PPC
Ad automation is taking over the world
Another day, another time Google is trying to persuade us that artificial intelligence can run campaigns better than us. Microsoft has also jumped on board this time.
- Following a successful pilot, Google has announced that Performance Max campaigns will be rolled out globally.
- Microsoft has also announced that Smart Shopping campaigns will be available in all markets where shopping campaigns are available.
These two announcements have one thing in common: Automation. With Performance Max campaigns, Google will find new places to place your ads (YouTube, Discover) automatically.
Microsoft’s Smart Shopping campaigns work similarly, helping you in “serving ads to the right user at the right time.”
When ad delivery is being automated, what can we do? Google and Microsoft have told us: “Leave it up to us to figure out where to place your ads.” What does that leave you with to focus on? The creative. That at least hasn’t been automated…yet.
ADVERTISING
Zoom will serve its users ads
The company has announced a pilot ad program in which users will be shown ads once their free meeting has ended. These ads will only appear in the browser (for now).
Popping up left and right: Yesterday we reported that Telegram plans to roll out an ad network. Today, it’s Zoom’s turn. This has been an interesting trend, with new platforms launching ads to their free tiers almost every week.
What this means for you: Higher ROIs if you are among the first to figure out how to use the new ad platform.
For the time being, we don’t have any information on how to appear on Zoom’s platform. But that should change soon, like with almost every new platform we reported through the years.
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ADVERTISING
Reels Ads vs TikTok Ads
What performs better?
To find it out, Csilla Borsos from Creatopy, decided to pour $2k in an experiment, to see which performed better between the two platforms.
Some background of the test:
– Brand: Creatopy, a SaaS company that helps businesses automate and scale their ad production.
– The ad: Same copy and video both for Instagram and TikTok. You can see it here on TikTok, or on the post page.
– Targeting: Same targeting for both platforms. USA, 25-44 years old.
– Budget: $1k per platform spread over a 20 days time frame.
– Objective: Reach for both platforms.
The hypothesis: Since the reach on TikTok is crazy, the PPC team expected TikTok Ads to smash Reels Ads.
But it wasn’t so. Here are the results:
Impressions
- TikTok: 228k
- Instagram: 604k
CPM
- TikTok: $4.38
- Instagram: $1.67
CPC
- TikTok: $35
- Instagram: $28
Reels Ads is the clear winner.
And it’s probably due to the different demographics: TikTok is known for hosting younger age groups. Hence, the targeting (25-44) could have inflated the results because Reels Ads had a larger pool of users in this group.
This could have also impacted the strength of the offer, which probably appeals to an older age group.
Last but not least, the ad looks too much like an ad, not like organic TikTok content. So, this might be another reason why it didn’t perform so well on TikTok.
Bottom line? Well, you know what we’re about to say…
Test it on your own, and don’t make assumptions until you have enough data available in your hands.
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THE CREW’S INSIGHTS
To boost conversion, create interactive quizzes for your audience
Most brands have a blog. They write things there, hoping that writing will pick up some organic users, and spend the rest of their time focusing on ads and email marketing.
But there’s another type of content that can boost your conversion: Quizzes.
We found a great example of this when analyzing Pete & Pedro’s marketing. Here’s how it works:
- They created an easy hairstyling quiz where you can pick your hairstyle, your desired shine, and your desired hold.
- They put this quiz on the homepage of their site, under a few other product recommendations.
- They use this quiz as a piece of content in their email marketing campaigns.
Why it works: At the end of the short quiz, Pete & Pedro suggests the perfect Pete & Pedro hairstyling product to help you achieve your perfect hair.
This increases conversion because you’ve just shown to the customer how your product will solve their problem. The quiz has done the selling for you, now the customer just has to click “add to cart.”
Quizzes can be created by almost every brand and are a great underused way to increase conversion. They probably won’t get much organic traffic, but featuring them on your homepage and in email marketing campaigns can generate all the traffic you need.
If you’re still thirsty for conversion juice and marketing insights, click over to our Twitter feed to see more advice straight from The Crew!
ROUNDING UP THE STACK
E-COMMERCE: This isn’t magic, but Drip knows exactly what to do to increase your revenue. Their secret? Super-duper personalization. When you connect Drip to your store, it analyzes your customer data and allows you to run automated email, SMS, and social campaigns to convert past, present, and future visitors. Try it for free.*
GOOGLE: Are your ads being restricted? Google now has a unified way of telling you this.
AMAZON: unBoxed 2021 had a lot of announcements by Amazon that are relevant to marketers. Here are some of them.
SEO: Google wants to change the way it displays some of its search snippets.
BUSINESS: Another day, another company pulled out from China. This time it’s Yahoo.
*This is a sponsored post.
BRAIN TEASER
I went into the woods and got it. I sat down to seek it. I brought it home with me because I couldn’t find it.
What is it?
You can find the solution here.
POOLSIDE CHAT
Cool tech, (funny) business, lifestyle and all the other things marketers like to chat about while sipping cocktails by the pool.
Facebook wants teens to come back to its platform. Teens: Not so fast
Well, well…
It turns out that if you ask teens to come back to a platform that their parents use, they will (not so politely) say, “No, thank you.”
In 2012, 94 percent of teenagers had a Facebook account. In 2021, that figure is 27%.
Mark Zuckerberg recently vowed to reverse this trend, saying that he wants Facebook to make “serving young adults the North Star.”
Many analysts think this will be what many teens call “mission impossible.” Teenagers have already shifted to alternative platforms. TikTok, for example, is used by 73% of them today.
Time will tell if this happens, but with comments like these we’re skeptical.