Apple Search Ads are now officially known as Apple Ads. This rebrand comes as Apple broadens its digital advertising placement options across the app store. Today, we’re talking about Apple’s new ad placements, and why brands might want to consider Apple Ads for their advertising needs.
Apple Ads’s name change reflects its expanding ad placement options. When Apple Search Ads first launched nearly a decade ago, ads were only shown as promoted search results in the App Store. Now, ads appear in one of four placement options, which are integrated throughout the App Store.
Product Pages: Ads appear at the bottom of product pages. Advertisers are able to run ads on certain app categories, ensuring that their apps are being shown to the right users.
Search Results: This is Apple’s original advertising placement option. When users search on the App Store, they are taken to a results page, where relevant ads can appear at the top of the results. Advertisers can provide a list of keywords that will help Apple match their ad to the right people based on users’ search queries.
Search Tab: When users click on the “Search” icon at the bottom of the App Store, they’ll be taken to the Search tab. Here, advertisers can place ads at the top of the page, directly below the search bar.
Today Tab: This is the first page that most users open when they begin using the App Store. Ads on this page cover most of the screen, and feature a custom product page that the advertiser sets up as the “tap destination”.
With so many other advertising platforms out there, does Apple Ads stack up to the rest? In our opinion, Apple Ads has many similar features to other major advertising platforms, along with some unique perks. Here are just a few of the highlights.
Engaging Creative: Advertisers can make creative using assets from specific product pages, and direct users to specific content using deep links.
Optimization Settings: Apple Ads has settings to optimize both spend and targeting, so advertisers can maximize their reach and results.
Personalized Suggestions: Apple Ads provides recommendations on bids, budgets, and keywords, similar to Google Ads’s Recommendations tab.
Insights: Apple’s analytics engine, known as Insights, allows advertisers to see what’s working and what’s not with performance data visualization at the highest level.
Apple Ads Basic: This feature is for advertisers who want to set their marketing goals and let Apple take it from there. Advertisers simply tell Apple their app, location targeting preferences, and monthly budget, and Apple Ads Basic automates the rest.
If you want to try Apple Ads for yourself, you can start promoting your app here. If you want to dive deeper and expand your knowledge, you can take Apple’s free, online course to become Apple Ads certified.
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Ready to get started creating Apple Ads? Our team of experts at Relevance Advisors can help you succeed. Reach out today, or sign up for our newsletter to learn about the latest marketing industry trends.
Do you advertise on LinkedIn? Do you want to drive faster results and better performance in the paid social channel? LinkedIn Accelerate is an AI-powered way to create new campaigns that can improve cost-per-action by as much as 42%. Read on to learn how LinkedIn Accelerate works, and why some advertisers are using it for their own campaigns.
In a nutshell, LinkedIn Accelerate campaigns are made with LinkedIn’s AI. Then, the user can review and adjust before launching. But how does LinkedIn tailor the ads it generates to your specific business?
After creating a new Website Visit or Lead Generation campaign, advertisers can select Accelerate and provide a URL for their business, product, or service, and the name of what they are advertising. Then, LinkedIn uses generative AI to create an ideal customer profile that it can use to adjust the campaign’s targeting and the creative. Accelerate will also recommend a budget and advertising schedule based on your account history. Users can then tweak the results by adding or removing audience signals and changing location targeting. They can also draft new ads with AI, or use their own, and adjust the budget and schedule as needed.
Finally, the campaign is launched! From here, the campaign will enter an optimization period. LinkedIn will continue to analyze performance and adjust budgets and targeting across ads and ad placements as it learns what will maximize performance. You can also make manual adjustments to the campaigns as you see fit; just note that this will restart the optimization period.
LinkedIn Accelerate has a lot of benefits for advertisers. It can help you learn more about your audience and gain insight into who is interested in your business. It can improve efficiency. And, like we mentioned before, it can greatly improve cost per action compared to classic campaigns. Because you are able to adjust ad copy, creative, and targeting before launch, it also doesn’t take away the advertisers’ control of their campaigns.
However, there are limits to Accelerate’s abilities. If your ads aren’t in English, a Classic campaign might better suit your needs. Certain objectives, budget types, and ad formats are also only available with Classic campaigns. So, if you’re looking to create a video ad or focus on Brand Awareness, you might want to stick to a regular campaign for now.
If you do use Accelerate to create a campaign, remember that the best way to ensure success with LinkedIn Accelerate is to continuously monitor performance, and make sure that your Accelerate campaigns are aligned with your business objectives.
Interested in utilizing LinkedIn Accelerate for your own business? Try A/B testing an Accelerate campaign against your Classic campaigns to see if you notice a difference in performance. You can get started by going into your Campaign Manager on LinkedIn.
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Does your business need help with paid advertising on LinkedIn? Relevance Advisors has the expertise and know-how to help you succeed. Reach out today for a free consultation.
Back in 2023, we wrote about Advantage+ audience targeting, Meta’s AI-powered way of helping businesses optimize their performance by automatically determining who should see their campaigns.
Since that blog post, Meta has introduced even more Advantage+ features to help advertisers make the most of their campaigns. Today, we’re walking through some of the new tools that Meta claims will “supercharge your campaign performance”. We’ll also talk about the pros and cons of Advantage+.
Users no longer need to choose between creating a manual or Advantage+ campaign. Instead, all app promotion, leads, and sales campaigns can utilize Advantage+ tools, while still having access to the complete suite of ad tools that Meta has available, including manual campaign features. The one exception to this is if your ads fall into a special ads category, such as Housing or Politics; these may not have full access to Advantage+ features.
Meta has expanded Advantage+ to encompass more objective types. Advantage+ leads campaigns allow advertisers to apply the automation of Advantage+ to their lead-focused campaigns.
Looking to receive additional guidance on how to improve your campaigns in order to drive performance? Meta has been testing something akin to Google Ads’s Optimization Score, which provides recommendations on how to improve results or lower cost per conversion. This Opportunity Score, which provides a score out of 100, is a feature being extended to more accounts in the coming weeks, so be on the lookout.
Meta’s Advantage+ features definitely have their benefits. They can significantly simplify certain processes, like creating a target audience for your campaign. Meta also claims that it has seen promising results when advertisers used Advantage+ features, such as a 10% lower cost per qualified lead when advertisers had Advantage+ “on” for their lead campaigns.
However, you also give up some control by implementing these automated features. If you opt into an Advantage+ audience, for instance, you have less control of who you’re showing ads to. On average, Advantage+ targeting might lead to a lower cost per result, but it’s important to determine if this type of targeting will work for your specific business, or if you would be better off using traditional forms of targeting.
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Relevance Advisors is here to help your business succeed. Interested in learning more about Meta Advantage+ features for your Paid Social ads? Contact us today for a free consultation, or sign up for our newsletter to receive marketing tips and tricks, as well as information on digital marketing trends.
Want to start paid social advertising on Meta’s platforms, but not sure where to begin? This guide will help you understand the main differences between ad types, and the most important ad specs* for your ad copy and creative. Let’s get started!
*These ad specs are adapted from Meta’s official ad guide. Recommendations may differ for other ad placements not listed here.
Use engaging static images to drive people to your website. You can use image ads on both Facebook and Instagram.
Use eye-catching videos to engage your audience. You can use these ads on both Facebook and Instagram.
Upload multiple images or videos (up to 10) that users can cycle through with carousel ads. These ads are available on both Facebook and Instagram.
A collection ad shows a cover image or video that is then followed by multiple product images. These ads are available on both Facebook and Instagram.
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Need help placing ads on Facebook or Instagram? Contact Relevance Advisors for more info.
With over 150 million American users and 1.7 billion users worldwide, there’s no doubt that the social media platform – and its short-form video format – appeals to a wide audience. You might be surprised to know, however, that TikTok is also “the preferred advertising environment for both brands and their audiences”.
Today, we’re helping businesses like yours get the most out of TikTok by showing you all the advertising tools that the app offers. After reading our guide, you’ll be ready to create and share your TikTok ads with the world!
In-Feed Ads
As users scroll their feed, they’ll occasionally be met with a short video. These videos are vertical, contain audio, and have a call-to-action at the bottom. In-Feed Ads feel native to the platform, reach users where they are, and allow businesses to get creative with their advertising and participate in viral trends. All of the ads we discuss today are essentially some flavor of In-Feed Ads; the difference lies in where they appear and the source of the content.
Pulse
Think of Pulse as prime time advertising. With it, your ads will appear next to the top 4% of trending content.
Promote
If your company creates organic content on the app, you can easily boost it using TikTok’s Promote feature.
Spark Ads
With Spark Ads, user-generated content can be turned into an advertisement. A business can promote an influencer’s TikTok that mentions them, making it a particularly engaging ad strategy for people who want a more genuine review of your brand.
Top Feed
This ad solution places your video in the first In-Feed ad slot after users open the app.
TopView
Visually, TopView ads are similar to basic In-Feed ads. The difference is that TopView allows your ad to be the first thing a user sees when they open the app.
Video Shopping Ads
This type of ad is crucial for any e-commerce business, and allows users to easily transition from your video to the checkout page.
Branded Mission
This is a three-in-one advertising solution that allows businesses to crowdsource content from TikTok creators. You can then select the most brand-relevant videos from a shortlist of the top-performing videos to be a part of your media campaign.
Creative Exchange
If you need a little help producing your video ads, you can be paired with a creative professional! You’ll be provided with end-to-end support as you develop and launch your ads.
Creator Marketplace
Looking for a creator/influencer to collaborate with? TikTok Creator Marketplace (TTCM) makes it easy. You can search for relevant content creators by things like topic, audience gender, and audience age. Once you’ve found someone, you can contact them directly through TikTok Creator Marketplace.
How to Get Started
Advertising on TikTok is easy!
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If you need help with your paid social presence on major social media platforms like TikTok, reach out to Relevance Advisors today for a consultation. Our team would love to hear from you.
For months now, Meta has been pushing automation to advertisers, like the ability to automatically “optimize” creative in order to fit different placements or increase its appeal. This and other automated features are grouped under Meta Advantage, a library of AI-powered tools meant to help advertisers, “Get the best results with fewer, more efficient campaigns,” and, “Save time and effort to free you up for strategic, big picture work”.
Now, Meta has introduced Advantage+ audience targeting for its paid social ads, another AI-powered product that is meant to help advertisers create optimized campaigns. Let’s talk about how it works, and whether it could be useful to your own business goals.
Meta claims that its ad technology “automatically finds your audience. If you share an audience suggestion, [it will] prioritize audiences matching this profile before searching more widely.”
In other words, you can simply upload your campaign, and let Meta figure out who to serve it to. Of course, you can still use Audience Controls to set crucial age, language, and location criteria. And if you would like to provide an Audience Suggestion, you can select custom audiences, detailed interest target audiences, and more to help Meta understand the kinds of users you want to reach.
Accessing Advantage+ Audience Targeting is easy. When you create a campaign, you’ll eventually reach the ad set page, where you will see that the Advantage+ audience option is already pre-selected. From there, you can follow the prompts to tailor the audience controls and suggestions to your liking.
However, if you would prefer to ensure that your ads reach a specific audience, there’s a prompt under the Advantage+ audience information that will allow you to switch to the original audience options.
The obvious answer is that this all depends on your business objective. Advantage+ audience targeting is useful when you want certain results, and you are willing to let Meta figure out which audience achieves those results. It’s a little less useful when you know a certain audience will be interested in your ads, and you want to target them directly.
There’s a fine balance, of course. Get too narrow in your targeting and you may find that you don’t generate enough leads. But get too broad, and many of those leads may not convert in the end.
It’s up to you (and/or your ad agency) to test what works for your business. We wouldn’t recommend retiring your old audiences all at once, especially if they’ve been doing well. Instead, try A/B testing different audiences alongside an Advantage+ audience, and see how the results differ.
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Relevance Advisors is here to help your business thrive. Interested in learning more about Meta Advantage, or Advantage+ Audience Targeting for your Paid Social ads? Contact us today for a free consultation, or sign up for our newsletter to receive marketing tips and tricks, as well as information on digital marketing trends. We hope to hear from you soon!
With one year of experience as a Social Media Account Manager for a digital marketing agency, I have spent a significant amount of time researching and operating on different social platforms. In today’s world, Instagram is one of the most popular places for sharing media and has become a valuable tool for businesses to connect with consumers. In this post, I will disclose 5 ways that marketers can optimize their Instagram page to accomplish their business goals.
An Instagram feed is composed of visuals that aim to capture the attention of scrolling users. One way to build brand awareness and set the tone of your business is to post high-quality content that includes high-resolution images and videos. In addition, all graphics should maintain consistent colors and fonts that are visually appealing and representative of the brand. Using your business’s logo or other unique details for distinction are an added bonus. Your profile is the consumers’ first impression of your brand, so be intentional with your content.
The caption that accompanies your visual(s) should also serve to attract users. Provide relevant information, an interesting story, or ask thought-provoking questions that elicit a response. Engaging captions can increase user interaction and facilitate discussion around your brand. You can generate leads and conversions by including a simple and specific call-to-action in your writeup. This should be a clear instruction like “visit the link in our bio” or “message us for more information.” An alluring caption that contains a distinct CTA is crucial for making your content stand out among competitors’.
Utilize relevant hashtags that relate to your brand and target audience. Select popular keywords that will increase your reach and discoverability. To accomplish this, devote time to research prominent and niche-specific hashtags. Instagram allows for thirty hashtags per post; so, a good rule of thumb is to use approximately fifteen hashtags specialized to your industry and fifteen broad terms that are currently trending. Hashtags are just as important as enticing visuals and captions, so determine a set that works best for your brand.
No one wants to see the same posts over and over again every day. Keep your content fresh and diverse by posting different formats such as photos, videos, reels, stories, and carousels. Experiment to see what your audience best responds to and what correlates the closest with your social media goals. Another way to mix up your content is to post on different days each week. Plan your content schedule a month in advance to set clear expectations and prevent creative block or other responsibilities from interfering. A mixture of content is helpful for navigating the Instagram algorithm and getting your message in front of the correct audience.
Be transparent with your audience and engage with them in a genuine manner. Share behind-the-scenes moments, glimpses of your day, and relevant stories. Followers value authenticity and are more likely to engage with a brand that feels real and easy to connect with. When they do, respond to comments, direct messages, and tagged content. A great way to boost engagement and expand your research is to post a giveaway or challenge to your followers. Build an honest relationship with your audience that promotes loyalty and encourages interaction with your page.
Good news for those who advertise on LinkedIn: LinkedIn’s new Business Manager, which was announced last month, has launched for public beta. Here’s what that means for businesses and marketing agencies that advertise on the platform.
LinkedIn Business Manager is a new platform designed to make it easier to manage ad accounts and pages from a centralized dashboard. It’s meant to be a cleaner, more organized way for B2B companies and the agencies they hire to create and execute advertising campaigns.
Unlike the old version of LinkedIn’s ads manager, which has been lamented as “unnecessarily cumbersome,” the new Business Manager makes administrative tasks and ad management easier than ever before. And, because it’s in the public beta stage, anyone and everyone can test the new platform and get brand new updates as they launch. (We’ve provided a link at the end of this article if you’re interested).
According to Search Engine Land, the platform allows advertisers to “manage teams, ad accounts, pages, and business partners,” which is especially helpful for advertising companies that manage multiple clients.
It also simplifies granting account permissions or setting up billing information. If you need to give a business partner or client access – or remove them – you can do so easily, making efficient collaboration a breeze.
Perhaps most importantly, however, users can now share Matched audiences across ad accounts. Matched audiences allow you to retarget a certain group of people, and are created by uploading customer lists or by grouping together website visitors. Now these audiences can be used in multiple accounts without needing to be recreated from scratch.
Do keep in mind that Business Manager is still technically in the beta stage. You can expect to see frequent changes and updates to the platform as LinkedIn tests new features and works to make the new ads manager as useful as possible to its users. Keep an eye on your accounts and dashboards to catch any changes.
As mentioned before, it’s a great tool for those who are advertising across multiple ad accounts or pages. However, it’s also perfect for those who manage large marketing teams or work with other agencies and need a simple way to grant and revoke access. And of course, if you’re trying to reach the same people across ad accounts, the ability to share matched audiences is immensely helpful.
If you’re interested in trying out the new business manager, you can get started here. Simply select “Create Business Manager” and follow the prompts to begin using the new ads manager today!
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Looking to start using LinkedIn to advertise your products or services? Do you already use the platform, but need help taking your advertising to the next level? Relevance Advisors is a digital marketing agency with the goal of helping B2B companies grow. Reach out to our team today to learn more.
Did you know that Facebook allows its advertisers to upload Custom Audiences? Learn what they are and how to use them below.
A Custom Audience is an ad targeting option in Facebook that is created using consumer data you already have, such as a customer list. By uploading this data, you can more accurately target the people who are likely to be interested in your product or service.
A custom audience can be built from a variety of sources, such as website traffic, Facebook engagement data, or customer lists. Facebook allows advertisers to create up to 500 Custom Audiences per ad account.
If you have a pixel on your website, you can easily create a Custom Audience based on user behavior within Facebook (more on how to do that here). If, however, you want to upload your own customer list, there are a few extra steps. Don’t worry though, it’s still incredibly easy!
First, you need to make sure that your list is in the correct format, with each column of information titled with an “identifier”. Common identifiers include names and email addresses, but there are plenty of other options as well. If formatted correctly, Facebook will be able to automatically recognize the information and what it is. If not, the advertiser may still be able to manually identify the information within Facebook after the list has been uploaded.
Once this is done, Facebook hashes the information. This is a security measure that transforms the information into randomized code via an irreversible process. This hashed data is used to find matching Facebook profiles in order to build your Custom Audience. Once the audience is created, the hashed information is deleted. Facebook claims that it does not “learn any new identifying information about your customers”.
So, you have your new Custom Audience. But what if you want to reach beyond those who have already interacted with your business in some way?
Lookalike audiences allow advertisers to reach people who are similar to their existing customers. All you have to do is select a Custom Audience, and then specify how similar you would like this new audience to be to your source audience. A smaller percentage will more closely match your source audience, while a larger percentage will provide a bigger (but broader) audience.
To create this audience, Facebook will look at things like demographics or behaviors to find people who share similar qualities with your source audience. (Note that your source audience is automatically excluded from this new lookalike audience.)
Ready to create a Custom Audience of your very own? Learn even more about the different types of audiences you can create and how to get started here.
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Want to take your paid social advertising to the next level? Relevance Advisors has the expertise and know-how to help your B2B company succeed. Reach out today to learn more about the services we offer.
What is Canva?
Canva is a unique online tool that allows people to create, download, and publish beautiful designs. Unlike many similar tools, users don’t need to know anything about editing software or even graphic design. With Canva, businesses can create professional-looking social media posts, letterheads, presentations, and other marketing materials with ease.
How Does Canva Work?
With Canva, you can either begin with a template or create a design from scratch. If you’re not sure where to start, Canva offers a vast library of examples and templates for anything from Instagram Stories to promotional posters to videos. You can search templates not only by type, but also by theme, color, and style. Whether you’re looking for a “minimalist YouTube Thumbnail” or a “colorful infographic,” Canva is sure to have what you’re looking for.
Once you’ve selected a template, you’re able to manipulate the text, pictures, and colors to your heart’s content, and you can upload your own assets as well.
How is Canva Different from InDesign?
Perhaps most importantly, Canva can be used for free, while InDesign requires a subscription. Users can choose to subscribe to Canva Pro, but there is no free option of InDesign, excluding a free trial; once that’s over, you can expect to pay at least $20.99/month.
There is a benefit to paying for InDesign, as it offers users a lot more flexibility in what they design and how. While both Canva and InDesign have expansive libraries of fonts, InDesign users can add additional third-party fonts as they please. And there are certain features, such as designing on a transparent background, that are locked to Canva’s free users.
However, InDesign’s winning versatility as a program comes at the cost of being a much more complicated interface when compared to Canva, which is made with beginners in mind. While InDesign is an industry standard for professional graphic designers, Canva is perfect for smaller businesses that need an easy way to create clean marketing materials quickly.
Is Canva Pro Worth It?
While the free version of Canva already offers users a lot of freedom in making their designs, some businesses require more, but can’t afford industry-standard products like InDesign. For these users, Canva Pro is an excellent option. At $119.99 when paid annually, or $12.99 paid monthly, it’s almost half the price of its Adobe counterpart. It’s perfect for teams that want access to additional graphics, photos, and editing tools. Plus, with Canva Pro, users can create a Brand Kit, which gives them quick access to the colors, fonts, and other brand assets that they’ll need to create their content. If these perks are important to your business, consider Canva Pro’s free trial.
What if you’re a larger business of 50 people or more? Canva now offers an Enterprise tier, which gives users all the perks of Pro, plus additional support and unlimited storage.
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Are you looking to create design content for your business? Our team at Relevance Advisors can provide you with tips and tricks to help you create content that’s engaging and sure to succeed. Reach out today to learn more!
