Chris Simpson, our Digital Performance Director, gives his us top tips for cyber weekend success across Facebook and Instagram.
1. Peak sales, peak competition
We benchmarked a range of retail clients – the cost of each Facebook or Instagram ad impression jumps by at least 20% from October to November. Conversion also improved but by a more modest 7%.
2. You have to work harder…
Your ads have to work harder at this time both to cut through the increased noise from competing offers and to offset the higher cost of each impression.
3. Images beat text
70% of people only look at the image/video part of the ad and ignore the copy around it. Be sure to land your message through use of copy in the image or video. It’s worth noting that video doesn’t have the same restrictions on how much text you can show so video can be a stronger way to land your promo message. Instagram stories are brilliant for this.
4. Give them what they want
At any given time, Facebook wants to give users what they are looking for. The auction always favours brands whose objectives align with their users. As Black Friday approaches, it knows people are looking to get a deal and buy so it will lean towards advertisers who serve strong offers to receptive audiences. This is not the best time to introduce yourself to completely cold audiences because the risk is that your ad won’t even be seen by your best prospects. Instead, it’s a good idea to build into peak, front loading the acquisition activity during October so that you can maximise remarketing audiences during Black Friday week. This way, you will be sure to get your offer in front of receptive buyers during the critical week and push out any brands that were late to the party. You also build your acquisition audiences when the ads are cheaper.
Actually, this approach plays to consumer behaviour too. Facebook analysis suggests that people start the shopping process earlier than you’d expect, and particularly mobile-first shoppers. 60% of the season’s purchases happen before Black Friday.