Facebook

This is a guest post by Resolution Media Director of Client Strategy and Development George Manas. Marketers seeking better ways to reduce waste, influence buying behavior and strengthen brand equity are likely to embrace Facebook Partner Categories. Launched on April 10, this new self-service capability puts a rich array of data-driven targeting segments at advertisers’ fingertips, helping increase the precision, relevance and effectiveness of their Facebook campaigns. Partner Categories uniquely combines data describing both the online and offline purchasing behavior of consumers in more than 500 segments and relies on data from third-party firms Datalogix, Acxiom and Epsilon. Marketers of all sizes can benefit from Partner Categories’ easy access and no-minimum-spend requirement. The new service is the latest in a series of targeting enhancements introduced by Facebook to improve advertisers’ results. Partner Categories likely will attract as many or more advertisers as has Facebook’s recently launched Custom Audiences program, which provides the ability to import customer data to improve targeting. Partner Categories integrates with other targeting options within Power Editor (Facebook’s advanced self-serve platform) and is available through select paid media APIs. U.S.-based advertisers can begin using Partner Categories immediately, while advertisers based in other countries must be white-listed to use the service and may only target U.S. consumers at this time. Although we see almost daily examples of new technology empowering the consumer’s evolution, it’s important to also acknowledge the vital impact of new advertiser services like Partner Categories, which keep marketers ahead of the curve. Making It Work Advertisers can leverage Partner Categories in designing Facebook buys through the Power Editor interface, selecting specific consumer segments much as they would select Facebook’s native targeting segments like Age, Gender, Broad and Precise Interests, and so forth. As with other Facebook targeting services, the advertiser only sees the size of the audience and receives no information about individuals included in a category. To further refine targeted buying, advertisers may combine Partner Categories with native Facebook targeting filters, Custom Audiences and Lookalike Audience options. For example, an advertiser might target female yogurt buyers under age 35 by layering gender and age parameters to the “Yogurt Buyer” Partner Category segment. The ability to combine both native and third-party data gives greater depth and precision to the Facebook buy. Partner Categories delivers three key benefits to marketers. First, it minimizes wasted spending by more precisely reaching and engaging the consumers that matter most to them, boosting cost efficiency and effectiveness. Second, the service enables advertisers to influence buying behavior by delivering brand messages and incentives to consumers who are category buyers or in market for specific products. As such, Partner Categories can help drive purchases or influence purchase decisions. Third, Partner Categories can build brand equity by providing advertisers with additional opportunities to drive visibility of their brands and branded content to core consumer segments at scale. Combined with Facebook’s self-serve targeting flexibility, Partner Categories enables advertisers to boost brand relevancy by delivering messages tailored to the precise purchasing behaviors of specific consumer segments. Facebook’s Partner Categories demonstrates Facebook’s commitment to helping marketers better reach and engage the consumers who are most important to them. Advertisers can expect Partner Categories to help drive sales, build brand health, and ultimately achieve better ROI and more effective media buying. George Manas is Director of Client Strategy and Development at Omnicom Media Group’s Resolution Media. Specializing in Search and Social Media, George helps some of t

A few high-profile executives sold some of their Facebook stock Thursday. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show that Facebook Chief Technology Officer Michael Schroepfer, Chief Accounting Officer Jas Athwal, Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman, and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg all cashed in some Facebook stock. continued… New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Facebook has created a new way for businesses and developers to target ads to users who have taken an action on Facebook or in an app within a more specific time range. Using the “action spec” targeting capability, which allows advertisers to reach users by the actions they take in Open Graph apps and on Facebook directly, an advertiser could designate a time range shorter than 14 days. The default is still 14 days, but previously there was no option to set a shorter window. This change gives advertisers more accuracy in reaching the most relevant users for a particular message. For instance, a local business might want to reach users who checked into their store within the past week. A developer might want to target users who installed their app in the past three days. A page owner might want to retarget users who viewed one of their page tabs the day before. Action spec targeting is still a beta feature limited to advertisers working with Preferred Marketing Developers with the Ads API, so it isn’t widely known or understood. However, the feature offers developers unique opportunities to reach users who have taken specific in-app actions, including in their competitor’s apps. It also gives brands ways to segment and target their fans by the actions they take on their page or a competitor’s page. Action spec targeting is also interesting in that advertisers can define a “negative action spec,” meaning users who have not taken a particular action. For example, a developer could reach users who have played a game, but not made an in-app purchase in the last 10 days. Advertisers can also reach friends of users who have taken a particular action. More technical information about action spec targeting, including targeting by app activity in a time range is available here. A list of Facebook actions that advertisers can target against using action specs is available here. Businesses that are interested in this type of targeting should seek out an ads-qualified PMD.

A recent update to Pages Manager for iOS has returned detailed post insights to the product after a version earlier this month was released without them. Facebook released version 2.0 of its Pages Manager app for iOS in early May to make the app faster and include new features like photo filters. However, it did not include the same level of per-post analytics as previous versions. Page owners could see how many people they reached but when they tapped the area that used to lead to more information, they were instead directed to a screen where they could buy Promoted Posts. Now, the additional metrics have been brought back. Users can tap the “reach” metric to be taken to a new screen with an additional breakdown of how much of that reach was organic, paid or viral. They can swipe left to see details about engaged users, post clicks, link clicks and stories created. Another swipe will present People Talking About This, likes, comments and shares for the given post. Page owners can still promote their posts from the app by tapping the “promote” button. Another feature that Facebook removed from Pages Manager a few weeks ago, but hasn’t brought back yet is the option to create an Offer post. Admins have to create those from Facebook.com. Facebook also made some bug fixes and performance updates in the latest version of Pages Manager released this week.

Digital promotions platform Ifeelgoods today announced that it has been named a Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer with an Apps badge. The company offers customizable white-labeled Facebook apps that deliver digital rewards to customers. For example, a retailer could incentivize people to make a large purchase by giving them a $10 iTunes gift card in return. After the user completes a transaction, the Ifeelgoods integration will allow him or her to connect with Facebook and claim the gift card. Users will also be prompted to share back to Facebook or on Twitter. Ifeelgoods says 60 percent of customers do this. In addition to digital gift cards, rewards can be air miles, e-magazines, mobile apps or other digital goods from more than 200 rewards providers. Ifeelgoods aims to personalize rewards and gather additional consumer insights by using social data from Facebook and transactional data from the client. The platform will also help businesses test and understand which rewards are performing best so that clients can optimize for both ad cost and cost of rewards. Ifeelgoods has a unique history with Facebook compared to other PMD companies. Ifeelgoods used to help retailers give away Facebook Credits as rewards, starting in 2010. These “microincentives” became popular within games on Facebook.com. Some businesses also used them as rewards for Liking their Facebook page or taking some other social action. However, in 2012, Facebook moved away from offering its own virtual currency in favor of a payments platform that uses local currency. Ifeelgoods continued its business with other digital rewards and has since added other products to its promotions platform. Cofounder and VP of Business Development Suchit Dash says it was Facebook that encouraged the company to apply to the PMD program and formalize their post-Credits relationship. In March, Facebook updated its requirements for PMDs, with a new focus on a developer’s ability to advise marketers on ad spend, even if they’re primarily focused on an area like apps or insights. Ifeelgoods fits right into this with consumers typically reaching its apps through ads in the News Feed, Facebook sidebar or other platforms. The company has also begun partnering with Ads PMDs to connect its clients with Facebook ad providers. Ifeelgoods has run promotions for over 150 clients, including Walmart, Coca-Cola, Universal Pictures, GAP, Paypal, Kimberly-Clark and L’Oreal.

Facebook is continuing its push to get users to buy Gifts — even after birthdays have passed. Some users have started to see, when they click on their birthday notification, prompts to buy a Gift for users who have already had their birthdays. Facebook also lets users know who has birthdays coming up, so they can schedule a Gift. continued… New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Facebook’s Preferred Marketing Developer program welcomed a new member in its applications category: digital promotions platform Ifeelgoods. continued… New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

This may not be what anti-advertising Facebook users want to read, but Head of Measurement and Insights Brad Smallwood believes the social network has plenty of room for more ads. continued… New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

People are increasingly engaging with Facebook-connected applications such as Pandora, Nike+, and Endomondo. They want to be able to tell more stories using these apps, but they also desire more control over how the apps post to Facebook and what information is accessed. On the eve of the Facebook platform’s sixth anniversary, the company discussed how it has brought third-party developers into the fold and what’s next for Facebook-connected apps. continued… New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

When does a “spontaneous” one-day holiday to Warsaw, Poland, turn into a meeting with the country’s minister for administrative affairs and digitization? When you happen to be Facebook Co-Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. continued… New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.