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How Vox’s Facebook-First Gadget Blog Plans To Earn Revenue

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Lab Team

What Happened
On Monday, Vox Media launched a new consumer gadget blog called Circuit Breaker that will be primarily publishing its content on Facebook, making use of the social network’s publishing program Instant Articles and Live video feature to reach its massive audience. Besides the revenue the site can generate from ads in Instant Articles, Vox is also planning to offer brands editorial sponsorships and possible product placement in Facebook live-streams to help monetize the new content vertical.

Why Brands Should Care
Facebook commands a formidable amount of consumer attention as the app that U.S. mobile users spend the most time in. So it makes sense for Vox to experiment with the new site’s content distribution on Facebook’s platform. The plan it has for generating revenue beyond standard display ads in Instant Articles is illustrative of the new reality in brand advertising today, where marketers have to keep up with increasingly tech-savvy and ad-shunning consumers and figure out new ways to reach them, such as native ads and sponsored content.

For more information on why brands should explore new advertising formats, check out the Ad Avoidance section in our Outlook 2016.

Source: AdAge

Facebook Partners With Three Third-Party Firms To Improve Its Ad Metrics

Posted on April 20, 2016 by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook is expanding its third-party verification program to incorporate ad metrics from Nielsen, comScore, and Integral Ad Science into its ad platform to improve Its ad measurement and viewability transparency. Now brands advertising on Facebook can choose from these well-known audience measurement firms when they want an outside perspective to measure the effectiveness of ads on the social network. The integration of Nielsen metrics, for example, will allow brand marketers to buy video ads on Facebook similarly to the way they buy traditional TV ads and use Nielsen’s day-parting and DMA targeting tools,

What Brands Need To Do
This move from Facebook echoes with Snapchat’s decisions earlier this year to partner with Nielsen and comScore to improve its ad measurement and appeal to brand advertisers. As the social and messaging platforms continue to improve their video ad products, making it easier for advertisers to transition from buying TV ads to video ads on digital channels, brands should also consider reevaluating their media mix and reallocating the video ad spending accordingly.

Source: AdWeek

Fast Forward: What Marketers Need To Know About Facebook’s F8 Event

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Lab Team

Your guide to tech-driven changes in the media landscape by IPG Media Lab. A fast read for you and a forward for your clients and team.

• Facebook launched Messenger Platform to help brands to communicate with users
• Live Video with API strengthens video and video ads on Facebook
• New tools for app owners and VR content creators

What Facebook Announced
At its annual developer conference on Wednesday, Facebook discussed their ten-year roadmap and introduced a number of new features to improve its platform and make it easier for brands to connect with Facebook users. Following Microsoft’s launch of a bot framework two weeks ago, Facebook is introducing chat bots and developer tools to its messaging app with the debut of Messenger Platform. During his opening keynote, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg demoed chat bots from CNN and 1-800-Flowers to showcase how chat bots can help publishers and businesses communicate with users on Messenger. While there will not be a curated bot store, the Messenger team does promise to help with discovery, mostly via search.

Facebook also introduced a Live API so that developers can live stream video to Facebook from any app or device. The new API should vastly expand the reach of Facebook’s Live video broadcasts as it allows lots of new broadcasting methods, like the use of multiple cameras, drones, and new devices. This is in sharp contrast to Facebook’s biggest live-stream competitor, Twitter’s Periscope, which requires streaming from a single smartphone. Therefore, FB Live can scale from a front-facing smartphone camera through TV production quality equipment and has already shown it can draw audiences that rival cable TV with the right content.

Moreover, Facebook is diving deeper into virtual reality with an open-source Surround 360 camera rig to help professional content creators capture 360-degree video with minimal post-processing. It is also looking to ship the Touch controllers for Oculus VR later this year to add interactivity to virtual reality. Zuckerberg also teased some multiplayer features that Facebook is working on to make virtual reality a more social experience.

Facebook continues to build out its ecosystem with to two new tools: Account Kit and a new “Save to Facebook” button. With Account Kit, developers can streamline account signup and login, extending the popular “Login with Facebook” feature to users without Facebook accounts. Facebook is also expanding the four-year-old “Save for Later” feature with a new “Save to Facebook” button, which enables users to save content from third-party sites to read or watch later in the Saved tab Facebook.

Facebook also shared some interesting stats on its fast-loading Instant Articles program. Since launch, Facebook says posts in Instant Articles have logged 20% more opens and a 70% lower abandonment rate than other content. They also report an average of 30 seconds of engagement on Canvas Ads.

What Brands Need To Do

• Develop useful bots to reach customers on the messaging apps they’re already using
• Take advantage of the emerging popularity of live streaming to connect with consumers in real time
• Start producing branded VR and 360 video content to immersively engage consumers

As Messenger hits 900 million monthly users, there is no denying that it is important for brands to be present on Facebook’s messaging platform to connect with those users. With the launch of Messenger Platform, Facebook is making it possible for brands to build bots to communicate and serve customers directly on Messenger. For example, Facebook showcased a shopping assistant bot from Spring, which suggests appropriate items for shoppers to purchase directly on Messenger. Facebook’s demo shows that chat bots can be trained with basic responses on a web interface with no code while more in-depth responses require custom development, aided by Facebook’s new Bot Engine tools. Particularly interesting here is the Customer Matching feature, which allows brands to sync up customer profiles and conversations across Messenger and SMS.

With the Live API, Facebook is making it easier for brands and developers to integrate its relatively new live-streaming feature into their apps, platforms, and even devices. As we noted recently, live-streaming video is starting to blow up thanks to Facebook. Live video content lends an authentic touch to brands, which millennials seem to embrace. For brands looking to experiment with live-streaming, they should be prepared on the technical front to ensure a smooth broadcast, but also willing to roll with the punches and embrace the unexpected.

As Facebook makes a strong push for VR and 360-degree videos, brands would be smart to seize the opportunity and work closely with content creators to craft interactive VR experiences to intrigue and engage consumers. The new Facebook Surround 360 camera should be a great tool for brands to produce 360-degree content, and the coming interactive and social features should help make virtual reality a more powerful tool for brands to create immersive branded content to engage their audiences with.

How We Can Help
The Lab is actively producing 360 content, chat bots, and live social video products for our clients. Please contact Client Services Director Samantha Holland ([email protected]) if you would like more detail or to schedule a visit to the Lab to discuss how your brand can better serve your customers with these emerging platforms.

For previous editions of Fast Forward, please visit ipglab.com. Please reply with any constructive criticism or feedback. We want these to be as useful as possible for you and your clients, and your input will help us immensely.

All pictures featured courtesy of the F8 Livestream

Live-Streaming Video Starts To Explode

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Lab Team

What Happened
As Facebook makes a strong push for media owners to use its Live Video feature to broadcast on its platform, live-streaming is quickly moving up on the priority lists of publishers and content creators. Last Friday, BuzzFeed scored almost three million viewers on Facebook with its live-stream of a simplistic-yet-captivating experiment of putting rubber bands on a watermelon until it burst from the tightening force. The end result was a glorious watermelon explosion as well as a victory for Buzzfeed as the live stream attracted 808,000 concurrent viewers at its peak and 2.8 million viewers overall.

In related news, Al Roker, famed TV personality and host of NBC’s Today, has launched a digital video network that produces content for live-streaming platforms, including Facebook, Twitter’s Periscope, YouTube, and YouNow. Roker is no stranger to live-streaming as he hosted a live cooking series on Meerkat last year.

What Brands Need To Do
As an emerging medium, live-streaming has been gaining momentum recently and increasingly drawing mainstream audiences. Last week, Periscope hit a milestone of 200 million live broadcasts since its launch one year ago. Facebook’s Live Video feature officially rolled out to all users in early February. Some early-adopting brands such as GE and Calvin Klein have followed the eyeballs and started live-streaming on those platforms. For brands seeking to engage with online audiences in real time, Buzzfeed’s fun experiment provides a good example in how brands can use simple, creative premises to devise compelling, suspenseful content that captures consumer attention.

Check back later this week for our coverage of Facebook’s annual F8 developer conference, where Live Video will most likely be one of the products that Facebook highlights.

Source: The Verge and Variety

Header image courtesy of BuzzFeed’s Facebook Video

Publishers Can Now Publish Branded Content On Facebook

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Lab Team

What Happened
If you get your news from Facebook, you are about to see a lot more brand-sponsored content. On Friday, Facebook announced it is loosening its rules on branded content, allowing publishers to post branded content in all formats, including video, as long as media companies and marketers go through a simple verification process. Previously, publishers were technically prohibited from posting advertorial content as organic posts on Facebook unless they are part of a paid ad placement, despite some publishers’ attempts to sneak them through.

The announcement comes at a time when publishers are increasingly turning to branded content to supplement ad revenues. For example, earlier this week, The Economist started pitching brand advertisers sponsored mini-documentaries as a new ad unit for brands to attach themselves to the social and environmental causes they care about.

What Brands Need To Do
Facebook recently reported that 83% of the ads running on its Audience Network are now native ads. We expect more to pop up now that Facebook has opened the gates for branded content. With consumers continuing to shun away from traditional ads, it is important for brands and media owners to try engaging with their audience in new ways, such as branded content and native ads.

For more information on how brands should leverage interesting branded content to earn consumer eyeballs, check out the Ad Avoidance section of our Outlook 2016.

For more updates on Facebook, Remember to check back next week to read our in-depth take on Facebook’s annual F8 developer conference.

Source: WSj

Facebook Keeps Focus On Video With New Search Engine

Posted on April 8, 2016 by Lab Team

What Happened
Following the launch of a dedicated live video discovery hub on its mobile app on Wednesday, Facebook continues to build out its video products with the addition of a video search engine. In addition, users will now also see Live Videos under the Trends panel in search. Over the last few months, Facebook has been suggesting that content creators tag their videos with keywords in preparation for this new feature.

What Brands Need To Do
Digital video ad spend in the US is on the rise, with eMarketer expecting it to reach $9.84 billion and represent 19.6 percent of total digital ad spending this year and reach $16.69 billion by 2020. By integrating video search into the search bar, Facebook is making it easier for users to discover and consume original video content on its platform, which can also help brands get more eyeballs on their pre-roll ads or branded videos. As Facebook continues to improve its video ad products, brand advertisers should also consider reevaluating their media mix and reallocating the video ad spending.

Remember to check back next week for our coverage of Facebook’s annual F8 developer conference for updates.

Source: TechCrunch

Header image courtesy of Facebook Newsroom

Facebook Debuts Scannable Messenger Codes For Brands

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Lab Team

What Happened
On Thursday, Facebook debuted two new tools that can encourage more users to communicate with brands in its Messenger app. With the new scannable Messenger Codes, brands will be able to generate a two-dimensional barcode that users can scan with their smartphone cameras to start chatting with brands on Messenger. In addition to Messenger Codes, Facebook also introduced customizable short URLs called Messenger Links that, upon clicking, can redirect users to brand accounts in the Messenger app. Earlier this week, Facebook started showing “Suggested Businesses” in its Messenger app’s search page to facilitate discovery on that platform.

What Brands Need To Do
Scannable codes have long been a staple discovery tool on other messaging apps such as Snapchat or China’s WeChat. In fact, Snapchat’s customizable SnapCode is so popular that Burberry even started putting it on tags on some of their retail items to encourage shoppers to follow their Snapchat channel. As Facebook continues to make its messaging platform more business-friendly, brands should learn to use all the new tools available to make it easier for customers to find them and start a conversation.

To learn more about how brands can navigate the unique challenges that messaging apps present, check out the Conversational Interfaces section in our Outlook 2016.

Source: TechCrunch

Header image courtesy of Facebook for Business

Facebook Accelerates Live Video Push With New Features

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook continues to build out Live Video as it adds a variety of new features to its live-streaming product today and boosts their positioning in the News Feed. Users will now be able to discover public live-streams via a dedicated Live Video tab on their mobile app, taking the prominent spot where Messenger used to be. Other new features include live Reactions, filters, and the ability to post live videos to private groups, allowing for more interactions and customizations on the live-streams. In order to attract more content creators to its live-streaming platform, Facebook is reportedly paying publishers to post a certain number of live videos each month.

What Brands Need To Do
Even though Facebook’s Live Video does not currently carry ads, some early adopting brands, such as GE, are already using it to broadcast sponsored events or branded content. The new additions of customization and discovery features should help attract more users and content creators to Live Video, giving Facebook a considerable boost over other live-streaming platforms such as YouNow and Twitter’s Periscope. For brands wishing to connect with audiences in real time, it is time to try Facebook’s Live Video.

To read more on how brands can reach the fragmented audiences on streaming platforms, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

Source: Facebook Newsroom

Header image courtesy of Facebook Newsroom

TubeMogul To Help Brands Extend TV Audience Targeting To Social Media

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Lab Team

What Happened
Using Facebook’s API and TV viewer data from Nielsen, TubeMogul’s programmatic platform now allows brand advertisers to buy targeted video ads on Facebook and Instagram that reach the same kind of audiences they’re targeting on TV. Brands including Expedia, Lenovo Australia, and Kraft ran campaigns in TubeMogul’s closed beta test with positive results. Brands will be able to measure campaign results with metrics such as likes, comments, shares, video completion rates, purchase intent, and sentiment.

What Brands Need To Do
As live TV viewership continues to be eroded by the large amount of content now available on digital video and social channels, it is getting increasingly difficult for brands to reach most of their target audience with TV ads alone. In this regard, this new targeting capability from TubeMogul can be of great help for brands to extend their TV ad’s reach to find their target audiences on Facebook and Instagram.

Source: AdWeek

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