Tuesday, April 8, 2014

3 verticals poised for breakout success in Facebook advertising

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Over the last five years, a number of industries and consumer verticals have found success with Facebook advertising. From home services to mobile app downloads and consumer finance, many direct-response advertisers have achieved significant returns from their Facebook ad campaigns.


Several consumer verticals are on the cusp of breakout success with Facebook advertising. They have been given a shot in the arm by Facebook in recent months with the social network’s addition of several new performance-oriented ad solutions. Those solutions are helping turn Facebook into a hybrid engagement plus performance ad solution.


Retail, online gambling and automotive are all poised for breakout success in Facebook advertising. Let’s take a closer look at each and some of the new ad solutions Facebook provides companies in these verticals.



Retail
Traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers aren’t what first comes to mind when one thinks of innovative new uses for Facebook advertisers. Recent developments in Facebook’s ad platform have given these companies a big boost when it comes to their digital customer-acquisition needs. Late last year, Facebook released an update to its Custom Audiences tool that allows advertisers to measure offline sales. Bricks-and-mortar retailers now have the ability to overlay in-store customer sales data onto their Facebook data to show what actions a consumer may have taken based on viewing the retailer’s ad on Facebook.


Online Gambling
The online gambling industry is rapidly evolving, especially in the United States. Already well-established in the United Kingdom and Asia, online gambling is starting to gain a foothold in digital ad spend as more states enact laws allowing some form of it within their jurisdictions. Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey have passed legislation to allow some forms of commercial online gambling, with several other states considering enacting similar laws. Facebook has been paying attention to the boon in online gambling ad spend. While its ad solutions for online gambling come with a number of restrictions, it likely won’t be long before online gambling ads on Facebook have the same level of targeting and performance-driven capabilities as standard Facebook ad placements.


As more states legalize online gambling, look for Facebook to continue to bring more advanced, performance-oriented ad solutions to casino and games marketers.


Automotive
Facebook has opened an automotive client support team in its Detroit office and is actively hiring senior marketing executives to provide advertising support to Fortune 500 companies that focus on the automotive market, according to a recent job posting from the company. As more and more consumers make their automotive purchasing decisions — and even buy new cars — online, auto dealers and companies that work with them will increasingly be in need of sophisticated ways to engage, acquire and retain those consumers via Facebook. While not likely to be a major force any time soon in Facebook advertising, the fact that Facebook is has created a team to support advertisers in this industry is a sign of the automotive sector’s ad spend potential.


As I wrote recently on Inside Facebook, Facebook advertising has changed dramatically in just the last five years. What was once almost purely an engagement and branding platform for companies has become a viable direct sales channel. As the above three breakout consumer verticals show, Facebook’s performance-based advertising solutions now enable advertisers to drive sales.


David Serfaty is Director of Social Advertising at Matomy Media Group, a global digital performance-based marketing company. He can be reached at david.s@matomy.com.


Image courtesy of Shutterstock.


Source: Inside Facebook



3 verticals poised for breakout success in Facebook advertising

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