Home > Facebook & Instagram > Follow-along Campaigns

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facebook new journey - taking the dive (36)

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Hi everyone ,

am new to the forum - and wanted to share a follow along campaign, my first infact.

Heres the skinny:

CPA offer gaming niche, paying $2.15 per lead.
I have 2 adsets featuring 5 images and 2 text sets.
I used facebook insights to target down to users that like pages such as league of legends, twitch, multiplayer onlines.
Using the insights I also cut the ads to just men.

So far I have a reach of 4,174
a CTR of .35%

I am direct linking to the offer page.

no conversions as of yet

if any one wants more information just let me know!

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that reach is too small, ull never be able to do any volume

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"Reach" has nothing to do with the amount of people he targeted.

Reach= Amount of people saw his ads
Audience= Size of targeted group

So the question is, what are the other metrics like spent, audience size, cpc, ad type (newsfeed,rhs)?

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You'll want to provide more metrics, samples ads, name of offer/geo, etc. if you want more feedback from people.

E.g. present a well-formatted table/list of impressions, clicks, CTR, average CPC, spend, revenue, and basically report your results here.

Also, make sure to read my FB guide! (in signature).

You will want to split each ad into it's own ad set for now, otherwise you will not test the ads well.

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thanks Zeno- as per your response in the facebook thread, I have temporarily paused the campaign until I have fully gone through your facebook guide. Once i have set up in line with that I will continue the follow along.

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update for everyone. I stopped the campaign yesterday as I clearly did not have things set up properly (although I thought I did). slowly working my way through Zenos guide.
I now have 1 Campaign, 3 ad sets and 3 ads in each set. the ad sets have a different image and 3 sets of text. I can tell I did not do it right first time, partly because this time is taking me a LOT longer. (still not finished) Still along way to go before i launch this one, but feel I am actually learning something as I go which is a +

With regards to the targeting, I took out generic multiplayer online, and have only targeted by the game itself and other games like it, this did actually increase the potential audience.

With the ad sets as per the guide, should I also be using a page, and running ads in the newsfeed? or should the sidebar for the sake of working to break even or the possible event of a small profit suffice?

Still need to set up bids etc... that will have to wait until tomorrow its almost 2 am

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I would shoot for the news feed straight away.

The new RHS ads are, according to many, not meeting expectations - I predict that you will find more success in the NF cf. the RHS.

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HI Zeno - with the three ads sets I will turn on newsfeed and we can track performance accross everything.

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Hi Everyone - so here goes round 2.
A few days ago, I set up a campaign (above) and clearly
a) had no idea at all what I was doing and
b) was not prepared in anyway.

The only thing that I can possibly take away from my $8 spent on FB is little knowledge of an advert set that has an OK click rate; reach was to 9k users. with a CTR of 0.279 (i set up oCPM and got horrible CPCs/CPMs)

General information
campaign: Smite MOBA game
payout: $2.15
budget: total is $1k (I am intending to give IM a good run and learn what I can hopefully earning something on the way - also budget is not just for this campaign)
traffic source (facebook)
CPA networks: maxbounty, F5 and affiliaxe.
tracking system: STM 202 setup as per Zeno and Caurmens guides. (inclusive of geo redirect)

The Campaign itself.
Targeting :Male
Age: 24-28
location: US
Language: English US
estimated audience: 750,000
Interests: Narrowed down to other specific MOBA games (such as League of Legends, heroes of Newerth, heroes of the storm) as well as TwitchTV.

Ad Setup
1 Campaign
3 Advert Sets
1 Image per advert set
3 Ads per Set.
1 Image per set of 3
3 texts per advert set

Ads




Currently these ads are set to run in the sidebar, however after feedback from Zeno above I am going to change this to a newsfeed style add. The adverts are not yet live as I have to tweak the images slightly.

The text in one of the images is the same as another, I do intend on having 2 text copies, the third will be quite gamey speak

Questions:

1/ Is 1 initial set enough to test image quality, once I have this then I intend to create another set with with the 'best' image, and the 'best' text. The purpose of set 2 would be to test other demographics such as age, gender, interest etc...
2/ How many images should I be testing at any one point?
3/ How many sets should I have running at any one time?
4/ CPC/CPM or OCPM.

if there is anything anyone thinks I have missed out then please let me know and I can add in the missing info. I can already see from the first post I made to now, I have learned an ENORMOUS amount, yet still have so far to go!

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1) You should primarily be testing images first. I'm not sure what you mean by 1 initial set - do you mean a campaign? Or 1 ad set? You should have each ad in it's own ad set so they all have individual budgets.

2) Test 5-10 initially.

3) Up to you, but at least 1 per image tested. If you have 10 images, try running (testing) 3 ad sets concurrently with $5-10 spend.

4) Start with CPC so that you actually get clicks. If you bid CPM/oCPM and your ads suck you will burn money.

I think you need to work on your images, they don't stand out at all.

I would avoid putting characters on a white background, it's about as far away from eye-catching as you can get.

Make sure people can actually see what is in your ad. That tiny character one is bad, you have to squint to see what's even in it -- and even then all you can tell is that it's some female-ish figure.

Here's an example I literally made in like 30 seconds:

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Hi Zeno, thanks I did test out 4 creatives initially and these got ok Ctr but being I messed up I should go back to the start so will change them round today.

**update**

Have gone back to the drawing board and come up with the following:

Ad creatives are now:







going to have 5 sets - and 3 different text versions of each

campaign budget will be $25 ($5) per set.

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Your ad set configuration sounds fine.

You will want to spend $5 per ad set - this is where budget gets set, giving $25-50 per day for the entire campaign.

With that initial $25-50, provided you got say 50-100+ clicks, you will get a decent idea of whether or not that offer is worth pursuing -- at least with the current targeting and angle.

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May I ask where you got your offer from? And was it recommended by your AM?

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Available in a few places, notably at Glispa.

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this specific offer I got from Maxbounty but as per Zeno, I am sure it is available elsewhere.

@zeno, I have updated the creatives; see above (was struggle as first time making them, but think I got the jist of it by the end)

Now to get uploading and get the data coming in!

I have set the ads to run in the newsfeed: Suggested bid: 1.17 (0.67–1.62), (not live yet as have to tweak a little, will set up tonight and keep you all updated!)

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Good good.

Carry on.

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Hi All,

some great news, I got my first ever IM CPA! $2.15 whilst I am about $23 overall I am really chuffed with the $2.15!

at approx 50 clicks I have now paused the campaign as per Zenos advice (above; they are in order, 1 at top 5 at bottom) for some analysis.

The ads are featured above. The text for the ads is as follows:
Text 1
Free fast paced action MOBA
WASD and mouse movement, detailed graphics and fantastic visuals, experience what it's like to be IN the action. Sign up and play for FREE today.

Text 2
Getting tired of the same old games?
"more fun than Dota2 and Lol" 3v3 Joust, PvP, traditional game modes and great character control; FREE to play so sign up NOW!

text 3
Sign up now and play for FREE!
Set yourself aside from the mortals. 57 gods and counting, 3rd person, fast paced JOIN NOW!

I have taken some screenshots of the STM p202 tracking tool (below)



As you can see text 2 image 1 bought the conversion.

Down to the numbers:



Talking as a whole, the campaign had a
CTR of 0.203%
EPC of $0.05
CPC of $2.44
ROI of -96%

The best performing ads in terms of CTR were:
set 4 - news feed which was 2.44%

Action to be taken

I am going to stop ads that have a 0% CTR
Going to implement the conversion pixel from FB into STM p202.
Text 2 got the most clicks, so I am going to change the text to something similar to that.
Right Column Adverts on Desktop Computers got no clicks so I will stop this.

Questions:
Is this a campaign that I should keep running, or is this something I should bin and move on to another campaign? Is this a dead horse.
If not what are the advised next steps? I understand I could switch the audience from M to F or change the target audience age etc...
As a rule of thumb at what point in the budget should I cut an add. i.e. I have spent $28 now. Should I spend another $28 and keep doing so until I see some conversions?
Is this enough data to know if I should bin the campaign or not?

as always, any questions or missing data please let me know, trying to make this as comprehensive as possible (have seen a couple of other newbs on here going through the same journey.

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That game looks sick

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its not bad if you are into MOBA, I played LoL got to get back into it. its a bit different as is 3rd person a bit like WoW view, lots of characters etc..

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I wouldn't smite this campaign so quickly (huehuehue).

I would focus on the ads/placements that worked (i.e. NF) and get some more data.

Adult female 'gamers' now make up the largest % share of the gaming market.

This is nothing to sneeze at! While I think this is largely due to games like the Sims, Candy Crush, etc., and I think the term 'gamer' means a different thing to some, there is no reason to not also split-test against females.

Your imagery will bring the CTR and your ad copy is going to be important, but targeting is critical on Facebook.

Male 18-21 might bomb but Male 26-30 might convert like hot cakes.

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Here is a nice infographic about mobile gamer demographics. Maybe it helps to find new targeting in FB too ....




Source: http://blog.apptopia.com/game-demogr...r-should-know/

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Ooh, that's quite nice - cheers!

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o gosh, I am literally 'LoL' ing to that joke.

hi Zeno, thanks for the tip, I guess the biggest change i could make in terms of facebook would be to test against females with specifically newsfeed and changing the copy text to less of a hard sell. I will get right onthis.

THe main question I had, is should I keep testing this at $25 per set.

i.e.
day 1 24-28 Males $25
day 2 females 24-28 $25
day 3 Advert set to newsfeed $25
day 4 change images $25

what I am getting at is at what point should I decide to not run the ad

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Facebook can give you huge variations in ad performance and backend performance.

This can make it quite difficult to know how to spend and when to cut.

In this case, I would probably do something along the lines of:

Male 24-28 - Targeting/Angle 1 - $20 overall

Male 24-28 - Targeting/Angle 2 - $20 overall

Female 24-28 - Targeting/Angle 1 - $20 overall

Female 24-28 - Targeting/Angle 2 - $20 overall


Each of those $20 brackets can be divided into say $5 to 4 ads overall.

You could replace angle 1/2 with different age brackets instead.

You can use this just to get an idea of whether or not there is any point whatsoever in pursuing the offer.

If of those $20 tests, not a single one gave more than say 2 conversions, it's likely the offer is not going to convert well enough with your current angle and targeting.


Whether you try new targeting or a new angle is up to you, but ya gotta cut your losses somewhere ;D

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OK gotcha! bit like fishing I guess.

When you get those 2 conversions (example) you have to hit it hard!

thanks for the tips - will keep everyone posted, onto round 2!

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***update****(31/08)
I'm a muppet, l fogot to change the dates on my STM p202 tracking, anyway good news is another conversion. From the Ladies - so good tip @Zeno.

still on - 94% ROI on the campaign, but going to try and change up the creative/ads in line with the ones that converted.

will let it run a little longer and see if I can get anymore conversions, then take it from there.

(30/08)
Hi all,
so the campaign for smite has now been cut. There are a couple of reasons that have led me to this decision:

A) i have put about $60 into it with 1 conversion, the CTR has been above 0.6%
b) I believe that the LP is not very good as the CTA is below the fold. With a CTR of 0.6 I would expect to get more than 1 conversion and think that this might be a factor behind the low conversions.

I tested Male 24-29 & 29-35
Female 18-24 & 25-30

targeted to :
Interests
Infinite Crisis, Dota 2, Forge, Twitch gameplay, Heroes of Newerth, League of Legends, Guardians of Middle-earth, Smite (video game), twitchtv, Prime World, Guilty Gear (video game), Dawngate, AirMech, Heroes of the Storm, Infinite Crisis (video game), prime world global or soldier front 2

all is not lost, I have learnt a lot and am going to move onto my next campaign.

if anyone has any thought please let me know.

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Good work.

Learning when to cut campaigns is *very* important - and it looks like you made a very sensible call there.

On to the next!

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thanks caurmen,

onwards and upwards. I didn't cut it fully as an ad converted, but have stripped it down that specific add see if it generates anything else.

on to the next campaign which I have already set up!

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Yup, good decision.

An offer - even the best - don't always work for every traffic source, demographic, angle or person running it.

Internet marketing is just like that.

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thanks - as it happens I let the ad that delivered a conversion (9 clicks in ) run for a little longer - fortunately for me I did as the add (after another 3 clicks) delivered another conversion! so 3 in total.

+1 to you of course, as the demographic it came from was infact Female gamers.

In the meantime I have paused the other campaigns and going to work on making some new banners (like the one that converted) and use the same angle as the one that converted as well.

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That's great aady83! Keep on optimizing. I think you might be onto a winner!

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Hi All,

to reignite the thread ( I had a busy last week so couldn't work as much as I wanted on the campaign).

In terms of the banner, what can I do to try and increase conversions.

I always thought the past the click the conversion is down to the lander, i.e i had little control over what was happening, obviously this is not the case.

What kind of thing could I put in a banner that might make someone want to click: Some ideas that I had:

Mention about free skins
Some points about the game
free giveaways
highlighting whats available

is it possible to do this, or should I be looking to use a lander to warm up the audience?

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With stuff like free skins/giveaways, be careful.

Some of this can veer toward incentivisation and even if it technically isn't, the advertiser might not like it (in the case where no ad approvals are required).

I have had a campaign pulled before because I promoted that the first 10,000 users got free in-game items... the thing is, this was true - it was clearly posted by the devs in their forum. The twist was I didn't know how many of these free bonuses were still available but it was in no way a lie! A new AM at the gaming company spotted it though and thought it was incent and decided to pull the offer.

Gaming-wise the stock standard things people use are #1 X of the month or #1 X on Facebook etc. Not sure how well this works as I never do it (too generic). You can compare to other games but again you have to be careful because gaming advertisers will not want you calling out other games.

E.g. WoW is dying - play this instead! It will get the attention of WoW players a little better but you're using another companies trademark to generate revenue on a competitor game... Using other game images will do even better but I do not recommend.

Really, you should get to know your audience and appeal to their jargon and things that might irritate them. E.g. for MOBAs learn the lingo - carry, power carry, support, APC, jungling, scrub, ganking, blah blah etc. there's plenty of places to find this. Think Youtube videos of live streaming and read the chats.

What is annoying in certain game types? Lag? Netcode issues? Long server wait times? No local servers > high ping? Terrible graphics? Hard to team up with friends? Conversely these can all be advantages for other games.

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wow thanks zeno some real gems of wisdom there!

speaking generally, I have some questions if you wouldnt mind (it helps to give me something to aim for) .

a) how many conversions is it realistic to get per day taking an average campaign.
b) again on averges what ROI would an ad run on 30-40%? (or higher/lower)
c) what was the most you had to spend before an ad turned (+) ROI, and also what was the least you had to spend

Now to dig out my former gaming self (although I was ps/xbox gamer, although played my fair share of Diablos, LoL etc... never thought all that gaming time would come to use, how wrong I was )

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a) I'm not sure what you mean. It depends on how much you spend, the offer budget cap, your CVR, etc. Pushing 10,000 leads a day on a gaming offer wouldn't be abnormal if they wanted that and your leads were doing well. There's no such thing as an 'average campaign'.

b) It depends on your campaign. I've had ads run at 400% ROI, some at 10%, some at -90%. There's no way to predict this nor should X ROI% be a goal - strike it from your mind.

c) If you were optimising the backend this would be answerable to some extent but most gaming optimisation happens at the front, so you wouldn't really spend too much on an ad that wasn't making money. You'd improve it and test more. On the other hand one might pump several hundred into a gaming campaign for a specific angle + demographic when there was potential (e.g. spend $200 testing ads to try and get US Female 18-25 Angle/targeting #1 into the black).

These are all very nebulous questions where the answers don't really help you with anything. To give an analogy, if someone had just entered university and you asked them "What do you think is a realistic % mark you're going to get in the biochem final is? What % of the class will you probably beat? How much time do you reckon per day is the best amount for study? There probably going to blank stare at you.... Some answers may pop out but their speculative and will only be answered by reality.

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Thanks Zeno, its more to get a grasp of the scale of things. Something I struggles with when I first ever started in AM was the potential amount here was to earn, if I didn't see the figures with my own eyes I would never have believed it. And back to square one to some extent, I want to come to grips with the true potential.

a) 10k leads WOW - there was me thinking 20 would be a lot :P
b) My guess would therefore be that it is a try and test and that I am not going to know until I do this.
c) noted - trying to figure where this line might be, but again have to get the feet wet and my thought would be take the smite campaign which I think is a great game, I imagine that my first campaign is going to be worse off as I a) dont really know what I am doing (experience) b)havn't really drilled down audience c)not really got a specific angle. (obviously working on changing these)

thanks again!

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