This eBook is our guide to advertising in the Facebook News Feed, where 1.1B+ people spend their timesharing the most important parts of their lives and staying connected to the brands they care about. In the coming pages, we’ll cover the opportunities available to you that can help drive your Facebook marketing success, as well as reveal important tips that will help you !nd and acquire pro!table customers at scale.

Laurie Cutts is the Director of Marketing at Nanigans, a venture funded advertising technology start up in Boston. Previously, Laurie served as head of marketing for Celtra, where she led global marketing efforts establishing the company as the leading rich media mobile advertising company. Prior to Celtra, she joined the founding team of mobile content pioneer m-Qube and led their marketing efforts until its acquisition by Verisign. Laurie spent her early career at top Internet companies including Lycos and AOL.

1. Introduction

2. Goals

3. Targeting

4. Creative

5. Retargeting

6. Optimization

7. Takeaways

Insider's Guide to Advertising in the Facebook News Feed

Chapters

About the Author:@LaurieCutts, Director of Marketing at Nanigans

It’s no surprise that News Feed is the most engaging part of Facebook on both desktop and mobile. It’s where people spend the bulk of their time on Facebook, monitoring their constantly updating feed of activity from friends, family, groups and of course brands that they care about. Traditionally, marketers have leveraged Facebook ad products delivered to the right-hand side of Facebook;however, the bigger opportunity is advertising in News Feed. With its central location and focus on consumer attention, advertisers are able to connect with fans like never before combining exclusive offers, captivating visuals and compelling CTAs.

Chapter 1: Introduction

40-150x more likely people will consume branded content on the news feed than on a brand page.

Before launching your News Feed campaign, the !rst step is to set up a plan based on what you want to achieve with your campaign.

A well-executed Facebook advertising strategy allows you to engage your audience and generate tangible results in ways that traditional and online media channels cannot. With Facebook advertising, you can:

So now that you know what you want to achieve, it’s time to make sure you have enough information about your customers so you can reach your core target demographic. Facebook provides a variety of targeting !lters you can use to make sure that only your most quali!ed target audiences see your offers.

Develop an opt-in database of high value, net new customers

Efficiently promote personalized offers via dynamic creative and real-time-bidding

Drive relevant and engaged traffic to your online, mobile or offline store

Find and acquire fans, members and purchasing customers

Chapter 2: Goals

Chapter 3: Targeting At Facebook’s core is sharing information. Through personal pro!les, users share information about age, occupation, hometown, friends and interests. Advertisers can leverage this rich information through a variety of targeting options on Facebook, making it easy to reach the right users, at the right time, with the right message.

Extend relationships with existing customersMost advertisers already have a good idea of who their target audience is, and it is important to leverage this data when advertising in News Feed. You can leverage Facebook’s Custom Audience feature to reach your existing customers. By uploading your CRM information (phone numbers, emails or Facebook user IDs), you can (using a software platform like Nanigans) match this information to Facebook pro!les with similar information, creating a custom audience of existing customers to target. Custom audience targeting has proven a lucrative strategy for marketers, with results like increasing the ROI of campaigns by 5X and driving 100% same- day ROI multiple days in a row.

Find customers that look like your best customersFinding valuable customers for experienced marketers is easy. Finding valuable customers at scale is not. Thankfully, via affinity models or “look-a-like” targeting, marketers are able to apply demographic and behavioral data of existing customers to future campaigns in order to acquire new users who “look” and “behave” in a similar fashion. This ensures that not only can you scale your marketing efforts, but you can scale with quality.

Interest targetingInterest targeting is one of the most powerful Facebook ad features. When creating a campaign, you have two options: broad categories or precise interests.

Broad interest targeting can be an efficient way to reach a large audience and includes topics like Travel, Personal Finance and Gaming.

Precise interest targeting allows you to target users based on the information on their pro!le including the Pages they like, apps they use, and other timeline content they’ve provided. If you use laser-focused interests like these, you’ll reach the people who are most interested in your topic and those most willing to spend money. A recent Nanigans study demonstrated that interest targeting scaled delivery by 3000%.

Third party purchase dataWith Partner Categories, advertisers can show ads to people on Facebook based on their purchases across both desktop and mobile. Partner Categories leverage third party data from Acxiom, Datalogix, and Epsilon and works with other Facebook targeting options so that advertisers can more precisely re!ne their campaigns to reach only the right audience.

At this point, targeting capabilities on Facebook are so extensive that there’s no reason you can’t be showing your offers to only your target market while still meeting your marketing goals. At times, ads are the focal point of a users’ News Feed so it’s important that you target the people that would most likely respond to your offers.

Advertising on Facebook is not the same as Google. It’s not the same as TV. It’s not the same as radio. Advertising on Facebook is a symphony of factors including targeting, visual creative, written copy and overall user experience. Facebook offers numerous vehicles for you to connect with customers, of which, Page post link ads, Page post photo ads and Mobile app installs are the most compelling.

Page Post AdsAvailable on desktop and mobile, Page post ads in News Feed are advertisements that begin as posts on a fan page but get additional paid distribution among fans, friends of fans, or non-fans.

Page post ads can be links, photos, videos, offers, events, questions or statuses, allowing for a lot of creative freedom. These ads can be shown to anyone on Facebook, even if users are not connected to the page themselves or through a friend.

One of the most compelling and apparent bene!ts of Page post ads lies in the creative. Standard domain ads in the right-hand side of Facebook offer creative 110 x 80 pixels wide, whereas Page Post Ads can be 400 x 300 pixels or 300 x 400 pixels wide. This large real estate makes the unit almost impossible to ignore, and especially if that creative is high quality with a strong call to action. Two popular Page post ad units for direct response marketers are Page post link ads and Page post photo ads.

Chapter 4: Creative

Page Post Link AdsPage post link ads are speci!cally designed for direct response marketers and drive people to offsite landing pages to take action such as to register or make a purchase on your external website. This ad unit plays to driving registrations and sales with its 500 characters of text and 154x154 thumbnail image. It can include a call to action as well as social context such as likes, comments, shares, app usage and is available across desktop and mobile. It features four clickable areas, two of which drive users to an external website to take action such as register or make a purchase.

Page Post Photo AdsPage post photo ads are ideal for content based advertising and provide plenty of creative freedom. These ads work best when they are less like an ad and more like the content you would see in your News Feed. Available across desktop and mobile, Page post photo ads feature larger images (up to 400x300 pixels) which are effective for getting people to view and engage with the ad. This ad unit performs well for marketers promoting highly visual products such as women’s designer dresses, a luxury automobile or a resort hotel.

News Feed Ad StudyNanigans conducted a study across multiple verticals to uncover how two popular Facebook News Feed ad units, Page post link ads and Page post photo ads, drive direct response and ROI.

Advertisers included in the study leveraged Facebook Page post link and Page post photo ads, as well as domain ads on the right-hand side (RHS). All campaigns leveraged Nanigans’ ROI-based bidding and optimization algorithms. Attributed revenue for the ROI calculation includes purchases made in the seven days following ad delivery. Results are based on 150 million impressions delivered across multiple industry verticals.

ROIPage Post Link Ads delivered a 53% ROI

Page Post Photo Ads delivered a 24% ROI

Page Post ad units delivered a 26X higher ROI than RHS

Engagement & CostsPage post photo ads had a 37% higher CTR than Page post link ads and a 20X higher CTR than RHS

Page post photo ads had on average a 17% lower CPC than Page post link ads and RHS

Actions & PurchasesPage post link ads had a 30% higher action rate than Page post photo ads

Page post link ads had a 55% higher purchasing user rate than Page post photo ads and a 61% higher purchasing user rate than RHS

TakeawaysWe’re seeing that marketers are increasingly shifting their advertising spend to Page post ads in News Feed, because it can deliver a higher ROI than standard domain ads on the right-hand side.

The largest (by image size) News Feed ad unit, Page post link ads are designed for direct response with two clickable areas leading users to an external domain. While this ad unit had a higher CPC and lower CTR as compared to Page post photo ads, Page post link ad units delivered a high action rate and purchasing user rate resulting in a higher ROI relative to Page post photo ads and domain ads. Page post link ads typically perform well for lead generation campaigns and are effective in converting users off site.

Page post photo ads are designed to capture attention with larger, more engaging photos, creating a seamless experience between paid, owned and earned media. Our study shows that this ad format demonstrated a higher CTR at a lower CPC resulting in a higher ROI than ads on the RHS. We concluded that Page post photo ads are highly effective for promoting speci!c products for ecommerce companies such as fashion and home furnishing retailers, as well as mobile apps.

Unpublished Page PostsUnpublished Page post ads (formerly known as dark posts) offer advertisers the advantage of reaching users in News Feed without bombarding their fans with dozens of different posts, which might not be relevant to them.

This allows advertisers to create Page post ads designed for the sole purpose of promotion while ensuring, that the content never has to show up on their fan page. As a result, advertisers have more freedom to split test messaging, creative and targeting to understand which combination resonates best with various audiences before scaling ad spend.

Nanigans released a study with a leading gaming developer to better understand how Facebook unpublished Page post ads in News Feed compared to standard domain ads when driving app installs and revenues. Our data showed that unpublished Page posts delivered a 55% higher ROI (Return on Ad Spend Investment) than domain ads on the right sidebar.

Mobile Another opportunity for advertisers is on mobile. In less than a year’s time, Facebook has become the leader in mobile display advertising overtaking Google and Apple to control nearly a quarter of all mobile display ad revenues. Rather than navigating multiple ad networks, marketers can turn to one channel that offers the opportunity to reach over 751 million people worldwide. Here at Nanigans we are seeing mobile revenues as high as 35% of total revenue speci!cally off Facebook.

Mobile Page post ads are similar to their desktop counterparts but differ in that they take up a larger part of the screen allowing advertisers to command more of a visual focus.

Mobile app install ads are commanding attention these days with an increased ad unit size and centralized visual location across mobile devices. Marketers with apps of all sizes are leveraging these ad units to reach their volume and distribution goals. These ad units currently represent a quarter of ad spend run through Nanigans’ platform.

Mobile app developers can reach the right people at scale leveraging all of Facebook’s targeting options where they are most engaged, in News Feed. A simple click on the ad directs consumers to a popup for either the Apple App Store or Google Play. After installing the app, the user is redirected back to News Feed.

Nanigans conducted a study with a leading mobile app developer that garnered a 74% return on ad spend after 7 days – a 51.7% increase in ROI over other mobile ad networks.

Social Context In addition to the bene!t of larger creative real estate, is the social context of Likes, comments and shares with Page post ads. Social context should be baked into everything you do. Successful Facebook advertisers are constantly innovating and creating content and offers that people are excited to pass along.

This type of endorsement makes ads more effective from both a click and conversion perspective.This is no different than what marketers have historically seen by investing in Google search on both paid (AdWords) and organic (SEO) fronts.

Viral LiftIn addition to the bene!ts of social context is the viral lift inherent in Page post ads. As people engage with the ad unit as they would any other piece of content in their News Feeds (be it by Liking, commenting or sharing), their friends also can see this activity. Advertisers bene!t from this additional, free wave of visibility.

Creative Best PracticesGreat creative is critical to the success of your News Feed campaign. One of the most important creative elements is a captivating ad image. This provides consumers with an obvious focal point as well as noticeability. Other important creative attributes are including a prominent brand link so you can easily identify who the advertisers is, how effectively the ad gets its message across and what the reward is for reading it. If you want your ad remembered in News Feed, consider the following points.

Focal Point - Does the ad image attract users?

Brand ID – How easy it is to identify who the advertisers is?

Reward-- What’s the payoff for reading the ad?

Visibility - How noticeable is the ad?

Message – How effectively does the ad get its point across?

For direct response marketers, consumers need to be given a reason to purchase now, rather than later. Promotions and incentives are often a good way to create this intent to purchase. Offering a percentage off the purchase price is usually enough togenerate interest and get users to click through to your site.

Known as one of the most potent forms of targeting options available, Facebook Exchange (FBX) helps marketers reach users on Facebook who have demonstrated prior intent with their browsing behavior. Advertisers can reach customers who already visited their website and re-target individualized ads to them. The combination of two of Facebook’s most powerful advertising elements News Feed and FBX, gives marketers more power and "exibility to make an impression on potential customers and drive business results.

Nanigans, a Facebook Strategic Preferred Market Developer (sPMD), supports dynamic creative at the individual product SKU level for Facebook Exchange (FBX) in News Feed. This allows an advertiser to reach a consumer who has recently viewed a speci!c product on their website with a Page post link ad in News Feed featuring a product image plus a brief description with a link back to the product’s landing page.

We recently conducted a study across retailers to better understand how ads in News Feed contribute to the success and ROI of remarketing campaigns on Facebook. It showed that advertisers are experiencing 17% higher click-through-rates and a 197.3% increase in ROI as compared to standard domain ads delivered to the right hand side. Dynamic creative through FBX results have also been promising with a 5.1X higher ROI than more evergreen creative served for domain ads delivered to the right hand side.

Chapter 5: Retargeting

So you’ve leveraged different News Feed Ad Units. You’ve targeted multiple interest groups and tested various creative combinations. Below are some best practices for optimizing your News Feed campaign.

Chapter 6: Optimization

BiddingFacebook offers cost-per-click (CPC) cost-per-thousand (CPM) and Optimized CPM (OCPM) bidding for its ads. You’ll want to choose the bid type that is the most effective for scaling your campaign. OCPM bidding can be effective because it programmatically optimized ads to be displayed to users that are most likely to take the action. Marketers typically de!ne the action they want to optimize for and the price they are willing to pay per action. We’ve seen that bidding at the top end of the suggested range pays dividends because if you have high bids from the start, you ensure your ads deliver and you can build up a good quality score.

BudgetUnderstanding how your budget is pacing against your spend goal, whether its daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly is essential so you can turn spend up or down.

ReachIn terms of scaling a Facebook Advertising campaign, there are multiple ways to approach it. You can add more locations into the mix such as expanding to more countries and expanding to additional audience segments.

CreativeTest, test and test some more! When evaluating your News Feed ad campaign it’s important to examine a variety of ad creative elements including the title, body, image, ad type, call to action and landing page.

There are a bunch of moving parts when it comes to advertising on Facebook and driving ROI at scale. It’s important to remember that people are visiting Facebook to check on their social lives, which means your ads have to be captivating in order to garner interests and clicks. As of today, the most eye-catching and effective real estate on Facebook is in News Feed. So whether you’re new to Facebook or a seasoned pro, make sure you’re taking advantage of advertising in News Feed.

Next StepsIf you’d like to learn more about advertising at scale on Facebook and more about Nanigans performance advertising solution please contacts us at websales@nanigans.com

Chapter 7: Takeaways & Next Steps