Client Solutions Manager,
Meta’s Automotive Digital Retail Team
In the early 90s, static banner ads launched on the Internet were considered groundbreaking. Today, ads can have rich videos that quickly evolve into interactive augmented reality experiences. The evolution of ad creative has helped marketers tell better stories, drive brand loyalty, and reach new audiences. And while this has helped many businesses, it has also brought new challenges. Creative in digital is still very abstract and is constantly changing with today's fickle consumer behaviors.
Consumers are absorbing media at a record
pace, making it much harder for brands to grab their attention. Fifteen years
ago, the market research firm, Yankelovich, estimated that the average person saw
5,000 ads per day.1 We can only assume that number is higher today
given that research now shows that people spend 13 hours and 11 minutes on
average, consuming media every day.2
As media consumption evolves, Meta has advanced its machine learning technology, which now allows marketers to reach the highest converting audiences with little manual input. Traditionally, marketers had to pre-select audiences, input manual bids, and breakout placements, which left them little time to focus on broader strategy and creative. Advanced marketers now trust Meta’s technologies to do the heavy lifting and optimize to reach the right audiences when it matters most.
The advancements in machine learning have led
to better performance and freed up time for marketers to focus on bigger-picture strategy. One example is Meta’s broad audience targeting;
we found broad targeting (e.g., United States; ages 18+) was 2.2X more
efficient than detailed interest targeting (e.g., car enthusiasts, parents,
football fans)3. When it comes to time savings, a 2019 survey showed
that 77% of media buyers and strategists in the U.S. said automated tools saved them significant amounts of time spent on manual and
tedious tasks, with most reporting they gained back between one to four hours
per week, on average4.
Earlier this year, Meta launched the Meta Advantage product suite. Meta Advantage
harnesses the power of Meta’s advanced automation and machine learning
technology to help marketers quickly create and deliver efficient campaigns.
One of the core products under “Meta Advantage” is Advantage+, which allows
marketers to automate an entire campaign flow from end to end. A popular
feature is Advantage+ Creative, which automatically
creates variations of your static or video ad and shows a personalized
variation based on what the user is most likely to respond to.
The combination of recording breaking media
consumption, machine learning-powered automation, and time savings should
empower marketers to prioritize creative above all else. Why? Creative has
replaced targeting by becoming the leader in reaching high-quality audiences.
Research has shown that when campaigns use creative best practices:
But what makes good ad creative? Short-form video is one of Meta’s leading
creative types. For example, Reels continues to grow quickly across our apps –
both in production and consumption. There are now more than 140 billion Reels
plays across Facebook and Instagram daily. That's a 50% increase from six
months ago.8 This shows the opportunity to capture consumers'
attention and drive the business outcome you’re optimizing for through video – whether brand or direct response.
Knowing that video creative is the leading
driver in marketing performance today, how is your business resourcing toward
it? Who is responsible for creative development? Are you following best practices?
How are you testing creative? Are you testing new products?
Outlined below is a framework to help
marketers up-level their strategy at every stage of their creative journey.
Step 1:
Master the basics with mobile-first creative
Meta has developed a list of guidelines that
should be considered table stakes for any creative launched on Meta. Through
countless studies, we’ve found ads that follow the guidelines below drive the
highest performance across brand and direct response objectives.
Recommendation: Run an audit of your creative to ensure it follows the guidelines above. For creative that doesn’t meet these guidelines, work with your
creative department or Meta Business Partner to reformat the assets.
Step 2:
Shoot for social
We must be mindful of how audiences consume
media across different platforms and devices. To advance their
creative strategy, marketers must shoot and develop content with the mobile consumer
in mind.
On your next creative shoot, work with your
team to film footage optimized for social.
Recommendation: Work with your creative team to storyboard mobile-friendly content
before your next production shoot. If you don’t have time or resources for a
production shoot, start filming with your phone and use Meta’s in-product tools to optimize your
creative, or work with a Meta Business Partner to help with creative
development.
Step 3: Experiment with new creative
types
Think about ways you can differentiate your
brand from the competition by exploring new creative formats and strategies.
Recommendation:
Pick one new product or strategy to test quarterly or
at a cadence that makes sense for your business.
Success throughout these three steps requires that you also have a strong measurement foundation. Each variable, strategy, and
technique mentioned above can be measured using Meta’s A/B Testing tool,
Conversion Lift, or Brand Lift. Work with your team to form a hypothesis, align
on campaign goals, and determine the best measurement solution to track
results.
Marketers must stay hyper-focused on creative innovation as consumer media behavior evolves and technology advances. Creative responsibility no longer lives with the creative
team; it needs to be in the DNA of everyone who touches marketing – data
scientists, strategists, media buyers, and leadership teams. Creative comes
with its fair share of challenges, but by taking a collaborative approach that
focuses on experimentation and measurement, creative will soon become the
leading driver in your marketing efforts.
Sources:
2. https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/us-time-spent-with-media-2022
5Meta data, 235 Brand Lift tests Apr 2021-Apr 2022. 2) Meta
data, 14,780 A/B creative tests April 2021-April 2022.
6 https://insights.nepa.com/nepaxfacebook2022
7The value of performance branding” by Meta, Mar 2021. Research findings do not
guarantee future results.
8
Meta Q3
2022 Earnings Call
9Source: Meta data, global, July 20190September 2019, Analysis of aggregated results from 10 multi-cell brand lift studies and conversion lift studies.
Jennie White is a Client Solutions Manager on
Meta’s Automotive Digital Retail Team, where she manages digital-native
automotive brands. Jennie has worked in digital advertising for over 10
years and has specialized in creative development for social channels. Before joining Meta in 2016, Jennie worked at two of Meta’s badged business partners
in marketing and sales.