How to do paid promotions on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube

Jeff AchenGiveMN Digital Strategist

Agenda

• Why to do paid promotions?

• When?• Facebook• Twitter• YouTube

Why do paid promotions?

• Facebook newsfeed has changed

• Exponential reach beyond the followers you currently have

• Petri dish: Paid campaigns help you test & measure engagement/reach

• A/B testing of your message(s) – what works, what doesn’t

• Unlike major media spends, it can be an extremely affordable form of advertising with tangible metrics

“Every publisher on the planet from CNN to Buzzfeed to the New York Times is producing

content they hope readers will find and share through the

Facebook News Feed.” – Business Insider

“Two years ago, no one really got their news from Facebook. Now, they do.” – Business

Insider

What should you measure?

Key metric: REACH

Key metric: CLICKS

Key metric: DONATIONS

Results of GlobalGivingpaid posts on Facebook

When to do paid advertising?

• Paying to promote your posts on a day to day basis would be costly

• Pay to promote special events, high engagement posts (videos, raffles, volunteer sign up, specific fundraising campaigns), and disaster response

• Pay to promote posts if you want to test messaging and engagement

• Pay to promote posts if you don’t have many fans and want to reach new audiences based on their interests

Results of GiveMNpaid posts on Facebook

$75M Milestone Giving Card giveaway

$75M Milestone Infographic

Fathers Day Giving Card givaway

Pet photo contest

Today is GTMD w/ Video PSA

Tomorrow is GTMD w/ Video PSA

Website crash post on GTMD

Average Post Engagement

5000 15000 25000 35000 45000 55000 65000 75000 85000$75M

Milestone Giving

Card give-away

$75M Milestone

Info-graphic

Fathers Day Giving Card giv-

away

Pet photo contest

Today is GTMD w/ Video PSA

Tomorrow is GTMD w/ Video

PSA

Website crash post on GTMD

Average Post En-

gagement

Sum of Views

1350 7328 4500 8730 76309 1062 13944 751

Sum of Clicks

80 270 126 1544 321 8 1991 99

GiveMN Paid/Unpaid Comparison

Promoted Postson Facebook

Step 1: Create the perfect post!

• No typos!• A/B test your message

– Did you know…– Over 40,000 people...– You can help Sarah today…

• Visual appeal (photos, videos or infographics)

• Have a strong call to action– Link to your GiveMN page

• A/B test the call to action – Learn more– Support Us– Donate Now– Register today

Promoted Postson Facebook

Step 2: Click “Boost Post.” Choose the audience you are hoping to reach.

• People who like your page & their friends– Many of your fans might not be seeing your

posts regularly. This increases the likelihood they will see a promoted post.

– Your followers network of Facebook friends could include people in your geographic area, people with common values and interests.

• People you choose through targeting– Targeting allows you to choose demographics of

people on Facebook who will see your promoted post. Target by:• Cites• States• Country• Age• Gender• Interests

Promoted Postson Facebook

Step 3: Set your budget.

Step 4: Select “more options”• Duration (1-7days)• Payment method

Measure your results

Results of GiveMNpaid tweets on Twitter

$60.00

$200.00

$25.00

$0.00

#GTM

DAv

erag

e Tw

eet

2500 7500 12500 17500 22500#12DaysofGivingCards $60.00 #GTMD $200.00 #ValentineGiving $25.00 Average Tweet $0.00

Sum of Views 7087 19700 4999 1000

Sum of Clicks 69 219 37 24

Count of ReTweets 1 NaN 1 1

Count of Replies 1 NaN 1 1

Count of Follows 1 NaN 1 1

ROI Analysis on Twitter

Crafting great promoted tweets

• Keep it to 120 characters or less, allow room for ReTweets• Include a call to action:

– Donate– Learn more– Volunteer– Sign up

• Use shortened URLs if necessary• Include photos or videos• Use Hashtags wisely• Promote more than one tweet (A/B test)

Promoted Tweets

Step 1: Visit http://www.ads.twitter.com and login with your Twitter login

Step 2: Click “Create a New Campaign”

Step 3: Choose a promotion:•Promote a tweet(s)•Promote your twitter account

Step 4: Name your campaign

Step 5: Choose a start and end date/time

Step 6: Choose the type of targeting:• Keywords• Interests & Followers• Television market• Tailored audiences

Step 7: Add interest categories for your audience

Step 8: Set your location(s)

Step 9: Select the platforms on which you wish your tweet(s) to be visible.

Step 10: You can limit targeting by gender

Step 11: Select the tweets you wish to promote or create new ones• “Automatically

promote” is a good option if you’re not sure which of your tweets will catch on. This option will select the most engaging and recent tweets and boost them even more.

Step 12: Set your overall budget for the campaign

Step 13: Set your daily maximum, which will affect the pace of your promotion.

Step 14: Enter your “spend per engagement.”Each time your Promoted Tweet or Promoted Account is eligible to appear, an auction takes place between your ad and all other eligible ads. Your bid is one of the factors that determines whether your ad is displayed.

Results of GiveMNYouTube Pre-roll Ads

GTMD PSA w/ Janelle & Glenn 0

GTMD PSA w/ Janelle & Glenn 300

GTMD PSA w/ Jeff Locke 0

GTMD PSA w/ Jeff Locke 300

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

730

1921

519

1963

3

122

3

118

Sum of Views Sum of Clicks

Picking the right YouTube video

• For paid video ads, 30 seconds or shorter is best

• The first 5 seconds is the most important• The video should include a call to action or

suggest an action to be taken• Video should be professional

Video ads on YouTube

Step 1: Visit http://adwords.google.com

Step 2: Create or sign in to your account.

Video ads on YouTube

Step 3: Click on “Campaigns” tab

Step 4: Click on “+ Campaign” to create a new campaign and select “online video”

Step 5: Give your campaign a title.

Step 6: Set a budget.

Step 7: Select a delivery method.

Step 8: Select your targeted location.

Step 9: Select the YouTube video you want to use.

Step 10: Select the Ad format•In-stream•In-display•In-search

Step 11: Choose your ad attributes•Headline & description•Thumbnail•Display URL & Ad name

Step 12: Select a start and end date for your campaign.

Step 13: You can also select the hours during the day when the ads will show.

Step 14: Optimize as desired.

Step 15: You can also cap impressions.(Frequency capping for TrueView video ad formats limits the number of times your ads appear on the Google Display Network or YouTube Videos to a unique user.)

Step 16: Create “Targeting group(s)”

Gender/AgeTopicInterest

Step 17: Add search keywords.

Video ads on YouTube

Make sure you’ve added payment information!

Fail – Succeed – Measure

Review your campaigns and measure

Key metric: REACH

Key metric: CLICKS

Key metric: DONATIONS

Thanks for attending!

Questions?

Our next webinar: “What Minnesota nonprofits can learn from Travail’s Kickstarter Success” on Thursday, March 27 @ 11 a.m.

Look for the registration link on facebook.com/givemn

All GiveMN webinars are archived on the GiveMN Blog http://blog.givemn.org/give_mn_blog/webinars/