A Facebook update

The world of social media marketing never stops changing, but you can count on Salgado to bring you all the breaking news from the front line. Read on for a quick bulletin on the latest changes in Facebook advertising!

More control over Reach and Frequency campaigns

Reach and Frequency campaigns are a particular kind of Facebook ad campaign which enable you to specify how far your ads reach (i.e. number of impressions) and how frequently they are seen.

Reach and Frequency campaigns were recently upgraded so that advertisers have more control – for example, you can now specify what time of day your ads will be seen. Additional updates mean that you can fix mistakes more easily and plan longer-lasting campaigns. All good things!

Advertising on Instagram is in full swing

We’ve been monitoring the roll-out of Facebook’s marketing tools to Instagram closely ever since it was announced (see previous posts). Since Facebook owns Instagram, all the options you can use in planning and executing Facebook ads are also available there – like carefully targeted audiences and tracking conversion rates.

We’re keeping a close eye on the results early adopters are experiencing. So far it’s been a mixed bag, with some brands getting fairly extreme reactions from users who aren’t thrilled about the introduction of paid content, while others have managed to blend into the Instagram feed and achieved good levels of engagement. We’re running our own tests as well – so watch this space for more news!

New objective – brand awareness

In addition to existing advertising objectives such as post engagement, video views, and page likes, Facebook is introducing the option to create sponsored content which has the objective of brand awareness. Similar to the Reach and Frequency model, it’s about optimising your campaign to get your brand in front of as many people as possible. Facebook’s reasoning is that currently, some businesses are using page post engagement or video objectives in order to try reach the biggest audience possible – but what those objectives are actually optimised for is getting people to take action, while the brand awareness objective will sinply focus on making sure plenty of people see your content.

New format – generate leads

In an exciting development this quarter will also see a new type of advert on Facebook, specifically designed to help you generate leads. Getting information from people usually requires them to fill in a form – and the time and effort this takes can act as an obstacle. But with Lead Ads the process of sharing information will be hugely simplified. Some data can be automatically populated by using the information the user has already provided to Facebook – their email address, for example. Businesses can design their own forms, with open-ended or multiple choice questions, and the whole process takes place ”natively” in Facebook, so the user doesn’t get the jarring experience of switching between apps.

There are a number of ways this new function could be used, such as encouraging people to sign up to newsletters, access a special offer or RSVP to an event. Why not have a think about how your business could benefit from generating new leads?

New feature – 360° video

Last but not least: 360 degree video functionality has come to Facebook, a fun feature which enables you to experience video from any direction or angle, as if you are there experiencing it yourself! Creating 360 degree videos requires special equipment and the ability to post them to Facebook is currently limited to a small number of users – but you can get a taste of how it works from watching this video.

That’s all for now

To find out more about how Salgado can help your business get the most out of Facebook, get in touch!