Andrew, Author at Conversion Logix

Improve the social shopping experience with Facebook Collection Ads

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Andrew

Facebook is always working towards creating the best online shopping experience for its users. Facebook’s newly-launched Collection ads create a shopping experience within the news feed, that encourages product discovery and sales. Collection ads allow buyers to see multiple products that you’re selling and spend some time browsing before they make the next step in the purchase journey.

What are Collection ads?

Collection ads link eye-catching images and videos with your real-time product catalog. A Collection ad will appear in a user’s news feed highlighted by a large image or video above four catalog-style product photos sourced from your real-time inventory lists. You can select the four products to feature or leave it up to Facebook, which will decide based on which products in your list are most popular or that it thinks will appeal to the individual seeing the ad.

How do they work?

Clicking on the Collection ad from the news feed will open a catalog of up to 50 items that Facebook will pull from your uploaded list featuring popular products that a person is most likely to buy. Facebook will feature a photo and description for each item appearing in the catalog. After opening up the product catalog, people can click on an individual item in the Facebook-hosted catalog to pull up its corresponding product page on your site. One click on the Collection will not take the user to the advertiser’s website since the inventory is housed within Facebook. It’s only if a user then clicks on an individual product that they’ll click through to your site.

What are the benefits?

Increased exposure: When a user clicks on a Collection ad and opens your product catalog, your exposure increases. Users have instant access to your inventory and will inevitably look at multiple ads at one time in one place. Buyers can browse, looking at all you have to offer before deciding to buy.

Increased conversions: Due to a better user experience which provides more information and generates greater brand recall, these shoppable ads create a better chance at increasing conversions.

Detailed metrics: When a user opens a Collection there are two opportunities to click. The first is the initial click on the news feed ad that opens the catalog and the second click takes users to the specific product page on your site. Facebook combines these click counts when reporting to advertisers which makes it difficult for brands to gauge how successful these ads are at converting searchers into customers. Facebook will test separating those clicks into their respective categories. You’ll know how many users are just browsing your product catalog and how many click-through to your website.

We have the tools and expertise to help you develop a comprehensive social ad campaign that will quickly move your inventory. Contact us today.

4 Ways Small Businesses Can Be Competitive Using Google Shopping

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Andrew

Do you use Google Shopping to sell your products or do you think your business is too small to compete with larger businesses that have bigger budgets? With careful planning and execution, using Product Listing Ads within Google Shopping can be a very effective digital advertising platform. Here are four strategies for your smaller e-commerce business to find success.

Focus on your niche

What makes you unique? Why would someone buy from you? Your uniqueness adds value and will make your ads stand out to online shoppers. Focus your campaigns on new, niche, or unknown brands – different products that aren’t sold by big box retailers or Amazon. This exclusivity helps separate you from your competition. Selling unique products means there’s less competition to appear in Google Shopping for relevant searches.

Segment your campaigns

Segmenting your campaigns correctly will help you deliver ads to the most relevant, ready-to-buy audiences. Focus on capturing high-converting traffic by making sure your ads appear to high-conversion queries. By segmenting your campaigns into the type of queries that receive high, medium and low conversion rates you can set bid amounts that correlate to the user’s intent. Bid more for high-converting queries and less for generic searches.

Leverage location-based targeting

Target location to make sure your ads are reaching shoppers who are most likely to purchase your products. Are consumers in certain areas more likely to be interested in what you are selling? Depending on what your goals are, you can bid higher for your ads to show in very specific areas. If you sell gas fireplaces with all the bells and whistles, you may decide to bid more for ads shown in high-income areas with colder climates where buyers have a budget for your custom fireplaces.

Use RLSA lists

Most consumers who click on a Product Listing Ad are usually close to making a purchase decision. Pairing your ads with RLSA (remarketing lists for search ads) allows you to bid more for ads that will be shown to people who have already visited your site or made a previous purchase. Consumers who have existing knowledge of your business are more likely to make a purchase.

The key to making a sale is delivering the right message to the right person at the right time. We can help you create and execute a multi-faceted advertising campaign that puts your products in front of interested buyers. Contact us today!

Six Strategies for Writing Compelling Ad Copy

Posted on April 16, 2017 by Andrew

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads allow you to create highly targeted advertising campaigns in an effort to reach your most valuable customers online. These paid search ads get your message in front of the right customers at the very top of search engine results pages.

When a potential customer enters a search query and your ad appears, it may be the first time they see or hear about your brand. Make a great first impression by crafting ad copy that introduces your offer to a customer, but also compels them to visit your website. Capturing their attention, enticing them with your offer, and providing them with the necessary steps to convert all begins with your ad copy. By following these six tried-and-true tactics, you can write great copy that compels your audience to click:

Be Relevant: Relevancy begins with an optimized campaign that delivers your message to the right audience. However, your ad copy is also critical in gaining relevance with potential customers. Your ad should match the keyword theme in its corresponding ad group and the copy you’re using should match the landing page users are directed to after clicking an ad. The more your ad matches the searcher’s intent, the more likely they are to click through to your website.

Keep it concise: With character limits in ad headlines and descriptions, you don’t have much room for wordy messaging. Be concise and to the point. Stick to your message and don’t try to cover too much information in one ad.

Share Your Unique Value: After grabbing the searcher’s attention with the headline, share something that makes you stand out from the competition. Why should the potential customer buy your product or use your service? Include promotions, exclusive offers, or other competitive differentiators to encourage users to click.

Guide with a call-to-action:Tell the user what you want them to do after getting to your site with a call-to-action that drives click-through and conversion rates. Using phrases like, “buy now” or “contact us” will help guide your visitors to complete the action you want after getting to your site.

Enable Ad Extensions: Your headlines are the most important part of your text ads. Ad extensions complement the headlines and improve overall click-through rate. Extensions like sitelinks, call or location extensions, and user reviews/ratings provide relevant messaging that gives searchers more information about your business.

Test and Refine: Writing great ad copy that resonates with your audience doesn’t always happen on your first try. Implement ad tests so you can see what works and what doesn’t with your customers. Continue to test to discover what motivates searchers to act.

Need help creating and implementing your PPC campaign? Contact us today and we’ll help you deliver your compelling message to your target audience.

How Can Data Drive Local Campaigns?

Posted on April 14, 2017 by Andrew

Relevant, effective digital ad campaigns are data-driven. Implementing a data-first strategy is key to ensuring return on investment on local campaigns. A recent report by SweetIQ shared the importance of using data to learn about who your consumers are, how they found you, and the products they’re interested in. What sort of data should you gather from different platforms including Google My Business, Facebook, Foursquare, and Bing to successfully execute your marketing strategy?

Google My Business: Google handles about 3.5 billion searches per day. With so much search activity, Google provides a wealth of information. You can discover how consumers are finding your business (local listings, paid, or organic search) and what location-specific action or conversions consumers are completing. Knowing insights on a per-location basis allows you to develop highly targeted marketing campaigns.

Data to gather and analyze: conversion clicks against in-store visits to assess which stores are drawing customers in, which listings are gaining the most views

Facebook: Facebook users spend an average of 40 minutes on Facebook per day, making it a prime place to advertise. Your Facebook ads need to be engaging, relevant, and accurately targeted to reach your audience. Facebook’s competitive landscape makes evaluating your analytics even more important. Understanding demographics and ad engagement are critical for successful local marketing.

Data to gather and analyze: audience demographics, post reach, shares, visits to page, and audience response.

Bing: Google may garner the most attention, but don’t neglect this search engine. Bing captures over 30 percent of the US search market and its users are ready to spend money (stat: ). Your competitors may be discounting the value of this platform, which means you can occupy a greater space for less ad spend.

Data to gather and analyze: user demographics, volume of impressions

Foursquare: Foursquare has 50+ million active monthly users and over 2 million businesses are listed on the app. You can gather insight into local search behavior and capture traffic of users who are looking for something quick and local. Leverage data to launch location-based campaigns and market to nearby consumers with special incentives and offers.

Data to gather and analyze: total and average check-ins per each location, number of new vs returning visitors, busiest hours, and demographics

Want to Improve Your Local Search Ranking? Focus on Mobile.

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Andrew

When consumers search for local options on mobile, they usually have an immediate need and want quick answers, close to where they are. Optimizing for local search is important, but if you aren’t optimizing for mobile, you may miss out on your best source of local traffic. Many of those local searches come with a high purchase intent, making local mobile searches an incredibly important opportunity for your business. How can you structure your paid search campaigns to make sure your ads are appearing for local shoppers who want what you’re selling?

Use shorter phrases and keywords

Mobile users use short phrases and fewer keywords than desktop users. Go after short, concise phrases and keywords that your audience will be typing into their phones. For paid search ads, you can find mobile-specific keyword information by checking the Search Terms report in Google AdWords. This list will give you the searches people entered that triggered your ads.

Keep it local

Local searchers will be more likely to respond to ads from businesses that appear to be close to them. Clearly, state your city in your title and content to confirm that you are a local business. Break out your paid search campaigns according to the location to ensure that the location a potential customer is searching for shows up in your content. When searchers know you’re just down the street, your ad will be much more relevant to their query.

Use mobile ad extensions

Ad extensions can boost your ads by providing additional information to searchers. Experiment with different extensions and see which ones are the most effective. For mobile search, consider the following extensions:

Location extensions : Location extensions shows your address and lets searchers know just how local you are.
Call Extensions: If people often contact your business before they come in, you can eliminate a step for them by making the click on your ad lead to a call or text.
Sitelinks: Sitelink extensions let you focus on some of your site specifics that make your business stand out, like driving directions, special promotions, or a “contact us” page.

Test Local Search Ads on Google Maps

Local Search Ads or Promoted Pins increase the accessibility and visibility of your business for local searches by putting your ad right on Google’s Map. You can use this ad to feature promotions, incentives, and allow potential customers to search your real-time inventory before they head to your store.

Implement the right mix

Successful mobile advertising needs to be the right combination of keywords to fit Google’s algorithm paired with a great user experience to engage customers. When you create the right mix of keywords and relevant content, your message will reach your ready-to-buy audience. If you’re interested in learning more about mobile advertising contact us today.

Get Local: 5 Tips to Reach Your Nearby Audience

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Andrew

Local Reputation Management As mobile usage continues to grow, consumers are conducting more searches with local intent. In the past two years, Google saw a 2x increase in “near me” and “nearby” searches, with 80 percent of those searches occurring on mobile devices. Google refers to these geographic-specific searches as “I-Want-to-Go moments.” Google wants to better serve users by personalizing their results and delivering relevant information based on their exact location.

Hyperlocal targeting, or advertising to customers based upon their location, has the potential to connect your business with active buyers. How you optimize your content can make the difference between showing up at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs) or getting lost in the mix. Incorporate these five tips in your online strategy to establish your brand within the local market and drive traffic to your business.

Adopt a mobile-first mindset

Make sure your business has a mobile-first mindset, including a mobile-friendly site design. Prominently feature contact information and include click-to-call or text buttons. The easier you make it for the mobile user to gather information, the more traffic you’ll generate.

Complete your Google My Business profile

Every element added into your Google My Business page can provide important signals to assist with local ranking. Fill out every field relevant to your business and include high-quality images and other indicators that show a user a glimpse of your business.

Get More Reviews

One of the biggest indicators of a successful business is positive reviews. Businesses with great ratings will always beat out those with mediocre or average reviews. Not sure where you stand on local performance? Take a look at our free local business listing snapshot report. We pull in all the data from our reviews and local listings and tell you where you’re doing great, and where you need some help.

Include any schema data markup on your pages

Provide Google with as much information as possible about your business by incorporating schema data markup (for each location) on your applicable website pages. Using schema data markup, you can precisely define various business attributes, including business type, hours, address, phone number and more. By clearly telling Google what information is being presented on your page, you make it easier for your business to appear for relevant search queries.

Monitor progress

Once you begin to optimize your content for hyperlocal targeting, track your keyword rankings at the local level. The closer you can get to your exact business location, the more accurate your information will be. Use this kind of data to gain insight to guide your strategy as you plan for the future.

Bing Product Ads: An Emerging Market

Posted on March 24, 2017 by Andrew

Google is king of search engines, but Microsoft’s Bing is still a worthwhile investment. To reach your audience in all the places they are looking, it’s important to have a presence on Bing. This search engine powers nearly one in three U.S. searches and 11 billion monthly searches around the globe. Through a partnership between Microsoft and Yahoo, your ads could appear on the top or to the right of Bing, Yahoo and MSN search results. Just like Google, you can choose to target your ads to different geographic locations, times or days of the week, and consumer demographics.

What are Bing product ads?

Products Ads include custom images from your own online inventory, plus unique promotional text and pricing. Product Ads use your specific product information to determine who sees your ads. If someone’s search query is relevant to your products, your Product Ad can show up on the search results. Photos and relevant information help catch a user’s interest, and influences purchase decisions even before they click your ad.

Following Google’s lead, Bing is now showing carousels for their Product Ads in the Bing search results. The new Bing carousels are showing up for a variety of searches, showing eight products within the carousel. Informative product ads can translate into greater engagement, higher click-through rates, and higher conversion rates.

Where will your ad appear?

Like Google, Bing Ads is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising system. You bid based on how much you are willing to pay per each click on your ad. Bing has limited online real estate so they auction available spaces. You are bidding against other advertisers selling similar products or services who want to place their ads into the space you want. Your ad position is based on several things, including:

How relevant your ad and website are to the search terms a user enters.
How your bid compares to other bids in the Bing Ads auction.
Your ad’s click-through rate and past performance.

The stronger you are in these areas, the better your chances of winning the top ad position.

If you want to extend your paid search campaign to Bing, we can help! Contact us today and we’ll get your comprehensive PPC advertising strategy up and running.

Drive Traffic to Your Dealership with Strategic Advertising

Posted on March 22, 2017 by Andrew

When consumers begin their car search, they are turning to their smartphones to research this huge purchase. The car shopping journey is increasingly influenced by mobile, instead of dealership visits. According to a Google study, the average car shopper in 2006 made five visits to dealerships in order to research potential vehicles. Ten years later, that number has dropped to two. With buyers making limited visits to dealerships, it’s critical that you have an ad strategy in place to reach active buyers.

Google recently investigated search patterns and foot traffic data and discovered that the most popular to reveal popular times of year for consumers to visit actively shop at a dealership are during summer and the holiday season. Take advantage of these key moments and ensure people head to your dealership and not the lot next door.

During these busy periods, auto shoppers prefer checking out cars during daytime hours. When they’re on the lot, consumers are still using their smartphones to search for information. According to Google, the top action people perform with their phones while on the lot is confirming that they are getting a good price on a vehicle.

An ongoing ad strategy will help you drive foot traffic year round, but during these peak shopping times, consider adjusting your mobile budgets so your ads appear when people are searching for auto information near your dealership. By executing the following strategies and making sure you have a mobile-friendly site, you will reach shoppers when they are ready to buy.

Dynamic PPC Ads: Car shoppers typically begin their search in the Google search bar, looking for a specific make or model. We help you reach active buyers by delivering your real-time online inventory via our Dynamic PPC Ads. Our servers crawl your site and extract the cars you have on your lot. We create ads for your current inventory and when a consumer searches for a car you have in stock, your ad appears. When they click on your ad, they go directly to the vehicle details page (VDP) for that car. Dynamic ads give you the ability to advertise your entire inventory: new and used. Connecting active buyers with their ideal car means more sales for your dealership.

Enable Extensions: Providing detailed information through ad extensions can increase CTR and make it easier for consumers to call, text, or locate your business. Give your ads relevancy and value by enabling the following extensions:

Sitelink extensions: if you want to direct users to specific pages on your site.
Call/text extensions: if you encourage phone calls or texts.
Location extensions: if you want to direct buyers to your lot.

Compelling Call-to-Action (CTA): Put all of your important information and mobile-specific CTAs in the title or first line of your mobile ads. Fill that space with incentives and promotions that will drive traffic to your dealership.

Facebook Delivers Quality Car Buyers to Dealership Websites

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Andrew

Online car research and shopping creates ease and convenience for the buyer, but can pose a challenge for dealerships. As consumer behavior changes, you need to shift your strategy to deliver relevant ads to high-quality prospects. What is the best way to reach consumers online and deliver a compelling ad that drives traffic to your site?

Facebook Marketing Science and Oracle Data Cloud recently analyzed 64 auto campaigns, evaluating the quality of audience and scale across a variety of publishers. The study found that auto advertisers should use their data to create high-quality audiences and then execute highly-targeted campaigns to achieve the quality of audience and scale that delivers results.

According to the study findings, advertisers were able to reach more car buyers on Facebook than through most other publishers. In this analysis, Facebook’s audience was above average on the quality index and was particularly strong in delivering auto buyers at scale. Facebook ranked in the top 10% of publishers in these studies and first on 25% of the campaigns analyzed. Combining quality and scale resulted in the best performance for Facebook compared to other publishers.

What strategies can you implement to reach more car buyers on Facebook?

Lookalike audiences: Lookalike targeting gives you the ability to find more qualified prospects by leveraging the data from your existing campaign, reaching people who have not yet expressed an interest in your business, but more than likely are interested in what you have to offer.

We can pull lookalike models directly from the pixels we’ve placed on an advertiser’s website for your specific retargeting campaign and then use that data to target similar Facebook users.

Custom audiences: Creating custom audiences within Facebook enables you to deliver a relevant and effective message to known audiences, increasing efficiency in your marketing campaigns. With custom audiences, you can define groups of existing and prospective customers and serve ads to these targeted groups who have already expressed an interest in your brand.

Dynamic Facebook ads: We offer a relevant, highly-targeted advertising option with our Facebook dynamic ad campaigns. This tool reaches active car buyers by sharing your real-time inventory with them. Our Facebook dynamic ad campaigns show your inventory to the best prospects on Facebook by driving traffic right to the Vehicle Detail Pages (VDPs) for your cars. Dynamic ads are relevant, maintenance-free, and shown to buyers who are lower on the purchase funnel.

By implementing these strategies, you can increase your ROI by targeting in-market shoppers who are looking for cars you have on your lot. Contact us today and we’ll get your social media advertising campaigns working for you.

Connect with Users by Displaying Facebook Ads in Instagram Stories

Posted on March 17, 2017 by Andrew

Since its launch just six months ago, Instagram Stories have become wildly popular with users. Over 150 million people interact with Stories on a daily basis and now, you have the opportunity to display ads to this engaged audience. Capitalize off of Instagram and Facebook’s powerful connection by creating ads that reach users within Instagram Stories.

With Instagram Stories, people and businesses can share multiple photos and videos in a slideshow format without overloading their profiles. Photos and videos will disappear after 24 hours and won’t appear on their profile grid or in feed. Stories appear in a bar at the top of users’ feed from Instagram accounts that they follow. Your ad image or video can be placed between Instagram Stories.

How to Create Facebook Ads for Instagram Stories

After connecting your Instagram account with your Facebook ad account, it’s relatively easy to insert an ad. Within either Power Editor or Ads Manager, create a campaign using the reach objective, a strategy that delivers your ad to the most people your budget can afford. On the ad set level, you will see the option to create ads for Instagram Stories. The new format will allow for a single image or video (no longer than 15 seconds). There will be no standalone links or text, including titles, messages, or descriptions.

Benefits of Facebook Ads in Instagram Stories

You are somewhat limited with your ad because you can’t promote a link or text that would drive traffic back to your website. Instagram plans to allow links or call-to-action buttons in the future, but there isn’t that capability just yet. Although you can’t directly send traffic to your website, this ad format can still work for you. You can:

Increase awareness: Delivering ads using the reach objective displays your image or video to a large audience, increasing exposure and awareness of your business, products, and/or services.
Make a memorable impression: You are limited to a single image or a 15-second video, so your image or video needs to make a statement. Get creative and create a visual message that leaves a lasting impression.
Spark interest: Insert ads to spark interest in a new product, promotion, or incentive. Once you capture someone’s attention, you can follow up with more targeted advertising that links to your website, moving users down the purchase funnel.

Lear more about Facebook advertising here, or contact us today!

Author archives: Andrew

Posts by Andrew: