Key learnings from Facebook Blueprint Live Training

Two weeks ago, our Paid Media team were invited to attend the Facebook Blueprint Live Training in London. It was an exciting day packed with useful insights, tips and the latest updates on all things Facebook, so we’ve rounded up some of our key takeaways.

From an advertising perspective, Facebook and its family of apps are still dominating the scene. From its targeting capabilities to the different creative and ad formats available to test, the social media giant remains second to none. Moreover, the platform constantly offers new updates and features in an attempt to make the whole experience easier, more effective and engaging for advertisers and consumers alike.

Value-based Lookalike

First introduced in June 2017, the Lookalike feature is one that we think has been overlooked for a while. Essentially, Facebook now allows you to create a Lookalike audience based on your most valuable customers from a lifetime value point of view.

What do we mean by lifetime value, I hear you ask? Simply put, it’s an estimate of the total revenue you can attribute to an individual customer throughout the length of your relationship with them. This can be calculated by looking at:

• How often they make a purchase
• How much they spend on average each time
• An estimate of how long your relationship with them will last

Besides giving you a good insight into who your most valuable customers are, you can now take this data a step further. By uploading your list onto the platform, Facebook’s algorithm will then identify users similar to them, as with any other Lookalike audience. Pretty cool, isn’t it? This feature is a definite game changer, especially for retailers, as they’ll be able to target users who share the same interests and behaviours with their most loyal customers and therefore more likely to become loyal customers themselves!

Set up and third-party integrations are ¾ of the job done

Whether you’re a clothing retailer or a game app, you’ll want to take advantage of the useful advertising features Facebook and Instagram offer. For example, third-party integrations and analytics tools like the Facebook Pixel and Product Catalogue are all great resources that will help you make the most of your advertising efforts. From measuring cross-device performance to creating remarketing audiences based on where your customers are on the path to conversion, the possibilities are (almost) endless.

What it all comes down to is a thorough set up process. Ensuring your ad account is properly linked to your mobile app or CMS is one of the first steps to building successful campaigns. If all fails, you might end up not tracking your customers’ journey accurately, which could ultimately lead to ineffective advertising.

Top tip: get your developers involved from the very beginning!

Facebook offers thorough instructions and helpful resources that will guide developers through the setup process. Getting it right at the start of your strategy will not only save you time and energy in the long run, it will also help you maximise your marketing efforts. Of course, we appreciate things might change and evolve, so ensure you regularly check that all your integrations are working properly!

Automatic V Manual placement: pros & cons

When it comes to choosing where you want to display your ads, Facebook best practice guidelines suggest choosing automatic placement. The reason for this is that, by allowing Facebook to run the ads on all available placements, the algorithm will learn where to show your ads to deliver the best results and maximise spend.

However, it might not be that straightforward in some instances. Selecting manual placement could potentially be the best choice for your business, but let’s take a closer look at the main advantages of both options in the table below.

Automatic placement will deliver better results for most advertisers, as explained in this useful article. However, there are also some advantages to using manual placement, such as the ability to customise assets, block categories, websites and apps you don’t want your ads to appear on and, last but not least, tag your ads with UTM tracking to assess how people are interacting with your website in Google Analytics.

The only way to get it right is to TEST TEST and TEST again. Unfortunately, there isn’t a “one size fits all” approach when it comes to digital advertising; it’s all about testing different variables and finding out what works best for your business. After all, without the testing, where would the fun be?

At Fox&Bear, we’re constantly finding ways to grow our knowledge within the industry that will help improve our clients’ performance. Need help finding out what strategy is best for you when it comes to Facebook ads? Give us a call on 01273 208913 or fill in our online form and we’ll be in touch!