Tag: Facebook

Brands Can Now Use Facebook’s Dynamic Ads To Drive App Installs

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook has updated its Dynamic Product Ads to allow brands to drive mobile app installs with more efficiency. Now brands with serving product ads on Facebook can instruct users that are browsing its product ads to install the branded mobile apps directly. This adds to the direct-response nature of the dynamic ad units, which delivers better results than ordinary mobile app install ads, according to Facebook, as they target users already interested in the product and brand.

What Brands Should Do
Just in time for the final push of this holiday shopping season, brands and retailers would be smart to leverage this new feature to spice up their dynamic ads and reach Facebook users more efficiently. Even if the installs don’t drive immediate returns, they can carry some long-term benefits, as having an app installed on a shopper’s smartphone keeps it top of mind.

For more information on how retailers can effectively reach connected consumers by taking a mobile-powered, omnichannel approach, check out the Boundless Retail section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: VentureBeat

Facebook To Target Streaming Viewers By Linking User Profiles With IP Addresses

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Last month, Facebook announced a partnership with A+E and streaming startup Tubi TV to bring Facebook ads to OTT streaming devices like Roku and Apple TV. Now a Bloomberg report reveals that the social network has been testing personalized ad targeting in this new program by linking Facebook profiles tied to the IP addresses of the streaming set-top boxes. Facebook customizes commercials based on the user data and certain A&E shows they are watching, and it is testing ads for nonprofits or its own products along with a handful of name brands, according to a company spokesman.

What Brands Should Do
The update better illustrates Facebook’s ambition in expanding its ad product and reach into the living room and onto the streaming devices. As we noted when this OTT partnership was announced, Facebook’s venture into streaming ads should provide brand advertisers with better targeting capabilities to reach OTT viewers and cord-cutters by bringing the same audience data that powers the rest of its ad network to the set-top boxes. And that looks like exactly what they have been doing. With more and more viewers choosing on-demand streaming over linear TV, brands wishing to reach consumers at scale should start exploring the advertising opportunities on the ad-supported streaming services.

To read more on how brands can deal with TV’s shift toward streaming platforms, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Bloomberg

Facebook Adds HTML5-Based Instant Games To Messenger And News Feed

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook has added a new feature to its platform to spice up its content offering. Starting today, users can enjoy fast-loading gaming experiences that Facebook dubbed “Instant Games” right in Facebook Messenger and their News Feeds. Instant Games are HTML5-based and thus work on both mobile and the web without installing additional apps. The first patch of Instant Games comes with 17 titles that include household names such as Pac-Man. Pepsi is among the first brands to take advantage of this new feature to launch a branded game on Messenger to connect with mobile consumers.

What Brands Should Do
As mobile gaming continues to absorb consumer attention, a number of brands have experimented with branded games in recent years to connect with mobile consumers. Last month, Chipotle created a branded memory matching game to reward players with free food, and Michael Kors launched a series of casino-themed mini-games on WeChat for its Singles’ Day event. Just yesterday, Pepsi launched a chatbot-powered branded game on Messenger to connect with mobile consumers.

Given Facebook’s brand-friendly track record, it seems safe to assume that more brands will soon be able to leverage Instant Games to create branded gaming experiences to engage with consumers on Facebook.

 

Source: Engadget

Facebook Starts Testing Real-Time Ads For Live Videos

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
After introducing a way for users to schedule a live video last month, Facebook has now reportedly started testing a real-time ad product for Facebook Live videos, allowing publishers and brands to advertise their live session to attract viewers as it happens. Facebook declined to share which advertisers and publishers are testing this feature or when this new ad product will roll out. For now, broadcasters can promote their Facebook LIve event via sponsored posts prior to the broadcast or drive viewers to the archived video once the livestream has ended.

What Brands Should Do
This potential ad product should be helpful for brands using Facebook Live to reach a wider audience with their live content. As Facebook continues its efforts to build out its Live video product, early-adopting brands such as Birchbox and Popeyes have been hosting live events on Facebook to engage with fans. As livestreaming continues to take off, brands should consider sponsorships or hosting their own events to reach a live audience.

 

Source: Digiday

Instagram Adds Ephemeral Live Video And Messages

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook continues its relentless chase after the Snapchat users by adding live videos and disappearing messages to Instagram. Starting today, users can start live broadcasting within Instagram Stories. Unlike other popular live-streaming platforms such as Facebook Live and Periscope, which allow users to save live videos for later viewing, the live videos on Instagram will become unavailable as soon as the broadcast ends. Besides live video, Instagram is also adding ephemeral messages to its Direct Messages, which appear in a dedicated horizontal message bar atop the permanent message threads.

This major update comes on the heels of Facebook’s several big moves to copy Snapchat features in the past month, including testing Snapchat-like features in its main app, buying a facial recognition startup that can help it develop smart selfie lenses, and even launching a Snapchat clone in emerging markets. It is safe to say that the social network giant is feeling the heat of the fast-growing messaging app.

What Brands Should Do
Nevertheless, Instagram’s 300 million daily monthly active users still double Snapchat’s user base at the moment. For brands, the addition of live video and ephemeral messages to Instagram opens the door for new types of customer interactions on one of the most popular social platforms. As Facebook continues to court young Millennial audience with Snapchat-inspired features, brands should consider incorporating these new features into their existing social strategies and choose the live-streaming platform that best suits their campaign objectives.

 

Source: TechCrunch

Lowe’s To Host Facebook Live Event To Promote Black Friday Deals

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Lowe’s is set to reveal eleven Black Friday deals during an upcoming Facebook Live event on Saturday. The home improvement retailer has been running video ads on the social platform for the last two weeks to push the 20-minute livestream event named “Mystery Box Bonanza.” This is not the first time Lowe’s has run a social video campaign on Facebook as the brand tested Facebook 360-degree video in July to teach viewers DIY home improvement skills and drive sales.

What Brands Should Do
This campaign marks the latest example of brands using live video to promote their products and drive sales. Brands such as Birchbox, Popeyes, McDonald’s, and GE have experimented with Facebook Live to reach customers while brands like Carl’s Jr, Coca-Cola, and Geico have sponsored livestreams on eSports sites. All these examples listed showcase the versatility of marketing opportunities that live streaming offers, which brands should leverage to connect with their audiences in innovative, exciting ways.

 

Source: AdWeek

Facebook Testing Multi-Click Shopping Ads In News Feed

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Facebook has reportedly started testing a new ad product in News Feed that let retailers feature multiple products in a multi-click format. Retailers including the Lowe’s and Michael Kors are already testing the new ads, which features a primary image or video supported by a row of product images underneath. A click on this type of ad opens an in-app page showcasing additional products whereas a second click redirects shoppers to the retailer’s website.

Facebook continues to diversify its News Feed ad products as the holiday season draws near. This new shopping ad comes just a few weeks after Facebook-owned Instagram debuted shoppable posts that allow brands to include product information and direct links in their photos. Last week, the social network introduced News Feed ads that can direct users to start a conversation with a Messenger chatbot.

What Retailers Should Do
With these direct-response ad products newly available on Facebook and Instagram, retailers will have more options to choose from as they leverage these more sophisticated interactive formats to drive sales or conversations.  With worldwide mobile internet usage officially surpassing time spent on desktop, retailers wishing to reach the holiday shoppers need to take advantage of the in-app shopping ads available to effectively engage with them on mobile.

 

Source: AdWeek

Facebook Launches Analytics Tool For Messenger Bots

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook is introducing a first-party analytics tool for bots within its Facebook Analytics for Apps dashboard to help developers and brands better track the performance of their Messenger chatbots. The new analytic tool will provide detailed information about user interactions with the bots, such as the number of messages sent and received, the number of blocked messages, and the number of users who engage with a bot but are later transferred to a human agent. In addition, Facebook is also opening its developer program FbStart to bot developers to give them access to tools like Facebook ads credits and other tools from third-party partners such as Dropbox or Stripe for their bot campaigns.

What Brands Should Do
In combination with News Feed ads for bots that became available last week, this new analytics tool allows brands making Messenger bots to track and target users based on demographic metrics and locations. With over 34,000 developers having made Messenger bots since the platform launched in April, it is imperative that brands should leverage the available Messenger tools to effectively reach their desired audience and track user activities to optimize their bots.

The Lab has extensive knowledge about building chatbots. If you’re interested in reaching your audience on messaging apps and better serving them with a chatbot, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) for more information or to schedule a visit to the Lab.

 

Source: TechCrunch

Facebook Updates Messenger Platform To Help Brands Drive Conversations

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook has updated its Messenger platform to add a few useful tools to help developers and brands reach users and drive conversations on its messaging app. To begin with, the social network is rolling out sponsored messages to all advertisers. Facebook has been testing this feature, which allows businesses to re-engage users who have an existing conversation with them on Messenger, with select brands since June. Developers can now also advertise their bots with News Feed ads that directly send people to Messenger to start a conversation.

In addition, a new list and checkbox plugin provides developers with an alternative to Messenger’s typical horizontal carousel layout, which should be useful for surfacing sign-up forms and lists of retail items. The company also confirmed that it continues to roll out mobile payment capability for chatbots in a closed beta.

What Brands Should Do
With these additions, Facebook is making it easier for brands and developers to create more functional chatbots and reach more users. With 1 billion people now checking Facebook only on mobile, it is important for brands to leverage the available Messenger tools to effectively reach the massive mobile audience on Facebook.  

The Lab has extensive knowledge about building chatbots. If you’re interested in reaching your audience on messaging apps and better serving them with a chatbot, please contact our Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) for more information or to schedule a visit to the Lab.

 

Source: Facebook for Developer

Facebook To Sell TV Ads Via OTT Streaming Devices

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook is set to bring video ads to your TV via OTT streaming devices such as Roku and Apple TV starting next week. Partnering with A+E and Tubi TV, Facebook will start delivering video ads to people who watch videos on the two media partners’ TV apps via its Audience Network ad network, similar to the way it delivers ads to publisher websites and mobile apps.

What Brands Should Do
Facebook’s venture into OTT streaming ads should come as a welcome expansion for brands, as the social network can use the same audience data that powers the rest of its ad network to the set-top boxes, offering brand advertisers more targeting capabilities to reach OTT viewers and cord-cutters. As more and more consumers choose time-shifted viewing over linear TV, brands should follow the viewers and work with content creators to explore new TV ad formats on connected TV devices and engage with the audience in their living rooms.

To read more on how brands can reach viewers on OTT platforms with ads and branded content, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Re/Code