Facebook’s vice president of European, Middle Eastern and African operations once predicted that the platform will be 100% video in less than 5 years. And while video marketing is no new name within the industry, the strategy of video marketing is rapidly changing. And this is one boat you wouldn’t want to miss.
True to form, we bring you 2 new additions (regarding video marketing) from Facebook in continuation from our previous list of notable Facebook Updates.
Facebook Stories Ads
Did you know that over 300 million people use Facebook Stories and Messenger Stories on a daily? And according to an Ipsos survey, 62% of people have reported being more interested in a product after seeing it in a story. Additionally, 34% of those surveyed said they actually went to the physical store to for the item.
Factoring in this statistics and the exceptional reception Instagram Stories ads received, Facebook has now launched Facebook Stories ads to help advertisers increase their reach to audiences through an immersive experience.
https://www.facebook.com/v3.2/plugins/video.php?app_id=&channel=https%3A%2F%2Fstaticxx.facebook.com%2Fx%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2F%3Fversion%3D46%23cb%3Dff7889c767ca5c%26domain%3Dopenmindsresources.com%26is_canvas%3Dfalse%26origin%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fopenmindsresources.com%252Ff1d217639276858%26relation%3Dparent.parent&container_width=0&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fmarketing%2Fvideos%2F184690095777564%2F&locale=en_US&sdk=joey&width=1060
https://www.facebook.com/v3.2/plugins/video.php?app_id=&channel=https%3A%2F%2Fstaticxx.facebook.com%2Fx%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2F%3Fversion%3D46%23cb%3Df33ddb747834664%26domain%3Dopenmindsresources.com%26is_canvas%3Dfalse%26origin%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fopenmindsresources.com%252Ff1d217639276858%26relation%3Dparent.parent&container_width=0&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fmarketing%2Fvideos%2F172770083643513%2F&locale=en_US&sdk=joey&width=1060
Facebook Stories ads possess the full targeting and tracking capabilities as per the standard ad campaigns. Facebook Stories ads also support every objective available on Instagram Stories ads and is an additional placement to News Feed or Instagram Stories ad campaigns.
- Reach
- Brand Awareness
- Video Views
- App Install
- Conversion
- Traffic
- Lead Generation
Credit: buffer
BENEFITS
Unlike other immersive experiences, Facebook Stories ads very much like Stories itself allows businesses to showcase a more candid, personalised take on the brand. This works best for promoting your company’s culture or giving snippets / bite-size updates on a certain event or even promotion. And with the decreasing attention-span of our general population, Stories has proven to be very effective in countering this change.
As we all know, it’s increasingly difficult to appear organically in the News Feeds, and advertisers feeling the constraints have moved on to look for easier ways to reach their audience. With the popularity of Stories, brands are now looking at Facebook Stories ads as the next best option to keep them in front of their competition. And while Facebook still prioritises the ads with the similar algorithm, Stories ads still presents you with a less formal way to reach out to your followers, to show a different side of the brand / your company (as opposed to the conventional ads). And best of all, you’ll have fun with it!
In-Stream Reserve and ThruPlay
September 2018, in conjunction with the Advertising Week in New York, Facebook announced the launch of two new ways to purchase and deliver video ad campaigns on the platform — In-Stream Reserve and ThruPlay.
In-Stream Reserve allows advertisers to reach an audience from the category of the most engaging and of highest quality publishers/creators. It was reported that more than 70% of In-Stream ads are watched to completion. And via In-Stream Reserve Categories, advertisers are able to choose content packages like fashion/beauty, sports, entertainment and etc, which are to be purchased in the same way as In-Stream Reserve. These ads are delivered as mid-roll within the News Feed Videos.
To accommodate and leverage on the many different ways audiences view videos, ThruPlay narrows down the cost to completed video views, letting advertisers pay only when ads are watched to completion, or for at least 15 seconds. Additionally, ThruPlay has been made effective for all video ad placements on in-stream, stories, and feed, and even on Instagram. It is available under Ads Manager for auction, reach, and frequency buying, and will be rolled out to all advertisers worldwide.
These features are the result of Facebook recognising the rise in the effectiveness of in-stream ads, hence they’re offering better control over ad placements and even how advertisers pay for their space.
https://www.facebook.com/v3.2/plugins/video.php?app_id=&channel=https%3A%2F%2Fstaticxx.facebook.com%2Fx%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2F%3Fversion%3D46%23cb%3Df2f4cabeac10474%26domain%3Dopenmindsresources.com%26is_canvas%3Dfalse%26origin%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fopenmindsresources.com%252Ff1d217639276858%26relation%3Dparent.parent&container_width=0&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fmarketing%2Fvideos%2F2125103701075126%2F&locale=en_US&sdk=joey&width=1060
BENEFITS
Having In-Stream Reserve is a huge addition to advertisers. It helps bridge a gap as it impacts campaigns aimed at younger, harder-to-reach demographics and light TV viewers. In addition to that, while it may not sound like a positive word, In-Stream ads are disruptive, and it shakes users out of their typical online viewing experience. And with the short customer attention-span these day (skimming through content in a near zombie-like state), In-Stream helps steal the focus for a quick few seconds. Hence, even if they didn’t watch the ad to the end, you know you’ve woken them.
Because of its nature, ThruPlay helps advertisers reach viewers who watch the entire ad. Which in turn helps them to understand their ideal audience or the audience group that are interested and would engage with their brand. ThruPlay is also cost effective when it comes to ad buying as businesses only pay for when their ads are being watched.
And that about sums up the key changes that advertisers on Facebook should note in Q3 of 2018. If you’ve found this article useful and would like to know more, do drop us a note/comment and we’ll be in touch!
