How to get the most out of Facebook and Instagram video advertising

Advertising on social video platforms has never been more sophisticated. Marketers have a host of unique targeting options available to them on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and almost limitless potential to reach and engage their audience precisely and at scale. Though the platforms are increasingly mirroring each other’s product features, there are differences between each walled garden’s targeting capabilities, and marketers must understand them to tap into each platform’s strengths.

While these walled gardens may build their walls high, marketers should approach them holistically rather than in silos, and develop a video ad strategy that allocates dollars toward the platform(s) that will best fit their advertising objectives.

We previously examined the strengths of video advertising on Twitter, but Facebook and Instagram — both recent arrivals on the video advertising scene relative to YouTube — make a strong case for reaching and engaging precise audiences through targeting by lower funnel objectives and advanced geotargeting.

Here’s a look at how to get the most out of advertising across Facebook and Instagram:

Targeting by Objective

Facebook and Instagram’s advertising advantage lies in targeting by lower funnel objectives. Many advertisers are buying on a views objective — and buying 3-second views at that — but these marketers are missing an opportunity to engage their audience through clicks or other objectives that are further down the sales funnel.

When an advertiser runs a clicks or conversions campaign, Facebook automatically optimizes the campaign to reach users that are likely to perform the desired action, based on their past behavior. For example, if the goal of a video ad campaign is to drive app installs, Facebook will more often serve the video ad to users that tend to install apps based on Facebook advertising. Facebook and Instagram offer advertisers a suite of objectives to boost audience engagement and customer acquisition, including page Likes, online purchases, and in-store visits.

Advertisers may balk at the higher cost of targeting by engagement objectives compared to targeting by 3-second views or impressions. But advertisers should embrace the full suite of tools available to them, and align their Facebook targeting to their business goals to maximize the impact of their ad dollars.

Go Granular & Leverage Advanced Geotargeting

Facebook offers marketers highly granular personal data to target against, from job titles and employers, to interests and behaviors. And depending on an advertiser’s objectives, geotargeting could help drive reach and engagement among a specific subset. Facebook’s robust personal data allows advertisers to not only reach audiences based on where they live or where they are, but also allows advertisers to target users that recently visited a specific location, or are currently traveling through a given location. For example, travel marketers can leverage Facebook’s advanced geotargeting options to not only reach users that are currently on vacation, but also reach users that recently vacationed, encouraging them to book another trip through special offers.

Don’t Ignore Your Video Tab

Advertisers shouldn’t forget about their Facebook or Instagram profiles when running paid media. Similar to YouTube, playlists, video titles, and other metadata should be optimized on Facebook to drive search discoverability and organic video performance. When a viewer clicks through to an advertiser’s Facebook or Instagram page, they’re looking for more engaging video content. Many advertisers tend to neglect the video channel tab on their brand’s Facebook profile, but presenting a compelling, organized channel is key to driving continued audience engagement.

By leveraging Facebook and Instagram’s advertising advantage through granular targeting by lower funnel objectives, and re-engaging audiences through optimized video channels, advertisers will be able to make a tremendous impact among the audiences that matter most to them.

Contact us today if you’d like to learn more about how Pixability’s technology can help your clients take advantage of the strengths of each social video platform.