The trick most content marketers are missing
Creating great content is the first half of success in content marketing. Getting quality content read by, and amplified to, a relevant audience is the oft overlooked second half of success. Facebook can be a content marketer's best friend for this challenge. For reach, relevance and amplification potential, Facebook is unrivaled.
- Reach: 1 in 6 mobile minutes on planet earth is somebody reading something on Facebook.
- Relevance: Facebook is a lean mean interest and demo targeting machine. There is no online or offline media that owns as much juicy interest and demographic information on its audience and certainly no media has allowed advertisers to utilise this information as effectively as Facebook has.
- Amplification: Facebook is literally built to encourage sharing. Here's the first 10 words from their mission statement: "Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share…", Enough said!
Because of these three digital marketing truths, if a content marketer gets their paid promotion* right on Facebook, the battle for eyeballs and amplification is already won.
For this reason it's crucial that content marketers keep a close eye on Facebook advertising innovations and seek out ways to use them in new and creative ways.
In this post I will share with you eight ways we've hacked a new Facebook ad format to deliver content marketing success.
Multi-Product Ads (MPAs)
In 2014, Facebook unveiled multi-product ads (MPAs) for US advertisers, we got them in Europe earlier this year. They allow retailers to show multiple products in a carousel-type ad unit.
They look like this:
If the user clicks on the featured product, they are guided directly to the landing page for that specific product, from where they can make a purchase.
You could say MPAs are Facebook's answer to Google Shopping.
Facebook's mistake is a content marketer's gain
I believe Facebook has misunderstood how people want to use their social network and the transaction-focused format is OK at best for selling products. People aren't really on Facebook to hit the "buy now" button. I'm a daily Facebook user and I can't recall a time this year where I have gone directly from Facebook to an e-commerce website and transacted. Can you remember a recent time when you did?
So, this isn't an innovation that removes a layer of friction from something that we are all doing online already (as the most effective innovations do). Instead, it's a bit of a "hit and hope" that, by providing this functionality, Facebook would encourage people to try to buy online in a way they never have before.
The Wolfgang crew felt the MPA format would be much more useful to marketers and users if they were leveraging Facebook for the behaviour we all demonstrate on the platform every day, guiding users to relevant content. We attempted to see if Facebook Ads Manager would accept MPAs promoting content rather than products. We plugged in the images, copy and landing pages, hit "place order", and lo and behold the ads became active. We're happy to say that the engagement rates, and more importantly the amplification rates, are fantastic!
Multi-Content Ads
We've re-invented the MPA format for multi-advertisers in multi-ways, eight ways to be exact! Here's eight MPA Hacks that have worked well for us. All eight hacks use the MPA format to promote content rather than promote products.
Hack #1: Multi-Package Ads
Our first variation wasn't a million miles away from multi-product ads; we were promoting the various packages offered by a travel operator.
By looking at the number of likes, comments, and shares (in blue below the ads) you can see the ads were a hit with Facebook users and they earned lots of free engagement and amplification.
NB: If you have selected "clicks to website" as your advertising objective, all those likes, comments and shares are free!
The ad sparked plenty of conversation amongst Facebook friends in the comments section.
Hack #2: Multi-Offer Ads
Everybody knows the Internet loves a bargain. So we decided to try another variation moving away from specific packages, focusing instead on deals for a different travel operator.
Here's how the ads looked:
These ads got valuable amplification beyond the share. In the comments section, you can see people tagging specific friends. This led to the MPAs receiving further amplification, and a very targeted and personalised form of amplification to boot.
Word of mouth referrals have been a trader's best friend since the stone age. These "personalised" word of mouth referrals en masse are a powerful marketing proposition. It's worth mentioning again that those engagements are free!
Hack #3: Multi-Locations Ads
Putting the Lo in SOLOMO.
This multi-product feed ad was hacked to promote numerous locations of a waterpark. "Where to go?" is among the first questions somebody asks when researching a holiday. In creating this top of funnel content, we can communicate with our target audience at the very beginning of their research process. A simple truth of digital marketing is: the more interactions you have with your target market on their journey to purchase, the more likely they are to seal the deal with you when it comes time to hit the "buy now" button. Starting your relationship early gives you an advantage over those competitors who are hanging around the bottom of the purchase funnel hoping to make a quick and easy conversion.
What was surprising here, was that because we expected to reach people at the very beginning of their research journey, we expected the booking enquiries to be some time away. What actually happened was these ads sparked an enquiry frenzy as Facebook users could see other people enquiring and the holidays selling out in real time.
In fact nearly all of the 35 comments on this ad were booking enquiries. This means what we were measuring as an "engagement" was actually a cold hard "conversion"! You don't need me to tell you a booking enquiry is far closer to the money than a Facebook like.
The three examples outlined so far are for travel companies. Travel is a great fit for Facebook as it sits naturally in the Facebook feed, my Facebook feed is full of envy-inducing friends' holiday pictures right now. Another interesting reason why travel is a great fit for Facebook ads is because typically there are multiple parties to a travel purchase. What happened here is the comments section actually became a very visible and measurable forum for discussion between friends and family before becoming a stampede inducing medium of enquiry.
So, stepping outside of the travel industry, how do other industries fare with hacked MPAs?
Hack #3a: Multi-Location Ads (combined with location targeting)
Location, location, location. For a property listings website, we applied location targeting and repeated our Multi-Location Ad format to advertise properties for sale to people in and around that location.
Hack #4: Multi-Big Content Ad
"The future of big content is multi platform"
– Cyrus Shepard
The same property website had produced a report and an accompanying infographic to provide their audience with unique and up-to-the-minute market information via their blog. We used the MPA format to promote the report, the infographic and the search rentals page of the website. This brought their big content piece to a larger audience via a new platform.
Hack #5: Multi-Episode Ad
This MPA hack was for an online TV player. As you can see we advertised the most recent episodes of a TV show set in a fictional Dublin police station, Red Rock.
Engagement was high, opinion was divided.
LOL.
Hack #6: Multi-People Ads
In the cosmetic surgery world, past patients' stories are valuable marketing material. Particularly when the past patients are celebrities. We recycled some previously published stories from celebrity patients using multi-people ads and targeted them to a very specific audience.
Hack #7: Multi-UGC Ads
Have you witnessed the power of user generated content (UGC) in your marketing yet? We've found interaction rates with authentic UGC images can be up to 10 fold of those of the usual stylised images. In order to encourage further UGC, we posted a number of customer's images in our Multi-UGC Ads.
The CTR on the above ads was 6% (2% is the average CTR for Facebook News feed ads according to our study). Strong CTRs earn you more traffic for your budget. Facebook's relevancy score lowers your CPC as your CTR increases.
When it comes to the conversion, UGC is a power player, we've learned that "customers attracting new customers" is a powerful acquisition tool.
Hack #8: Target past customers for amplification
"Who will support and amplify this content and why?"
– Rand Fishkin
Your happy customers Rand, that's the who and the why! Check out these Multi-Package Ads targeted to past customers via custom audiences. The Camino walkers have already told all their friends about their great trip, now allow them to share their great experiences on Facebook and connect the tour operator with their Facebook friends via a valuable word of mouth referral. Just look at the ratio of share:likes and shares:comments. Astonishingly sharable ads!
Targeting past converters in an intelligent manner is a super smart way to find an audience ready to share your content.
How will hacking Multi-Product Ads work for you?
People don't share ads, but they do share great content. So why not hack MPAs to promote your content and reap the rewards of the world's greatest content sharing machine: Facebook.
MPAs allow you to tell a richer story by allowing you to promote multiple pieces of content simultaneously. So consider which pieces of content you have that will work well as "content bundles" and who the relevant audience for each "content bundle" is.
As Hack #8 above illustrates, the big wins come when you match a smart use of the format with the clever and relevant targeting Facebook allows. We're massive fans of custom audiences so if you aren't sure where to start, I'd suggest starting there.
So ponder your upcoming content pieces, consider your older content you'd like to breathe some new life into and perhaps you could become a Facebook Ads Hacker.
I'd love to hear about your ideas for turning Multi-Product Ads into Multi-Content Ads in the comments section below.
We could even take the conversation offline at Mozcon!
Happy hacking.
*Yes I did say paid promotion, it's no secret that Facebook's organic reach continues to dwindle. The cold commercial reality is you need to pay to play on FB. The good news is that if you select 'website clicks' as your objective you only pay for website traffic and engagement while amplification by likes, comments, and shares are free! Those website clicks you pay for are typically substantially cheaper than Adwords, Taboola, Outbrain, Twitter or LinkedIn. How does it compare to display? It doesn't. Paying for clicks is always preferable to paying for impressions. If you are spending money on display advertising I'd urge you to fling a few spondoolas towards Facebook ads and compare results. You will be pleasantly surprised.
Very informative post Alan, thanks for sharing.
Seems like a truly inventive formula which I'll be recommending to my social media contacts right away!
Nice one Luke:)
Thank you Alan!!! it´s a excellent work
This is fantastic!! I'm currently working with a brand to get MPAs up & running - we literally just talked about how they could be used for so much more than products and have been in the brainstorming/ planning mode for the last few days. These examples could not have come at a more perfect time!
Hey Sheena,
Great minds think alike;) I'd be mad keen to hear how you use them and how they perform for you.
Great read. As a higher education marketer, these provide great opportunities for multi events (open houses, etc.), programs (MBA, MS in ___, etc.), and CTAs (apply now, request info., visit). Hadn't thought of it yet - thank you!
Hi Jay, those are 3 great ideas for re-imagining the format, nice thinking! I can imagine the events in particular getting lots of tagging & discussion going in the comments section.
Your programmes will have lots of great targeting options in Facebook . For example you could bundle 3 marketing courses and target people on Facebook with an interest in marketing with the MPA ad format.
Celebrity content can work well on Facebook so if you were to create some content on 3 of your famous alumni and promote that via the MPA format you could pull lots if relevant traffic in.
Thanks for the kind words.
Alan
Thanks so much for your follow up, Alan! I love the idea of featured alumni, and bundling by type of program is a great point as well.
Great piece of work Alan. Interesting one with a lot to learn for social media campaigners.
Thanks Ikkie.
Nice article. Content is king. Tricks in article will surely help to increase traffic, conversion and minimize the budget.
Well Said , Few tricks are missing when people are doing content curate. Thanks Furqan for that much valuable stuff.
Thanks for sharing this article this will help to my new website edifyschools.com
Great and informative post. It is new for me I will implement it asap. Thanks to share such a valuable information.
Tx Kashif.
Alan, I really loved this ideas that you have shared. They are perfectly pitched with enough insight into each topic to allow the ready to understand the subject and helpful for the budding entrepreneurs who don't know social media campaigners
Hey Alan,
It's a cracking post and all these hacks are quite actionable. I recalled a very interesting post on Moz last year, the importance of FB ads by Brian Carter.
I'd like to know is it useful to go for the "behaviors" suggestions while setting up multi products ads? Plus, if the site is relatively new and not very attractive, would you recommend to go for the multi products ads to take the users on landing pages (which obviously aren't very catching) or they should go to "boosting posts" or "Page like" campaigns to get the maximum?
Hi Umar,
Thanks for the kind words and I hope the post is useful to you. In response to your questions:
I'd like to know is it useful to go for the "behaviors" suggestions while setting up multi products ads?
It depends who your target audience is - for example if you want to advertise to Android users only, then you will have to use behaviour targeting.
Plus, if the site is relatively new and not very attractive, would you recommend to go for the multi products ads to take the users on landing pages (which obviously aren't very catching) or they should go to "boosting posts" or "Page like" campaigns to get the maximum?
Another hack for Multi product ads is to test a variety of landing pages on your website to see which drives the most conversions and the best user engagement - this is especially useful at the beginning of a campaign.
I hope those are useful.
Alan
it would be interesting to know the conversion ratio of about MPA or adwrods campaign , but we open more possibilities and that's really good for young entrepreneurs
Hi Natura, Adwords is still the best ad platform in the world for conversion. While Facebook can rival it for reach, relevance and CPCs it cant come close on conversion (in most cases).
Interesting article Alan!
AMP seems to me a very good tool to present our products in a platform is as well known as Facebook. It provides an opportunity for small businesses to get customers in a simple way.
I'm also a big regular at this network and when I see an ad that interests me you do click to go to their website and see what products offered.
I had never considered making an announcement on Facebook, but it may be time to go thinking about it.
Thank you for your post.
Hi Tino,
Yes Facebook ads are a simple, cheap and effective way to get your audience in your content. I'd consider it more native advertising than display, hence the high CTRs you are describing.
Top stuff Alan! Very clever use of the format. One thing I did notice is that the majority of the examples don't use content as such, mainly promos/deals, but it looks like those that do performed well!
Hey Mike,
Thanks for the kind words. Yes in the first 3 hacks we aren't using products but packages & promos as you rightly point out, which aren't a million miles away from product ads. As we iterated through the hacks we got savvyer at using more content focused ads.
If you need to hack into any database, delete record, improve credit score, spy on whatsapp, text, phone, emails, as long as it's hack contact jack @v ia Email :
[email protected] he is great, you won't be disappointed, cheap and fast, he saved my relationship Tell him frank
I think it's a good write up in regards to hacking for eCommerce and package sales, but with true content marketing (I'm talking about text posts, infographics, ebooks, podcasts) I think MPAs are a home run. You can promote three different blog posts to an targeted market for audience research and development, lead generation and awareness. So many things you can do with this product beyond "the sell".
I think one of my favourite uses for MPAs are real story telling. Imagine a Groupon MPA with:
Travel package to Hawaii
Transportation option when you land
Accommodation deal of the week
Spa packagesSnorkelling in Hawaii
and then a more generic "Groupon Hawaii" ad with "This vacation can be yours ..."
I could see the story aspect working for insurance companies (different life events - first car (auto ins), wedding (life ins), first house (homeowners), etc.
I've also done this with a recent photography client. Engagement > Wedding > Maternity > Newborn > Family > Engagement "We're your photographer for life" kind of thing.
I don't like Facebook it ruined my online business.
Thanks for sharing this article Alan!
thanks you u give me meningful information
Alan, a quick question about this carousel ad format. Have you seen an implementation that isn't created out of the Ad Manager (i.e. organically on timelines)?
Thanks in advance
Philip
Thanks for the very good informative information sharing posting.
Easy to used Facebook ads are a simple, cheap and effective way to get your audience in your content.
These are really great ideas for creative ways to use Facebook Ads. I'd like to see more case studies about how ideas like these perform.
Good techniques to hack and sends Facebook and attract new customers. I use a technique that does not teach and from an image into 2 or 3 sections of multianuncio Facebook. The truth is that it works pretty well. Did you tried?
Great post, this article is awesome. Its really usefull article,really good work
Great to see your examples and a nice reminder to think outside the box a little bit. Question about the ads with UGC content... I'm assuming you have to get permission from fans to use their photos and attribute them in the ad somewhere?
Hey Barbara, Yes on the competition landing page with the details on how to enter we tell people by entering they agree to have the images used in marketing. You can check out our easy to read T&Cs here:https://www.iclothing.com/iwear
Oh, just great, now a whole post about Facebook Ads. That one came unexpected, this time I really delete MOZ from my bookmarks
Alan, great post. Thanks!
Although, had one quick question. Can you please confirm this statement: "NB: If you have selected "clicks to website" as your advertising objective, all those likes, comments and shares are free!"
I'm not seeing that to be the case. Would there be cases when this wouldn't apply?
Hi Algo,
Thanks for the kind words.
If you select "clicks to website" as your advertising objective, the CPC you see in your Ads Manager does represent the cost per "website click".
I've just gone into to some of our accounts to check and I can verify that the cost per click is for website visits and doesn't include engagements. If it did the CPCs would be even lower.
I hope that's useful.
Really satisfied, enter the blog de Moz is a pleasure, where knowledge abounds
Good one. This can be seen that now a days every one is more focusing on social media comparatively there are less talks about link building. Is linking building not existing any more?
Hi Learn3,
I wouldn't say the link building/acquisition is dead, but content marketing and social promotion are growing in popularity as SEO activities and as marketing activities.
Wanted to chime in on this, right now many marketers are trying to get that digital word of mouth to get traction. So your hack is a joy to experiment with.
Thanks John, I fully agree with you, it's word of mouth, en masse!
Brilliant ideas to utilize Facebook MPAs, I never though of promoting content through this channel. Seeing the amount of engagement they are getting I think I should revise my content marketing strategy for MPAs. Anyway Thanks Allan for this amazing post.
Hey Salman, Thanks for the kind words. Yes for me Facebook is the best channel for marketing your content based on CPCs, reach & targeting. Post a comment to let me know how you get on!
Sure, will update you with this :)
Hi Alan, you have clarified an important facet of the Facebook marketing strategy which is implemented incorrectly. They are trying to up-sell the visitors of the site with products to buy. However, there is an issue in approaching the marketing on Facebook in a manner such as this. Facebook is not a site where people go when they wish to buy things. It is a site which is primarily devoted to people connecting with other people over shared backgrounds. When someone is surfing around there they do not think of buying things. It is not the reason why they went to the site in the first place. By trying to jam a selling function into the site, when it is completely inorganic to their mission, they are failing in their attempt to monetize the site correctly. Your idea of packaging sales, which are directed to the user's mindset, is a better one.
I fully agree with your view on facebook usage Todd. Let's hope they bring out more content focused ad formats. Better for users and marketers.
Detailed and very useful post Alan. Thanks for sharing!
Takk Erik
Great idea! I was just thinking I need some fresh ideas on promoting my blog.
Delighted it's useful to you Toby. Please let me know how they pan out for you.
Can't help myself but to read until the last part of the piece. It's amazing how you can project in an average size piece the unlimited possibilities MPAs has to offer. I know it's a little funny but Alan, what interest me more is the last part of this piece which stated, "if you select 'website clicks' as your objective you only pay for website traffic and engagement while amplification by likes, comments, and shares are free! " This means serious business, do you agree? :)
Hi Mark, thanks for the kind words and I'm glad the post has you excited. Yes the "free" engagements is a very powerful proposition. CPCs for website visits with Facebook are already very good value so the free engagements on top are brilliant.
If you had a limited marketing budget would you start with FBOOK or a paid search campaign? Which would you consider to provide the best ROI?
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the question.
Speaking in broad terms:
If I could only do 2 forms of advertising I would do Facebook & Google.
Facebook is unparalleled in reach & interested targeting, so a great place to start the awareness & Interest part of the purchase journey, Google AdWords is your best friend for for the interest & action part of the journey where you win the conversion and then back to Facebook ads and custom audiences targeting customers to turn a transactions into a loyal customers and brand advocates.
If you are holding me to one of the two it depends on your competitive environment. Facebook will never rival Google for conversion but right now lot's of businesses are doing a good job on paid search but not facebook ads. So if your adwords competition is high and you have a limited budget I'd try to outmanouver the competition with smart content based facebook ads and hope that drive searches on your brand (you'll pick those conversions up organically). If there isn't a whole lot of smart competition on Google then that's the place I'd go first. Easy money!
I hope that makes sense.
We did some story driven multi-product ads.
For example: we asked a question and proceeded to give options to answer that question.
Love it! Did they work out well?
Great Article! Social media is the most cost effective way to market your company. You can target a large audience on a free platform. I came across a powerful tool using ImWithBob which allows small business owners to create daily deals in real-time. Your deals instantly publish on your social media accounts which is awesome. ImWIthbob for business is a great service to use to promote yourself on social media. https://imwithbob.com/formerchants
Are you in need of a professional hacker? Contact one of the best Russianhacker Vlad Bogdan( [email protected]) Kik- VladTech. He offers services such as:
-Website hack
-Changing school grades without leaving traces
-Clearing criminal records without leaving traces
-Bank account hack/funds transfer
-Facebook and whatsapp hack
-Email hack
-Phone cloning
-call tracking
-Retrieval of lost documents and so many other services.
NOTE- Please only serious minded people should contact him.
Hire from botnet group of hackers for all forms of hacking. PROOF of access before any payment is made. Spy on cheating spouses (emails and mobile phone)/ Change grades/ Clear criminal records/ Public and private databases/ Private investigations/ All forms of social media hacks (Instagram/twitter/facebook etc)
Contact- [email protected] or Text +18654656888
Web: https://botnetenterprise.yolasite.com/
Frustrated getting scammed online? you should try [email protected]. This is the best and fastest hacker I have come across. The guy hacks skype, facebook, gmail, instagram and also develops software for mobile phone hacks. That is all i know for now, you can also try to e-mail him.