Facebook Video Ads Are Reportedly Delayed Until Fall

While Facebook is making some much-needed updates to its advertising products, the company has reportedly pushed back the introduction of video ads in its News Feed until fall.

Introduced last December, the video ads are expected to be 15 seconds long and will play automatically without sound, which means they will start playing as soon as the page is opened. Originally slated for spring and then summer, a “source familiar with the product” is saying video ads are now being delayed another season.

According to AdAge, the reason for the delay is that there are new features Facebook wants to release at the same time as video ads which require more software development. However, sales executives for the social network would like to get the long-awaited product into market, as is, adding the new features later.

Although the format has yet to be finalized, it was reported earlier this year that Facebook plans to sell four ad spots per day with an asking price of $1 million. AdAge sources said the company could gain $1 million for the ad with a specific demographic and $2.4 million for a video ad that would be pushed out to all U.S. members.

As network members become more weary of advertising in the News Feed, the company will have to continue changing how it reaches consumers. Taking a bit more time to get video ads right might not be such a bad thing if it means better reach, and ultimately more sales, for your brand.

[Via: Inside Facebook, Image credit: Salim Fadhley]

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Are Brands Growing Faster on Twitter Than Facebook?

According to a new study from Optimal, Twitter brings a smaller but more active audience to brands than Facebook does.

The social advertising and analytics startup looked at data from 4,330 brands, representing a total of 3.49 billion Facebook Likes and 595 million Twitter followers. Last week, those brands added 18.5 million new Likes and 4.5 million new followers. Based on percentage, the average following grew 55 percent faster on Twitter than Facebook.

Notable brands growing fast on Twitter include Skype, Xbox, and Pepsi. One exception is Facebook-owned Instagram. Although the photo app has five times as many Twitter followers as it does Facebook Likes, it increased its fan count 257 percent more quickly on Facebook than on Twitter.

Optimal also broke down the data by industry. Data revealed that most categories are quickly acquiring more followers on Twitter, with Computer Hardware, Softdrinks, and Entertainment Venues leading the way. Only four categories (Books and Magazines, Newspapers, Music and Entertainment Sites/Apps, and Environmental Civic & Social Organizations) showed faster fan growth on Facebook.

While impressive, Twitter’s growth rate won’t surpass that of Facebook — at least not right away — due to the latter’s size. What’s important about this data is that it’s a clear indication that Twitter has become an important channel for many brands to reach fans.

“I think it does show that Twitter is growing and becoming more relevant for brands, too — in a sense ‘catching up’, but also it is different as well,” stated Optimal CEO Rob Leathern. “A smaller but often more active audience.”

That doesn’t mean brands should focus on only one or the other. Balancing your time between social networks should depend on the type of content you’re sharing, and more importantly, where your audience is. If a fashion brand is trying to reach females between the ages of 18 and 35, you might see more growth on Pinterest than Twitter and Facebook combined.

[Via: TechCrunch, Image credit: Timothy J Carroll]

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Use Yelp’s Call to Action Feature to Convert Sales

Today Yelp introduced a new feature for business owners, designed to increase conversions and sales. According to the company, consumers visit the website ready to make a spending decision. The new feature will help to “close the loop” between discovering your business on Yelp and making a purchase.

The company’s new Call to Action feature will allow you to promote a desired transaction directly on your Yelp business listing — whether it’s scheduling an appointment, printing a coupon, buying tickets, or any other action you might want to promote. This feature will take consumers seamlessly from your Yelp listing to your website to complete the transaction.

Take Ticketmaster for example. The e-commerce company was one of the first to test out Yelp’s Call to Action feature when it added the button to more than 2,000 of its live entertainment venues across the U.S. and Canada. Now when consumers visit one of those listings, they’re taken directly to Ticketmaster to purchase tickets.

“Yelp is a great platform that many of our clients use to help their fans discover and gather information about live events,” stated Ticketmaster’s President of North America Jared Smith. “We’re excited to have developed a strategic partnership with Yelp to help our clients capture this demand and make the event discovery and ticket buying process easier for Yelp’s 102 million monthly unique visitors.”

The Call to Action button will work on both desktop and mobile, and is available whether you have one location or 30. Business owners interested in enabling the feature or advertising with Yelp can learn more by visiting www.yelp.com/advertise.

[Image credit: floeschie]

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Page Post Link Ads on Facebook Now Include Customizable Images

Keeping in line with efforts to simplify its ad products, Facebook has announced several improvements to Page post link ads which are designed to drive off-site conversions and sales.

Over the past few months, Facebook has enlarged images and the clickable area for Page post link ads on both desktop and mobile to help advertisers better showcase products and services. Since then, Facebook Strategic Preferred Marketing Developer Nanigans reported that Page post link ads in News Feed delivered an ROI of 53 percent over a seven-day period.

Choosing the right image is essential for creating a great ad, which is why Facebook has rolled out image customization for Page post link ads across all interfaces. With this, you can upload any image you think will drive the most conversions to your website, instead of Facebook automatically generating a thumbnail image based on images uploaded to the linked site. Image customization is now available through the Page composer, create flow, Power Editor, and the Ads API.

Facebook also introduced a simplified flow for unpublished Page post link ads, which allow marketers to tailor the right messages to specific groups of people. These type of ads can now be created directly in the ad create flow, instead of having to select an existing post to promote. Something similar was previously done for Page post ads, which can now be created directly from your Facebook Page.

Finally, the social network removed the guesswork when transitioning from advertising on the right-hand side of the site to News Feed. Now when you enter an offsite link as the ad destination, rather than defaulting to a right-hand side format, Facebook will automatically let you choose by showing you how it will look in the News Feed as well as the sidebar. Considering Page post link ads in News Feed can outperform domain ads on the right-hand side, this choice almost seems like a no-brainer.

These updates follow Facebook’s decision to eliminate sponsored search results. The social network plans to cut down the current number of ad unit from 27 to fewer than half of that. It’s likely that we’ll see even more changes to Facebook’s ad products in the coming months. Advertisers, it’s important that you make note of the updates as some of the removals might impact your current strategy.

[Via: Inside Facebook, Image credit: TheBlue Wig]

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Will Instagram Get Video on June 20th?

Last Friday, Facebook began notifying journalists that it will debut a new product on June 20th. Although details are scarce, rumors suggest that the social network will add video to Instagram as a way to capitalize on Vine’s popularity.

Twitter’s video-sharing app has grown significantly since its public launch in January. Since then, Vine has amassed 13 million users on iOS alone — it is now available for Android as well. Just last week it was also reported that Vine surpassed Instagram in its total daily shares on Twitter.

The idea of a Vine-like service for Facebook hasn’t been confirmed. In fact, it’s entirely possible that sources are intentionally misleading the media so details regarding the June 20th event remain as secret as possible. However, as Inside Facebook has pointed out, there are some signs that this rumor isn’t too far off from the truth.

For example, the social network has prevented Vine from using its friend-finding feature, perhaps as a way to embed users into its platform first rather than Twitter. Additionally, Facebook has prevented Instagram uploads from being posted directly onto Twitter. This way, individuals spend more time on Instagram or the News Feed.

Others have speculated that Facebook will introduce a news product based on the outline of a coffee mug on the invitation. The upcoming demise of Google Reader and last week’s introduction of hashtags could signal that Facebook might launch a new way to discover and read news. Either way, it looks like this Thursday’s event will have a significant impact on marketers.

[Via: Inside Facebook, Image credit: Robert S. Donovan]

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Add Flair to Your Profiles Using These Social Media Design Specs [Infographic]

As a community or social media manager, it’s unlikely that you’re monitoring just one profile on a single social network. While each platform has its own strengths, most strategies involve establishing a presence on more than one.

But as social media evolves, so do the rules. Most platforms make regular, and often necessary, adjustments to their layouts and features. This year alone, both Google+ and YouTube launched redesigned pages with cover photos, Facebook tweaked its Timeline layout and introduced a new cover photo policy, and LinkedIn adopted a more digital media-friendly model.

For those managing multiple pages and profiles, it can be overwhelming to keep track of the different dimensions, assets, and customization options available on each one. With that in mind, Tent Social has put together a social media design infographic that contains the image heights and widths for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.

It’s a “ridiculously exhaustive” resource, but incredibly valuable for community managers and designers. We’ve already discussed the importance of visuals in social media marketing, and this infographic serves as a great up-to-date blueprint for your team. The only downside is that as soon as you’ve updated everything, it’s likely to change again.

[Via: AllTwitter, Image credit: Todd Ehlers]

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Social Media Resources: Google+, Viral Video, and Pinterest

This week on Sprout Insights we tackled guides for Facebook, Twitter, and to help you better reach your customers with the social media tools that make a difference.

Check out our articles below to find out more about each one and how they can help you with your social media goals. And check in every day to Sprout Insights for more how to guides and breaking social media news.

Why Content Curation on Google+ Is Looking More Attractive Than Ever

At its recent I/O conference, Google announced no fewer than 41 new features to Google+ that it hopes will attract a lot of attention. Adding features like Offers, hashtags, and more to its lineup of core functionality has people talking and taking a renewed interest in the social network.

We recently spoke with Stephan Hovnanian, owner of website design and email marketing company Shovi Websites, who suggests that the time is right for marketers and brands to take advantage of this momentum on Google+. According to Hovnanian, one the best ways to do that is to use Google+ as a curation platform to build your authority and reiterate your subject matter expertise on specific topics. Here’s why and how you can use content curation to make the most out of your Google+ marketing strategy. [ Read More... ]

Behind the Scenes on Successful Viral Video Advertising Campaigns

Social marketing is all about sharing content that your audience shares in turn, expanding your reach and getting your message out to more and more people. But guessing — and second guessing — what the next viral trend will be doesn’t get you any closer to social success.

So just how do successful brands go about creating and sharing content that goes viral? We spoke with both content marketers and content creators to get their perspectives on the process. Here’s what they advised when it comes to creating and marketing that all-elusive viral content. [ Read More... ]

4 Best Practices for How to Build a Thriving Pinterest Community

Social media networks are all about building communities. For a brand, that means creating an online space where your fans want to spend their time, learn about your business, and support your activities. From sharing news to improving recognition, a strong community is crucial for a company’s social presence.

Pinterest is a platform that largely places the focus on individuals. Members are encouraged to collect and showcase the pins and products that they find most inspiring. While friends can respond to pins, interactions aren’t built to be front and center on the network. That means businesses may face some challenges in building the same level of follower involvement on Pinterest as they do on Facebook or Twitter. Here are some tips for getting your Pinterest community active and engaged. [ Read More... ]

[Image credits: Jaysin Trevino, TheDigitel Myrtle Beach, Parker Knight, ]

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Google+ Notifications Now Sync Across Devices

Community and social media managers that split their time between desktop and mobile will have an easier time keeping track of Google+ notifications. Google announced this week that the system had been redesigned and now supports syncing across devices.

Now when you read a notification on one device, Google+ will mark it as read on your other devices. Similarly, dismissing a notification does so everywhere, eliminating duplicates that can add to the clutter. The company also updated the look and feel of notifications, including a new bell icon and an updated notification tray that separates unread from previously-read items.

The search giant also released a new Android app that incorporates a lot of user feedback. For example, tapping a post now displays the number of +1s, comments, and reshares it has received. Other improvements include a new design for the left-hand menu that’s more consistent with other Google apps, as well as the ability to delete photos from the Photos view.

Google is rolling out the new notifications gradually — first on Android and the web, then on iOS. However, the updated Android app is currently available for download in Google Play. Although the updates are subtle, they should help to improve the overall Google+ experience, especially for power users.

[Via: The Next Web, Image credit: george erws]

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