Facebook Ads: Are You Allocating As Much As Google AdWords?

Are you allocating a similar marketing budget on Facebook Ads as Google AdWords? Here’s how I look at it, at a high level… As of today, Alphabet (the parent company behind Google) has a market capitalization is $678.9 billion. Facebook’s market cap is $440.9 billion. $440.9 billion / $678.9 billion implies that Facebook is about 64.5% the size of Alphabet. Given Facebook’s size and scale, it’s perfectly reasonable to allocate 64.5% as much money on Facebook Ads. So, if you’re spending $100,000/month on AdWords, you may want to consider spending $64,500 on Facebook Ads.

This allocation is far from reality for many digital marketers. Why? A lot of the digital marketing leaders (myself included) grew up on Google AdWords. AdWords is ingrained in our minds. We know it, it works really well, and that’s where we have historically prioritized our budgets. And, AdWords is bottom-of-funnel so it’s easier to measure success from an attribution standpoint.

That being said, things have evolved. These days, I’m the greatest fan of Facebook around, and am constantly discovering new ways to drive success on this incredible platform. On the fun side of things, I have over 100,000 fans on my PPC Ian Facebook Fan Page. On the business / professional side of things, I manage dozens of Facebook pages and advertising campaigns for our local stores, delivering hyper-local content on a daily basis. I have learned that top-of-funnel social media marketing (with appropriate tracking) drives impressive results when executed properly. And, it keeps getting better. Instagram, for example, is a complete game-changer for Facebook advertisers.

Today, I’m excited to share an eBook I recently read that provides incredible insights for anyone advertising on Facebook. I’m talking about Acquisio’s Guide to Facebook Advertising Success, a collaboration with Vector Media Group. Following are some of my favorite takeaways, broken down by section. Rather than elaborating upon each specific insight, I’m listing them here so you can quickly look for them once downloading the eBook.

Strategy #1: Talk to Your target Audience

Facebook offers over 970 targeting variables.
Via data partnerships, Facebook offers some truly unique targeting options.
When targeting on Facebook, don’t go too broad. Stay focused. A few hundred people is a great target audience, but don’t go lower.
While nearly impossible manually, scale with personalization is possible with Acquisio Social.

Strategy #2: Craft Creatives That Convert

Literally let users see themselves in your photos.
90% of accounts don’t leverage CTA (call-to-action). Don’t be one of them!
CTR (click-through-rate) is critical for your relevancy score (Facebook’s equivalent to Google’s quality score). Always focus on CTR.

Strategy #3: Test Your Way to Traffic

Get rid of ads that are not working so they don’t drag down your entire account.
Download the free eBook to learn all about view-through vs. click-through conversions, and exactly how much value Acquisio and Vector Media recommend giving view-throughs. (In my opinion, this is one of the single biggest elements in scaling your Facebook budget.)
Learn how Acquisio Social can empower your advertising campaign with multivariate testing.

Strategy #4: Data Driven Decision Making

Learn about Facebook and Google Analytics integration.
Leverage Facebook data to empower your Google AdWords advertising and vice versa. Learn how Facebook can help power Google RSLA (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads). Uncover how Facebook Custom Audiences can scale with help from your Google data (one of my personal favorite Facebook targeting frameworks).

Strategy #5: Bid on What Matters

Learn about the differences between CPC and CPM bidding. Find out which one works better on Facebook. (In my opinion, this is another one of the greatest lessons in this eBook. I have discovered a similar result via years of testing. Pay attention to this section as bidding is super important and different on Facebook.)
Learn about the different placements and which one converts the best.

I really enjoyed this free eBook. One of my favorite quotes: "With the knowledge and techniques shared in this eBook, there is no reason Facebook should be getting less spend than AdWords, Bing or your other channels, unless you have an attribution model to prove it!" I could not agree more. Whether you’re behind on your Facebook Advertising program or are a Facebook pro, I’m sure you’ll learn quite a bit from Acquisio’s eBook.

If you’d like to learn a little bit more about the companies behind this publication, here are some quick insights:

Acquisio is a performance media solution that enables digital marketers to optimize their search campaigns and report on social, mobile and display initiatives. With a focus on cutting-edge machine learning algorithms and also leveling the playing field for all advertisers (small, medium, and large alike), Acquisio is truly a robust platform. More than anything, they are a team of incredible professionals. In fact, their CEO (and personal friend), is quite involved in Charity and Giving, something that resonates with me personally. Way to go, Acquisio and Marc Poirier!
Vector Media Group is an award-winning digital agency located in NYC. Their full-service agency specializes in web development, design & branding, and digital marketing. While I just learned about Vector via this eBook, I’m quite impressed with everything they are doing and the content they are sharing with marketers like you and me. Thanks, Vector!

Image in this post © Acquisio

Planning Your Digital Marketing Strategy For 2016

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jan 25 0

Want to look really good while driving tremendous results for your organization? I highly encourage bringing new, innovative strategies to the table. While I still owe you all my personal 2016 goals, I’ll give you a preview: I’m challenging myself to think outside the box more than ever this year. I’m dedicating one day each week to brainstorming, reading, strategizing, and idea generation. As an example, I recently spent an entire day on My People and Networking Strategy.

Today, I want to share an incredible resource that is certain to take your 2016 digital marketing strategy to the next level. I’m talking about Acquisio’s 2016 Digital and Local Marketing Predictions. If you’ve been reading PPC Ian for a while, you know that I’m big on eBooks and whitepapers. Acquisio’s guide is precisely the type of thought leadership that I incorporate into my own brainstorming days each and every week. And, it’s published by one of my favorite digital marketing organizations of all time, the programmatic marketing solution that over 400 agencies trust on a daily basis.

Inside Acquisio’s free 2016 Digital and Local Marketing Predictions, you will find:

28 pages of thought-provoking insights.
14 expert opinions on what 2016 holds for digital and local marketing, each with a unique theme.
Insights from my personal friends Marc Poirier (CEO and Co-Founder of Acquisio) and Brad Geddes (Co-Founder of AdAlysis and moderated my SMX Panel).
Clever, innovative ideas that are sure to challenge your own digital marketing strategy. And, a few controversial themes.
The latest on audience targeting, my personal prediction for 2016 (more on this below).

So, you may be thinking, what’s my personal prediction for 2016? I see 2016 as the year of programmatic personalization. What does this mean?

Building upon my Engagement-Based Marketing Segmentation, I view 2016 as the year savvy digital marketers truly define their audiences, on a granular level. I see marketers doing this with audience management technologies (data management platforms, or DMPs).
I see marketers programmatically communicating with these audiences across all possible touch points (website, desktop, mobile, search, display, social, email, call center, TV, direct mail, more) in an incredibly consistent and personalized manner.
I see marketers crafting messages, story lines, and widgets that are adaptive and valuable.
I see this programmatic personalization system learning automatically (machine learning) and also manually (marketers improving the system based on insights).
Once companies have the fundamentals in place, audiences will becoming more and more segmented/granular.

Regarding my personal prediction, you can see that things get incredibly complex quickly. It’s all possible, however, with the right programmatic technologies, like Acquisio.

I wanted to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Acquisio for the amazing throught leadership. Now, a question for the you: What’s your 2016 marketing prediction? Make sure to write it down, and set the bar high!

Image in this post © Acquisio

Your Complete Guide To Facebook Advertising

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jan 18 0

Over the last 5 years, Facebook stock (Nasdaq: FB) increased from from $31.91 to $94.97 (using closing prices available on Yahoo! Finance). That’s an increase of 198%. During the same period, the overall Nasdaq composite increased 67%. Why did Facebook perform so well? How did Facebook outperform the broader Nasdaq, comprised of tech-centric companies? I’ll tell you how: Facebook advertising emerged as one of the most scalable and powerful digital marketing ecosystems around. Moreover, Facebook advertising forged the path for incredibly successful mobile advertising, a primary focus of digital marketers everywhere.

A few years ago, I wrote a post here on PPC Ian about How I Drove 3,156 Facebook Likes For $0.31 Each. Two weeks ago, I wrote a post about How I Drove 24,747 Facebook Likes For $0.04 Each. Over the years, I have evolved and improved as a marketer. That being said, my increased performance is also a function of the evolution of Facebook as an advertising platform. Facebook advertising works better than ever and savvy marketers are doubling down on their Facebook advertising investment.

Are you constantly evolving as a Facebook marketer? I know I am! Enter my good friends at 3Q Digital, the same digital marketing agency that hosted the incomparable 3Q Digital Growth Summit. In the must-read whitepaper of 2016, 3Q Digital’s Director of Social, Brad O’Brien, drops 19 pages of pure knowledge on Facebook Advertising. I’m thrilled to share 3Q Digital’s Complete Guide To Facebook Advertising.

Each weekend, I try to read a digital marketing eBook. I have found this strategy incredibly effective in my career, as someone who’s always learning. Below, I’d like to discuss the overall structure of this guide, as well as my favorite findings. First, the structure. Over the course of 19 pages, Brad O’Brien goes into depth on each of the following topics:

Tracking
Account Structure
Elements of Ad Sets
Acquisition Campaigns
Retention Campaigns
Ad Units

Second, my top findings. I took many insights away from 3Q Digital’s guide, with the following being my favorites.

Brad goes into depth on Facebook tracking changes happening later in 2016. Learn how you can set things up correctly, right now, so you avoid changes to your tracking later this year.
There are so many audience-targeting opportunities on Facebook, each with its own strategy. Learn all about custom audiences, website custom audiences, lookalike audiences, audiences by seasonality and customer LTV, and audiences based on interests, behaviors, and demographics. That’s a lot of audiences!
On page 11, Brad includes some incredibly helpful bidding strategy tables that I recommend printing out. With so many different bidding options available, Brad makes your strategic path easy with his decision tree.
On page 15, 3Q Digital includes some wonderful creative tips, a true must-read. At the end of the day, Facebook advertising is only as successful as your creative. I personally took a few creative ideas away from this page.

As always, 3Q Digital’s Complete Guide To Facebook Advertising is free. Download and read this guide today, and raise your Facebook advertising game to the next level. Thanks, Brad and 3Q Digital for the truly outstanding guide.

If you’re looking for a marketing agency to help with your digital marketing, I highly recommend 3Q Digital. They are Silicon Valley’s agency, and truly outstanding. They are also personal friends of mine of many years, and a team I am constantly learning from.

Images in this post © Yahoo! Finance and 3Q Digital

Your Complete Guide To Mobile Website Optimization

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Nov 1 0

Did you notice that I redesigned my blog just a few months ago? In addition to an overall facelift, I wanted to take a mobile-first, responsive design approach. So far, the results of my redesign are great, both from a quantitative/data perspective and a qualitative one too. I hope you noticed and like it too!

Mobile design and optimization are top-of-mind for PPC Ian in everything I do. Whether we’re talking about websites, landing pages, or even marketing creative, it’s all about mobile. When it comes to mobile marketing and mobile design, I’m always learning by testing, sharing strategies with others in the industry, and reading great whitepapers.

I am absolutely thrilled to share with you a free guide from my good friends at 3Q Digital (yes, the amazing agency that just hosted their Digital Marketing Summit at Levi’s Stadium). Today, I’m going to review 3Q Digital’s Mobile Optimization: Reflect User Intent In Site Design.

The guide starts out with some staggering statistics, ones that speak volumes about the mobile opportunity:

U.S. adults averaged 2.8 hours per day on their mobile devices in 2014
Mobile advertising spend is up 34% year over year (outstripping desktop growth)
At the end of 2014, 2.1 billion people owned smartphones

Next, 3Q’s guide transitions into four mobile mistakes. Each mistake contains great detail and great examples of companies making the mistakes, and also those gracefully avoiding the mistakes. 3Q is careful to not only illustrate the mistakes in great detail (with screenshots and analysis), but also solutions with equally clear examples and insights. The guide will help you visualize your own strategy, avoid these mistakes, and turn industry mistakes into opportunities for your business.

My favorite mistake would be Mobile Mistake #3: Not reflecting user device mentality in funnel position. This one really resonated with me because the mobile-first approach is not just about optimizing your homepage. It’s about optimizing every single possible mobile experience with your brand, both on-site and off. These days, the best marketers are segmenting their consumers to a very granular level, a level where it’s almost like one-to-one marketing. Every single personalized experience needs to have a mobile-first approach.

I was especially impressed that Craig Weinberg, VP of Mobile Strategy at 3Q Digital co-authored this whitepaper with Dylan Dullea from Method Hill. Craig just spoke at the 3Q Digital Summit. In fact, you will find knowledge from Craig and team in my Insights From The 3Q Digital Growth Summit.

I highly recommend downloading 3Q Digital’s Mobile Optimization Guide. It’s free and packed with knowledge that is sure to transform your own mobile strategy. Thanks 3Q for another amazing guide!

Image in this post © 3Q Digital

How To Invest Your Next Marketing Dollar

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Sep 27 0

"Where should I invest my next marketing dollar?" If you’ve been in marketing a while, you probably ask yourself this question each and every day. It’s the quintessential marketing question, especially for digital marketers.

I’m a big fan of this question, because it contains the word "invest", and I view digital marketing as an investment. In fact, I recently wrote a post about Approaching Business As An Investor. It’s questions like this that investment-minded business professionals should be asking themselves, their teams, and even their prospective employees!

So, what is the answer to this question? While there are many different approaches, the one resonates the most with me is the Marginal ROI philosophy. How does Marginal ROI work? You evaluate all of your marketing channels, programs, and campaigns, and identify those where your next marginally invested dollar is most likely to drive the largest amount of revenue. If revenue is not your goal, you can optimize against other success metrics such as sales or leads. Find the channel that will yield the most leads for the least amount of money, and that is where you invest your next dollar.

The Marginal ROI way of investing in digital marketing is truly a fundamental strategy. While some advertisers optimize for impressions, clicks, position, or any other number of metrics, those that optimize with the Marginal ROI mindset are true investors, in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, all these other metrics have their time and place, especially if you are primarily concerned with brand awareness. The investor, however, always places top line revenue and bottom line margin highest on their list.

I recently read an incredibly insightful whitepaper by Kenshoo that I wanted to share on this very topic, Kenshoo’s Maximizing Paid Search Potential By Measuring Marginal ROI. In collaboration with Bing Ads, Kenshoo really gets to the bottom of this Marginal ROI way of investing, utilizing real data from advertisers. Not surprisingly, Kenshoo’s analysis illustrates that a large amount of the time, Bing Ads offers superior results from a Marginal ROI perspective. While many advertisers spend their time optimizing towards other engines, they may under-invest in Bing Ads. The data suggests that the next dollar invested should go towards Bing Ads for superior return on investment.

In addition to the wonderful Bing Ads data, Kenshoo’s whitepaper also includes some incredibly helpful graphics that illustrate the Marginal ROI concept. I personally found the Marginal ROI Curve illustration on page 4 very helpful. If you have ever taken calculus in the past, you have probably seen this very diagram. If not, no worries, Kenshoo is here to teach you all the advanced math you need to know.

At the end of the day, I find that the data-driven approach drives superior results in digital marketing and business, in general. Take some time to read Kenshoo’s free Marginal ROI Whitepaper and supercharge your marketing and investment knowledge!

Image in this post © Kenshoo

How To Be An Agile Marketer

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment May 4 0

Have you heard of agile software development? If you work in a technology-focused environment, it’s likely you have. While many engineering teams used to leverage the waterfall software development model, many are now transitioning to agile. Our world is moving quickly, with flexible and fast-moving companies winning the hearts of consumers. The agile framework gives software developers the ability to adapt rapidly, while exceeding the consumer’s expectations.

Given the popularity of the agile framework, one starts to wonder: Can agile be applied to other disciplines, such as marketing? Today, I’m absolutely thrilled to share The Kenshoo Guide To Agile Marketing from my good friends at Kenshoo. It’s very fitting that Kenshoo published this guide because they truly embrace the agile mantra, as a company that is always innovating rapidly to lead the forefront of digital marketing technologies.

What can you expect to learn in Kenshoo’s new guide? Quite a bit, in my opinion! The guide starts off with the definition of agile marketing. Then, you’ll learn the six core values of the agile marketer. Next, you’ll enjoy studying the rise of big data and predictive marketing. Synthesizing it all, the guide ends with tips on becoming an agile marketing organization. If you’re a leader at your company and looking to take things to the next level, I highly recommend Kenshoo’s guide.

I’m always reading new whitepapers and eBooks to learn, grow my career, and add value to those around me. Kenshoo’s new guide is one that truly resonates with this scrappy, results-oriented marketer.

Picking Your Multi-Channel Agency For 2015

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Dec 22 0

With 2015 approaching, it’s the ideal time to think about your team. I’m talking about your internal team, and also your agency team. Do you manage a complex, multi-channel digital marketing program? When I first started in this field, our industry was organized in more of a channel-specific manner. These days, however, it’s all about the multi-channel approach. And, this is where team comes in. To manage an effective multi-channel digital marketing program, you need to assemble a great team, the best team ever!

I’m a huge fan of agencies. One of my favorites is 3Q Digital, the authors of today’s whitepaper: Should One Agency Manage Your Multi-Channel Strategy? I’m thrilled to share today’s whitepaper because it presents all the right frameworks to think about your staffing approach in 2015. It’s unbiased, covers all of the viewpoints, and includes 13-pages of helpful knowledge around choosing the right internal employees and/or agency(ies) for your digital strategy. Best yet, it’s written by David Rodnitzky, CEO of 3Q Digital.

Some highlights from 3Q’s multi-channel agency whitepaper:

How to think about the different digital channels. Which channels build brand, which drive direct response, which do both? Before selecting your team, first think about the channels that are important to your business.
How to determine if online advertising is truly core to your business. Assessing how critical digital advertising is to your business will determine if you build your team in-house, go with an agency, or do both.
Pros and cons of agencies. I really thought this was cool. Even though the whitepaper is written by a digital agency, it’s truly unbiased and shares all of the pros and cons. Before adopting any approach, it’s good to have honest expectations.
What are the three types of agencies and how do they differ? David covers the three types of agencies, and the pros and cons of each. Again, I truly appreciated the unbiased and honest approach.
David shares his "deep dive" approach to selecting an agency. Once you’ve crafted your overall team and agency strategy, you need to audition multiple agencies. David’s framework provides a great way to ensure you pick the right agency for you.

I hope this whitepaper helps shape your strategy heading into 2015. Now is the time to think about your team, and build your team heading into the new year.

Kenshoo’s Amazing Big Data Guide

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Dec 6 0

2015 is almost here! Now is the time to start planning your digital marketing strategy for the next year. Is big data part of your strategy? It certainly should be. Big data can be confusing. Is it just a buzz word, or does it have real implications in your marketing strategy? I’m thrilled to share Kenshoo’s Guide To Big Data where you will find the answers to all of your Big Data questions.

Kenshoo, one of the premier digital marketing technology platforms, is a true leader in Big Data. If you’ve been reading PPC Ian for a while, you may remember that I shared an amazing whitepaper about Kenshoo’s SmartPath Technology. SmartPath is perhaps one of the coolest applications of Big Data in the field of digital marketing.

Kenshoo’s whitepaper on Big Data is really big, it’s 20-pages long! Some of my favorite highlights:

Is Big Data just a buzzword or a real trend? Kenshoo tells you the truth about Big Data!
Kenshoo highlights the most relevant applications of Big Data in the field of online marketing.
Kenshoo calls out the "8 Laws of Big Data", perhaps my favorite section of the entire eBook. The 8 Laws section ensures you keep the right focus and perspective when applying Big Data to online marketing.
Daniel Morgan, Head of Search Engine Marketing at Accor, gives his perspective on Big Data. I really enjoyed this section since I heard the Accor team speak at Adobe Summit EMEA.
Amit Golan, Senior Director of Product Strategy at Kenshoo, shares some really cool perspectives and stats on Big Data. Did you know, Kenshoo processes 85 million tracking events every day. They manage over $100 million in spend every week. They deliver 1 billion clicks per month. And, 1 trillion ads per year. Simply amazing! In my opinion, Kenshoo is Big Data!

Each weekend, I really enjoy reading these eBooks and whitepapers. They always provide great value heading into the workweek!

Elevating Your Search and Social Programs

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment May 9 0

There’s been a clear theme in our industry: Everything is connected! When you’re running solid PPC and SEO programs in tandem, 1 + 1 = 3. There is a multiplier effect, especially when the intersections are managed thoughtfully. While most subscribe to the network effect of PPC and SEO, I wanted to share another network effect today, the one between Search and Social. Long story short: If you manage Search but aren’t involved in your Social program (or vice versa), you are leaving some serious opportunity on the table. It’s time to get involved!

To illustrate this point, I’d like to share Kenshoo’s latest free whitepaper, The Kenshoo Guide To Search and Social Intersections. I just finished reading this free 18-page whitepaper and it’s awesome, a must-read. (If you’ve been reading PPC Ian for a while, you know I’m a fan of whitepapers and always enjoy sharing my favorite ones here. They provide such an easy and leveraged way to bring bright new ideas to your organization.)

So, what did I learn in Kenshoo’s new whitepaper? Some highlights:

The four largest reasons why Search and Social are the next channels that should be integrated at any organization. Kenshoo makes it very clear and helps provide rationale you can leverage at your own company, as you pitch the idea.
The ways in with Search and Social complement each other. (Digging into the PPC Ian vaults, I also recommend checking out my review of Kenshoo’s prior whitepaper, Facebook Advertising Boosts Paid Search Performance. This is another great read, with clear evidence on how Facebook Ads assist the PPC channel.)
So you’ve decided to integrate Search and Social… Well, what does that look like? Kenshoo provides specific examples of Search signals for Social and Social Signals for Search. It’s a two-way street and you can clearly see how each channel complements the other. You’ll take away tactical insights on things you can do right now to amplify those synergies.
Channel integrations can present challenges. I enjoyed learning about potential challenges and also solutions for those challenges.
Kenshoo brings it home with advice on adding value to the rest of the marketing plan. We’re mid-year, but that doesn’t mean your marketing plan cannot change, especially as you plan for Q4 (retail vertical, anyone?). Now is the time to lock down your plan, and see how a Search and Social integration project could add substantial value to your plan.

With the weekend approaching, make sure to take some time for education and reflection. Read a whitepaper each weekend, such as this one, and you will be a superstar at your company, full of new ideas each and every week!

Kenshoo Does It Again With Their PLA Guide

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Feb 11 0

Do you Kenshoo? Kenshoo is an amazing digital marketing platform for the true digital marketing professional. You may recall, just a few weeks ago, I blogged about Kenshoo’s new eBook, Facebook Advertising Boosts Paid Search Performance. I truly enjoyed reading that study, and highly recommend it to any digital marketer considering budget allocation decisions by channel. Well, Kenshoo has done it again! Today, I’m absolutely thrilled to share Kenshoo’s latest free guide: The Kenshoo Guide to Google Product Listing Ads.

As the title suggests, this guide is all about Product Listing Ads, also known as PLA Ads. It’s a free 17-page guide, packed full of actionable tips. Many years back, at the beginning of my digital marketing career, I was in the Product Shopping space and had great exposure to PLAs, feeds, and shopping comparison sites/ads. However, for most of my career, I have been in the Financial Services vertical. Those of us in Finance don’t spend quite as much focus on PLAs (we have our own Finance-specific ad extensions and advertising vehicles). This particular fact piqued my interest incredibly in Kenshoo’s new guide…

I’m a huge proponent of leveraging technologies from Product in Finance and vice versa. You can learn so much by investigating verticals other than your own, and leveraging ideas across categories. I picked up some solid tips and advice.

In Kenshoo’s guide, you’ll learn all about PLAs, Google Merchant Center, data feeds, product targets, important rules, and so much more. My absolute favorite parts of Kenshoo’s guide are the 8 best practices and common PLA mistakes. These sections truly provide some golden nuggets of info.

Kenshoo is one of the best digital marketing platforms around. They originally got started in the Product vertical so they know this stuff incredibly well. I highly suggest downloading Kenshoo’s free guide today to perfect your Product Listing Ad skills. Even if you aren’t in the Product category (like me), you will learn form this guide. As digital marketers, it’s all about generating new ideas. The best ideas often come from applying insights from one category to another, challenging the status quo. Elevate your PLA skills today!