC gives marketers more control, as they can override bid manually or use external bid management systems, whereas Conversion Optimizer does not allow continued management of CPC bids.

Conversion Optimizer is not limited to the 30% rise in bids that Enhanced CPC is. Conversion Optimizer lets you set a target CPA which it will work towards. Enhanced CPC does not take into account this goal.

Where Conversion Optimizer can only be implemented if the campaign has received 15 conversions within the past 30 days, Enhanced CPC does not have this requirement.

Who Should Use Enhanced CPC?

The feature appears to be a useful tool for experienced marketers who would like to benefit from automated bid management to maximise conversion rates, but retain the ability to control the bid themselves as well.

Because, unlike Conversion Optimizer, a campaign does not have to meet certain conversion requirements before it can be implemented, consideration must be taken into account as to whether the campaign is suitable for Enhanced CPC to be running. Enabling it on a campaign that is young or unstable could have no effect or negative results.

As with any automated feature (like Conversion Optimizer and Automated Rules), careful analysis is needed to ensure that the business KPI’s are not being affected negatively – particularly traffic received, as the limitless decreasing of bids may see it dwindle.

The post Enhanced Cost Per Click (CPC) appeared first on Trafficbrand.

Facebook is unique in that it does not target users based on relevant website content or keywords, but user generated profile information. Facebook allows people to “Like” website content, Facebook pages or groups, links and just about anything where there is a “Like” button present. Accompanied to this Facebook knows your location, marital status, education, birth date and demographic details. All this information can be used to target ads to a relevant target audience. In short, Facebook targets people and not website content or keywords. Yes, some people don’t fill in all their profile details, but an IP address can still be used to target based on location and you ultimately want to serve ads to a user who is likely to engage with your message.

You can advertise your website, but lower bounce rates and community development can be achieved when advertising something on Facebook (directing users to a Facebook page, customised app, event or group). Keeping users on Facbeook after they click an ad and getting them to like your brand, means you can remarket to them in the form of status updates, pictures, links and conversation. Facebook serves ads in a social environment and they really have made the most of this by adding social context to ads. If your friend likes what an ad is advertising, this is then displayed on their profile page, the home page and under the ad when you see it. Research has proven that we are more likely to act based on peer recommendation rather than advertisement. Think about it; are you more likely to try a new restaurant based on a friend’s suggestion or an ad you saw on a website? Google has started moving in this direction with the recent release of the +1 button, but Facebook is way ahead of the pack in this regard. With so much time spent on the site, the social influence on ads can result in many people engaging with your brand from just one person clicking through and “Liking”. This is known as social amplification and increases your reach virally.

Ad real estate on Facebook is available on profile pages, in apps, photo albums and a few other areas within the platform. Impressions are free, just like search, with a Pay Per Click pricing model. This means great exposure for your brand from a manageable budget. So where is the ROI or considered conversion? A questionable topic, but Facebook is improving its reporting centre and targeting parameters as the ad platform develops. Recent studies prove that Facebook increases overall conversions, but they are not attributed to a last click conversion. Many people who click a Facebook ad first, eventually end up searching for your brand and convert at a later stage. Business dependant of course, but the above is reason why we believe you should be advertising on Facebook. If you have a question or would like more information, please leave us a comment below or contact us.

The post Why Should You Advertise on Facebook? appeared first on Trafficbrand.

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Google mentions that it plans to make the +1 button available for publishers too. This means people can reccommend your web pages for Google search results without leaving your website. Sign up to add the +1 button to your website.

The new and socially attractive +1 buttons will be rolling out on Google.com and only in English to start with. The +1 buttons will not be visible on Internet Explorer 7 or earlier versions of IE. The button will also not be visible to people that are not signed into a Google account, although there is talk that Google will consider allowing access via a Twitter log-in. Google say there is no need to make any changes to campaign strategy for the +1 button and that advertisers should, “Think of +1 buttons as an enhancement that can help already successful search campaigns perform even better.”

We look forward to seeing the +1 buttons in South Africa. Learn More.

Image source.

Joke: Apparently you will not be able to +1 chucknorris.com, because he can’t get any more awesome!

The post Does Google's +1 Button Affect Advertisers? appeared first on Trafficbrand.