Over the past few years, budget within charities’ media plans has increasingly been pushed towards the digital giant Facebook. You may have heard of it.
Facebook continues to innovate its suite of products, helping charities and NGOs get the most out of their platform through organic and paid media.
Well this trend sees no sign of slowing down, with the news that Facebook – owner of Instagram – will be releasing the donation sticker to its Instagram story placements. You may be thinking that this is nothing new and the donation sticker has been around for a long time, and you would be right. However, previously it has only been available for organic content, not paid media.
The release of the feature has come through the successful trial of the sticker across the pond. While a set date has not been confirmed by Facebook, it is likely to be rolled out any day now. This represents a timely introduction, with the traditional slowdown in the market spending during the summer period for all charities.
For those who don’t know the Facebook platform quite as well, digital marketers have the ability to select different placements across Facebook and Instagram. This is across Inbox, Audience Network, In-Feed videos, Stories and the most popular placement, the feed.
Clients have often been cautious about selecting the full suite of placements, and rightly so. You may think that including placements would be the logical option, however there is a difference in conversion rate across the placements. Facebook and Instagram feeds are by far the most desired, with 100% viewability and a strong conversion rate, leading to lower CPAs.
The introduction of Stories represents a brilliant opportunity to turn a brand-focused placement into a direct response one. The nature of the placement with people flicking through has not shown a conversion rate as strong as that of the feed. The inclusion of the sticker with a shorter conversion journey – whereby users will not need to leave the story to donate – will invariably increase conversion rate and lower CPAs.
So what are the considerations that digital marketers must now consider with the release?
Creative consideration is a must. Facebook’s creative solutions within the platform have come on a long way in the last year. Advertisers now have the ability to customise the creative by placement: a one-size-fits-all approach would be naive. Creative adjustments must be made, the last thing you need is to take existing assets and just place the donation sticker in the creative, making the ads look messy. The use of overlays will be a quick solution, placing the sticker within. Creative agencies will be licking their lips with the commission of more assets, but it will likely be worth the investment in the long run.
Furthermore is the potential of increased CPMs (or CPTs for those less digitally inclined) – this is the cost of reaching one thousand people. All inventory across Facebook and Instagram is awarded to advertisers via a programmatic auction. Think of David Dickenson’s Real Deal for Facebook and Instagram advertising space. With the likely increase in conversion rate, charities will be flocking to buy the placements.
Brands who are interested in this opportunity should be working now to get first-mover advantage. I would advise them to get the backend set up done as soon possible to get ahead of the preverbal black-Friday rush that will happen in the auction: the sooner it is done the sooner media agencies can start trading on it and delivering results.
At The Kite Factory we are excited to say that we have managed to get all our UK based charities onto this Beta testing and look forward to seeing the positive results. If any marketers are interested to know more about what we have discovered during testing, please do get in touch.
By Ed Clarke, Senior Digital Executive