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Monitoring and Optimizing Snapchat Ads

I did see good examples as well, so, if you just go into Snapchat and go to discover page and then, you just watch the stories and you will get a feeling for the good ads and the bad ads and you will start noticing. And, again, we will have a few examples of the ads that look good. At the beginning, when Snapchat launched this self-serving platform in June last year, there were a lot of bad ads. You would have those companies that are like, save money or buy something for one dollar, product samples for five dollars and, luckily, Snapchat build interest among companies that have credibility and now you can see good examples that you can follow. So, you just need to like, if you want to see more examples and more ads, go onto the Snapchat ad and start consuming content because you will be shown the ads. And Snapchat constantly learns from the user which content they interact with and if we go back to this feed, the discover feed, I can tap and hold on a particular tile and I give feedba...

ck. If I wanted to see less of that content, if I did not subscribe to this, I can provide that feedback and they will be showing me less of that. For example, if I'm not interested in basketball stories, they will not be showing me those. Or if I'm more interested in makeup and then, I tap and constantly interact with that type of content or with an ad, they will be showing me more of that. But as any company, they already have a lot of information about me just based on the information I proactively provided and by the way I interacted with the app and the content. Okay, so how do you monitor and optimize Snapchat ads? They have a really robust platform. So, do you remember how we were talking about organic accounts that you do not really have any data unless you collaborate with third party or unless you're a Snapchat creator? So, in the Snapchat ad manager, you have access to good amount of data. And what I like about Snapchat ads, and I have used Facebook and Instagram ads before, is that it's so clean, it's minimalistically designed and it focuses on what you need to see in the first place and it really walks you through. So here, it gives you a very nice, clean view of your spendings and how your campaigning is going. And then, these are the items that you need to focus on. If you tap on information icon, anywhere here, next to the items that they're showing, they will give you clues and information that you need to know about that particular parameter. So, you can see the total amount spent on the campaign to date, you can see the total amount of times your ad was shown to the audience, so those were ad impressions. Then, you can see cost per swipe up, so that's, I guess, an equivalent of cost per click. And then, you can see additional information like number of swipes, daily budget, names of your ads and then you can see campaigns, ad sets and ads. If you use an on-demand dual filter, you will also have access to some data and this is an example of the type of information you can have, so you would have, like, use rate. Like, how many people saw it, how many people actually engaged with your filter and where it happened. So, it gives really good information about that, about the metrics and also the demographics of your filter. And this is something that is in beta, so if you are a brick and mortar store, again, you can work with Snapchat directly and get information about how Snapchat ads drive traffic to your store. So, it's not available publicly but you can request this access and if you are working with Snapchat, you can get that information. Also, something I have not mentioned early is that there is Snapchat Pixel. Again, if you've ever used Facebook Pixel to track... Track the performance of your ads and performance of your customer on your website or whatever you're driving the person, so there is a Snapchat Pixel as well. It's not publicly available, it's available in beta, however, you can apply to be a part of that closed beta. So you can search for Snapchat Pixel and apply for the beta. So, now that you know how the platform works, there is the easy part, creating an ad. That's actually the most difficult part. So how do you create high-performing ads? There are three elements to it: First, is the visual, it's what the person sees. That's number one, it can be a picture, a video. We discussed different types of formats but you have to make sure that visual impression that the person connects with. The second one is sound. A lot more people on Snapchat watch snaps with the sound on. So, you can and you should be giving instructions to the people, voiceover instructions, what they should do. They should complement what you're showing. You cannot rely fully on the because some people still watch snaps without sound but the majority does it with sound, so the sound can create a particular atmosphere or, again, give guidance to what the person has to do. And then there is dynamic, movement in the app, in the ad. So, that is important because by having moving elements in your ad, you can point to your product, or you can point to the action or you can show the dynamics, you can use the dynamics of the video or of the live 3D photo to point to the right elements of your ad. So, for example, you should focus, from the very beginning on the very strong photo or video that gives the main message about what your product or service is. So, on the website, you have the main hero image on top, the same thing but it's vertical video photo that he used in the Snapchat ad. From the opening frame, meaning that it's from the beginning so, as quickly as you can, show what you have to say. Use a voiceover, call to actions to encourage swipe ups or other actions or explain why people should use your product. And then, animation, again, as we discussed, helps you point to right elements of your ad. Three to five seconds is the sweet spot. If you think about, the Snapchat ad is 10 seconds. So you really have to get the most important information within the first three to five seconds. I would even say three is probably your safe bet. Although, if it's really engaging or if you're using an interview with the user as an ad, then it's going to take longer and if you capture the attention from the beginning, then the person is going to listen to it. So, on the one hand side, you might think, okay, it's just three to five seconds, I can do it. On another hand, you really have to focus on what you want to deliver within those three to five seconds because that's very little time. And I think there's data that, when it comes to websites, it's two seconds that the person makes the decision whether to stay or your website or go and most of the visitors bounce from the website within two seconds. So, you really have to focus on telling your customers what your ad is about and what you want them to do within those three to five seconds. Ideally, three seconds. Align your creative with the content. So we had an example of a meditation app. So if you have content that serves to college students, then talk about that and then your creative, your visual should be about featuring college students. If you are promoting meditations for moms, for parents, then, you should be using moms or parents and children in the creative. It kind of sounds straightforward but a lot of people and companies forget about that. Because you can use deep links in your ads, it's really about serving the right content to the right audience. So, you can't reach teenagers and moms and people in their 40's, although they are available in the Snapchat ad, with exactly the same creative. Although they all might be within the platform. And then, as easy as it sounds, it would be nice if I could tell you use exactly this creative for exactly that audience but you have to test it and find out for yourself what works for your brand. Because the combination of the creative, whether it's video or photo or whatever, and then, the combination of the copy and call to action, it all create your own, unique ad. And you can create different ads and you can see, maybe, a simple photo will work for you with a very clear product back-shot and the swipe up call to action message, or maybe it's a video. So, you really have to go and test everything. And there are certain pieces of advice of best practices when you're creating a certain type of ad. So, remember we were talking about three core types of ads, like, one for video app install or web view, there are certain things you can do to improve the performance of those ads. So, for example, if we're talking about a long-form video, it's really about call to action and a really compelling video message because if you want the person to watch the longer video, you need to make sure that the teaser works. So you're like dive straight in and saying, this is what you're about to watch, so watch this video. If you're doing app installs, usually it works that you provide a clear call to action in terms of installing the app, but you also provide the user experience, you show what the app looks like and you tell the person why they have to download it. Again, if we're talking about mediation apps, maybe prepare for exams or become calmer or think clearer in advance of your exam and download the app. And you're showing the person in the college who is using the app and is looking happy after using the app. So you're giving a clear message to the person so that they will understand that this is for me, this is why I should do that and this is what I should do. That's for app installs. And then, for web view and, again, we will see a few examples, it's really about giving a very clear picture why they should, what's going to happen when they see the website, when they go to the website and what they're going to get from it. So those are slightly different elements of the ad but they all are, the common things are that your message should be clear, it should be concise because you don't have much time, 'cause two, three, five seconds is not a lot of time. Especially, when you have the persons attention. However, the good thing about Snapchat ad that I have not mentioned to you before is that, it covers the entire screen. So, if you compare a Snapchat ad to a Facebook ad, then you are not competing with other elements on the screen. So, for example, if Facebook is showing you an ad in the feed, you can keep scrolling. If Facebook is showing an ad in your messenger, between your messengers, you can keep ignoring it. But on Snapchat, the ad is shown to you, it takes your screen and you can only tap and fast forward and skip the ad or you can interact with the ad, so they ad has your full attention. So if you're very clear and concise and creative, then you're on good track to creating and engaging ad.