Digital Recap: How to Build Your Brand’s Holiday Spirit

Here are the latest digital marketing news and trends for the week of December 6, 2019.

3 Reasons Facebook Ads Outperform Boosted Posts

Facebook provides a few strategies for businesses to get their posts in front of their customers. One of these strategies is Boosted Posts, a relatively inexpensive ad type that appears as an organic post in a user’s Facebook News Feed. Another strategy is Facebook Ads, a more complex ad type that offers businesses a more immediate lift to their bottom line. Location3 Paid Social strategist Chris Suglia recently shared three reasons why Facebook Ads are the way to go when it comes to Facebook Advertising. Here’s an excerpt from his post:

Custom Audiences

Facebook’s most powerful and highest-converting tool is Custom Audiences. This tool is available in Facebook Ads, but it’s not an option for Boosted Posts. Custom Audiences are built by uploading a customer list or using a source on your website, such as website visitors. Website visitors and past customers are more familiar with your brand and products, making them up to 70% more likely to click on a Facebook Ad and follow through with the desired action.

Running any type of marketing campaign without using Custom Audiences is like racing without tires. All of the Interests and Page Likes your profile has earned get customers on the track, while Custom Audiences push them toward the finish line.

For more information on why you could be wasting your marketing dollars on Boosted Posts, the full post can be read here.

How to Build Your Brand’s Holiday Spirit

The holidays come with a spike in emotion, especially for holiday shoppers. That frenzied spirit can cross over into brand loyalty when a consumer feels valued by a brand. It can also cross over into brand apathy or worse when a consumer feels duped or unsatisfied with their purchase. Brands must be prepared for this high-risk, high-reward season, says Peter Minnium of Marketing Land. He details five strategies “for navigating the pitfalls and possibilities of holiday marketing.”

Holiday Heartwarmers: More than any other season, the winter holidays inspire simple, sentimental emotions. Consumers are willing to indulge these emotions, which makes it easier for brands to produce low-risk ads that target hearts over heads. The holidays are the time to showcase love, loyalty, and of course, puppies. Consumers are ready to engage with a story, and ads that move too quickly or provide too much information can be off-putting.

Showcase Your Brand’s Spin on the Holidays: Advertisers are always trying to consider the audience’s perspective, but don’t forget to share your brand’s perspective of the holidays. Minnium uses REI’s #OptOutside campaign as a leading example of this strategy. REI’s campaign encourages its audience to adventure outside on Black Friday instead of participating in the hustle and bustle of shopping malls and retail stores. Showcasing your brand’s celebration of the holidays allows consumers to identify with your message and solidifies your brand’s voice, perhaps more than any campaign of the year.

For more tips on holiday marketing, read the full post here.

Reddit Reports More Monthly Active Users Than Twitter, Pinterest

Reddit’s 2019 Year in Review reports a 30% increase in monthly active users compared to 2018, bringing its current total to more than 430 million monthly active users. That’s more than Twitter and Pinterest and reinforces Reddit’s site redesign as a success. Reddit’s report also says users are spending more time on its site and app while increasing engagement.

A more user-friendly site design along with Reddit’s increasing popularity makes it a fresh testing ground for advertisers. Reddit is an enticing environment given that it’s organized into very specific niche communities, where ad targeting could be especially effective.