It may seem like we’ve been able to advertise on the leading social media platforms for as long as we’ve been executing digital campaigns but in reality, Facebook didn’t even introduce the ability to “boost” a post until 2012. That move may have ushered in the era of “advertising for all” but it’s been a slow road to get the features and tools that we really need to accurately execute and measure our campaigns. Facebook is finally reaching a point where we can confidently do most of those things and the rest of the large platforms are making progress to catch up. The industry hasn’t reached maturity, but it’s finally coming into its own and beginning to decide who it might want to be when it grows up.
Jon Woods, Vice President & Co-founder
Marketing Land: Facebook’s search ad test is extending to more accounts
Facebook is preparing to expand a recent test that allowed advertisers to place their ads in the primary and Marketplace search results on the platform. Once enabled, marketers will be able to run ads in search results without having to also feature them in the News Feed.
It remains to be seen which types of strategies and ads will work best in search but the more inventory available that can utilize Facebook’s data and targeting, the better.
Adweek: Facebook Is Updating Page Posts, Mobile Ads to Conform With Its Redesign
There are two big takeaways for advertisers from a recent announcement from Facebook about changes to its platforms.
1: Mobile News Feed posts will soon be redesigned to match the changes that have already taken place on the desktop version. This means that the visible primary text will be reduced from seven lines to three lines and the maximum video and image aspect ratio will change from 2:3 to 4:5.
2: New features are coming to Business Manager, including new navigation and the introduction of business asset groups.
TikTok
Fast Company: Sorry, ads are coming to TikTok
Most brands, except for some of the biggest digital spenders and early adopters, are still looking at TikTok with curiosity but not making any kind of formal, or even informal, plans to market on the platform. Those that are, like Chipotle, are seeing the kind of incremental success that comes with being the first to advertise widely on a newer social platform. With the platform growing at exponential rates, the time is now to begin mapping out a plan (or at the very least beginning to post yourself).
AdWeek: LinkedIn Just Added 3 New Marketing Objectives to Its Campaign Manager
LinkedIn recently added three new campaign objectives to its ad platform that will drastically improve the ability for marketers to run successful campaigns. The introduction of brand awareness, website conversion and job applicant objectives shorten the lead that Facebook holds over the professionals-focused platform and will allow for more efficient optimization and accurate measurement.
Social Media Today: A Guide to Instagram Ad Formats and Specs
This helpful infographic runs through the ideal sizes for the multiple formats and locations available for Instagram advertising. Just remember – with the way that things change in social media advertising – what worked yesterday may not work today and what worked today definitely won’t work a year from now.
Project Highlight
Colorado Succeeds | Google Ad Grants Provides Platform for Educating Colorado Voters
A nonprofit client focused on improving education in Colorado, Colorado Succeeds, prepared a robust online report detailing gubernatorial candidate views on education for the 2018 election with the goal of creating awareness and educating voters before they hit the polls. Colorado Succeeds aimed to garner 10,000 views on the report prior to the primary elections in June of that year. When other paid tactics failed to deliver the desired volume of clicks to the website, CenterTable was enlisted to leverage Colorado Succeeds’ existing Google Ad Grants account to launch a paid search campaign to supplement their current efforts and aid in meeting their goal within just three short weeks.
