What’s Next in Digital Advertising

We’re told that the only constant in life is change. The same should be said about advertising. More specifically, digital advertising. Our lives are digital. Our media is digital. If you’re like most marketers, you are considering moving some, most or even all your media budget to digital.

In this section, we explore some of the latest opportunities in digital advertising. These are exciting times to be a marketer. But as always, we look to provide the logic behind the magic.

Live:

Legendary sports broadcaster Brent Musberger recently retired. His intro struck a chord in the hearts of his audience, “you’re looking live.” Musberger knew something marketers are just learning the power of today: There’s nothing quite like seeing it LIVE.

Facebook Live has already begun to change the world. Facebook users have the ability to broadcast worldwide, and in real-time. A power that once only belonged to billion dollar corporations with access to the airwaves is becoming more and more utilized by marketers looking to provide customers and prospects with a unique content experience. Facebook Live should be considered for your 2017 social media planning primarily for the following reasons:

  1. Video.
    Social media content, and all digital content for that matter is better with video. Users are demanding more video content from brands, and Facebook Live offers an opportunity for brands to branch out beyond the talking head corporate video no one wants to see.
  2. Engagement-Worthy Content.
    Social media is a two-way street. We want people to interact with our brand, which means we need to give them something worthy of that interaction. Live content shows users you care about developing content that’s worth their time.

Virtual Reality:

If you watch TV, consume content online, or are living in United States, then you’ve seen brands trying to get you to pay attention to virtual reality. From Samsung’s Gear VR campaign to Facebook’s push for more VR integration to YouTube videos of people of all ages stomping around their living rooms rocking VR goggles and playing video games, we are infatuated with virtual reality, and rightfully so.

A new report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau detailed the many advancements happening in 360 video, and goes as far to say that 2016 was the first year VR content and hardware sales cleared $1 billion. Despite the higher cost to produce 360 video, and the still unproven ROI, brands are continuing to demand creative and execution plans from their agencies.

The top three things for you to consider when looking at developing a 360 video or VR campaign in 2017:

1. First impressions are EVERYTHING. Per the IAB report, users expect to be “wowed” or “dazzled” when they take the time to consume this highly immersive content. You have to take advantage of that precious opportunity to captivate the user, while at the same time not over stimulating the user.

Nausea is a real concern with VR, so overloading the user’s sensory system could cause them to never be interested in your content again.

2. Creating a 360 degree, immersive experience is not cheap. Production and editorial costs for high-quality VR content significant. The good news: much progress is being made to make VR more affordable, thus increasing the opportunity for ROI. If you’re working with smaller budgets, and must prove immediate returns, then this medium may not be for your 2017 budget.

3. Publishers and advertisers are still learning this medium. Pre-roll, post-roll, KPI’s, guidelines, standards, formats… these are all things still being figured out.

As Andrew Scharkss of Opera Mediaworks said in the IAB report, “Our clients are just trying to wrap their heads around how VR works. Everyone’s still playing around in the sandbox and experimenting.”

VR is a great opportunity for brands to try something new, and bring a truly immersive experience to their audience. That said, this is still a very new, very fresh space to play.

Trending Social Media Ad News

  • Instagram Stories
    • Instagram is testing mid-roll video ad pop-ups in stories. This would allow marketers to serve a short video ad in the middle of a live broadcast by an Instragram user.
  • Facebook Dynamic Ads
    • Facebook dynamic ads are a product that places automated retargeting ads in the news feed of its users. In January, Facebook added further functionality by allowing targeting based on user’s interests.
  • Snapchat Sequential Video Ads
    • According to Adweek, Snapchat is now encouraging advertisers to run longer video by buying bigger packages of ads. This new offering is reportedly built to allow sequenced messaging. This allows for shorter video ads to run as a series and target users contextually.
  • Facebook gifts us with GIFS
    • Facebook is FINALLY allowing marketers to use animated GIFs in Facebook video ads. If you listen carefully you can hear community and media managers rejoicing all over the world.