Marketers constantly tell me they need help simplifying, measuring and optimising their ads, particularly across different channels. At the same time, they’re looking to squeeze as much efficiency out of their marketing programmes as possible. Recent research from Forrester Research reflects this. 59% of respondents stated that a better system for measuring and analysing the performance of programmes that encompasses multiple channels, would most improve their work flow.
One channel that looks set to grow in the display stage is Facebook. It already holds 30% of the total display inventory in the market and has recently launched the Facebook Exchange. The programmatic buying of ads, using real-time bidding technology, continues to change the way marketers view display. The proportion of display ads bought through an exchange is increasing dramatically. However, advertisers still need to work with ad exchanges to distinguish between good and bad inventory. It sometimes takes advanced software to weed out inappropriate context, ad collisions and viewability, to ensure the right ads are being targeted to the right people.
We’ve been working to simplify measuring and optimising ad programs while increasing efficiency. We’ve done this by combining our analytics platform, Adobe SiteCatalyst, with our multi-channel advertising technology, Adobe AdLens. By doing so we’re in a unique position to help marketers implement and measure their ad buying strategies across multiple channels.
With the Facebook Exchange integration, this has meant adding a valuable extension to AdLens’ real-time bidding infrastructure, to enable marketers to reach more than 955 million people globally on Facebook and better target their ads.
All conversions on Facebook are tracked by Site Catalyst and available in the AdLens platform. In addition to the conversion events, AdLens has access to micro-conversion metrics such as time spent on pages, cart abandonment and much more at the individual click level for all ads, helping build a better picture for advertisers to target their ads.
With news that Facebook is to launch a “want” button to further monetise and establish itself as an e-commerce platform, it is clear that the social network is attempting to get brands buy-in and trust around the concept of socially driven commerce. Product innovations such as the Facebook Exchange and want button will help digital marketers build a better picture of who they want to target their ads with. All they need now is the tools to cultivate this data and ensure the right ads are going to the right people in real-time and the ability to measure and optimise this process.
