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What is Contextual Advertising?

JUNE 14, 2023

Contextual advertising is simply the strategy of buying ad placements based on the context of your content—rather than personal data. In a privacy-oriented digital world, it’s regaining popularity.

We’re talking old school, obvious stuff, like a mayonnaise brand buying time on the Food Network.

As cookie alternatives become necessary, advertisers are increasing their investments in contextual advertising as they re-evaluate their data strategies.

Companies that specialize in contextual targeting use web crawlers and AI to scan websites for keywords, sentiment, and ad load to determine the context of a page, and publishers can label their own content for advertising purposes.

In essence, contextual advertising is a privacy-compliant solution—a vintage tool to keep in your collection—but it’s not robust enough to be effective alone.

Read more about the return of contextual advertising at Marketing Brew.

People Pay More Attention to Disappearing Content

JUNE 13, 2023

If you’re not taking your Instagram Stories strategy seriously, you might want to reconsider. Recent research has found that users pay closer attention to content that can be seen only for a limited time.

In a series of 12 experiments, users:

Recalled 9% more of the ingredients in a video recipe.
Watched a Facebook video ad for 25% longer on average in Story format.
Focused their eyes 5.76% more on key areas of a graphic when told they could only view it once.

Why? Similarly to how consumers are more willing to pay more for limited-edition products, the scarcity of disappearing content encourages us to consider it more closely.

Apply this insight by posting promotions, contests, and announcements to disappearing channels, like Instagram Stories.

Check out Ariyh for the full download.

Why You Should Work With a Nano Influencer

JUNE 12, 2023

Here’s why brands should consider working with them:

Nano influencers are budget-friendly. They’re just starting out, so they’re more accessible to small businesses and startups, and they’re more likely to work in exchange for free products or services.
Nano influencers have niche audiences. Their small following is appealing to brands looking to target a specific demographic.
Nano influencers have high engagement rates—averaging at 4% across platforms, higher than larger influencers.
Nano influencers are authentic. They’re less curated and subsequently perceived as more trustworthy than polished influencers working with big brands. In essence, they’re still relatable to the average social media user, which means their recommendations are taken seriously.

Check out Entrepreneur’s tips for finding the right nano influencer for your brand.

2 New Reddit Ad Formats

JUNE 11, 2023

Reddit has announced two new ad formats for marketers looking to reach shoppers when and where they’re ready to buy.

Contextual Keyword Targeting

Opt for this to get your ads in front of a broader range of Redditors. Contextual keyword targeting lets you select specific keywords to associate with your brand or align with your ad copy, allowing you to be present during active conversations where users are in active discovery/research mode—right where you can add the most value. This new format is helpful if you don’t have a specific target community in mind.

Product Ads

Redditors are unique, high-value customers that react positively to brand advertising on the platform. Plus, Reddit is a known product search engine for users looking for honest reviews and recommendations.

Product Ads, which feature descriptions, pricing, and a CTA button to your own product page, help you connect with high-intent Redditors who are ready to make a purchase decision. Bonus: If you’re already activating shopping campaigns on other platforms, you can import that catalog straight to Reddit’s Ad Manager.

Check out the full announcement at Reddit.

Pinterest is Powerful in a Cookie-less World

JUNE 7, 2023

Amid growing privacy concerns and the impending death of third-party cookies, here’s how Pinterest can provide marketers with high-quality audience prospects:

Users save or pin ideas to boards, generating first-party data that powers Pinterest’s targeting capabilities. These intent signals can be just as powerful, if not more so, than using third-party cookies, allowing you to reach users when they’re actively considering what to do, try, or buy.
Pinterest offers multiple layers of targeting, including interest and keyword targeting, CRM integration, and act-alike audiences, allowing marketers to achieve comparable or better than retargeting alone.
The platform’s personalized experience and relevant ads add value to users’ browsing and help them make informed purchase decisions. Consequently, Pinterest users demonstrate higher engagement and larger baskets at checkout compared to other social media platforms, indicating the platform’s potential to drive conversions and higher spending.

Get a closer look at Pinterest’s potential over at Ad Age.

Meta Updates The Performance 5 Framework

JUNE 6, 2023

Meta has updated its Performance 5 framework to optimize Meta ad performance. Check out these 5 best practices and case studies:

Put ad creative in one central campaign. By reducing the number of ad sets from 69 to 15, fashion retailer Lele Sadoughi achieved a 41% increase in purchases and a 1.2x higher return on ad spend, enabling them to expand sales in new product categories beyond their signature jeweled headbands.
Use automation tools to optimize campaigns. Clean beauty company Ogee’s Advantage+ shopping campaigns drove a 28% increase in ROAS and a 25% decrease in customer acquisition costs, leading to transformative holiday sales and subsequent months of higher revenue.
Differentiate your creative by audience. Wild Alaskan successfully expanded its reach to seafood enthusiasts by diversifying their creative approach, resulting in a 43% reduction in cost per acquisition (CPA) and a 1.8x increase in purchases, particularly among a younger and health-conscious demographic.
Utilize the Conversion API to improve campaign performance and measurement. By integrating the Conversions API and Meta Pixel with Shopify, men’s accessory company Ridge improved its event match quality (EMQ) score, resulting in increased conversions and lower cost per results. Ridge achieved an impressive EMQ score of 8.5, surpassing the recommended best practice of 6, which enhances the reliability of connecting customer actions to Meta accounts.
Measure your campaign with Conversion Lift, A/B testing and marketing mix modeling. BrüMate successfully conducted a conversion lift study after implementing the Conversions API, revealing that a significant portion of incremental conversions from Meta ads were misattributed to other channels, leading to a better understanding of the true impact of their advertising efforts.

Read the full update at Meta.

How to Write Negatives Into Positives

JUNE 5, 2023

In a new study, researchers introduced participants to fake products intended to prevent harmful consequences, like a skin rash.

Counterintuitively, participants seemed unable to fully separate the products from the harmful side effects they prevented, resulting in negative attitudes.

How can copywriters make positive claims—like “Sunscreen prevents cancer”—overtly and subconsciously clear to customers?

Bold the verb. In this case, emphasizing “prevents” may reinforce the concept and visually distance the product from the negative word.
Use humor to add levity to the messaging.
Use more positive framing. Instead of “won’t damage skin,” opt for “gentle on skin.”

Check out these insights from Nick Kolenda.

Is Your YouTube Channel a Brand Video Graveyard?

JUNE 4, 2023

Are you using YouTube solely as a video hosting platform?

If your account is basically a brand video graveyard, you’re missing out on the potential for video ROI, brand awareness, traffic, and audience growth.

Success on YouTube requires iteration, consistency, engagement, and topicality, rather than a “set it and forget it” approach. Here’s how to revive your channel:

Conduct a channel audit. You can download a list of your uploads by navigating to Analytics > Content > Advanced Mode.
Measure analytics. Take stock of how long viewers watch, what percentage of the video they view, and where the audience drops off, skips forward, or rewatches.
Diversify content. Keep brand videos to a minimum, instead opting for blog videos answering a question or addressing a topic, testimonials, how-tos and demos, webinars and roundtables, and product feature videos.
Engage with your community. Promptly and respond to feedback, answer comments and questions, and encourage discussion.
Optimize videos. Just as you would for your website SEO—conduct keyword research, refine your video’s metadata (title, description, tags), and add a human-centric thumbnail.
Maintain consistency. Set a realistic upload schedule and stick to it.
Collaborate with others. Cross-promo, influencer collaboration, and guest appearances increase your channel visibility.

Check out more at Search Engine Land.

What is Fake Door Testing?

MAY 31, 2023

Fake door testing is a research method used in UI to gauge demand and validate interest for a product or feature before development.

Essentially, you create a visual representation of a feature within the UI—like a CTA button—that appears functional and accessible to users, but in reality, does not lead to any actual outcome.

If a significant percentage of landing-page visitors click on your dummy button, you might consider pushing that feature through to development.

Here’s how to implement a fake door test:

Identify the feature or functionality you want to evaluate.
Design the fake door as an interactive button, link, or menu option.
Monitor user interactions through various analytics tools or manual observation.
Analyze insights and patterns, such as the number of users who clicked on the fake door, how long they spent interacting with it, or any comments or feedback they provided.
Based on the data and insights gathered, evaluate the level of user interest or demand for the feature.

Take a closer look at this research method over at UX Design.