Page 11 - Adnews Magazine Sep-Oct 2020

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apparel via social media in the next 30 days, meaning brands in this category should ensure advertising on the various platforms is part of their marketing mix.
The shift in CPMs
Understanding the shifts in costs per thousand impressions (CPM) is essential to succeeding in social advertising. This metric helps decipher return on investment for a brand’s ads. So knowing when consumers are more likely to engage with an ad will see greater ROI.
The COViD-19 pandemic had a major impact on CPMs. In March, CPMs faced their biggest decline but have since been steadily increasing ever since, both globally and in the APAC market. They are now back to pre-COVID-19 levels.
CPMs are also increasing across industries. For example, retail CPMs are higher than what they were in January 2020, whereas ecommerce CPMs are slightly lower than they were at the beginning of the year. Brands that stay on top of these trends will be able to better inform their own advertising across social media and achieve greater results.
“It is critical
for brands to resonate with their audiences ... to succeed in social advertising during the holiday season”
— Smartly.io VP APAC Kevin Huang
How to succeed with social advertising during the busiest time of the year Smartly.io has compiled a list of top tips to help you plan your social media advertising ahead of the busy Christmas and summer period.
Plan in advance
Start planning your advertising activities on time — now is a great time to start planning. Take a look at last year’s social advertising campaigns to see what worked well and what didn’t work as planned.
Use automation
Automation allows you to create on-brand ads at scale, turn static ads to video ads, adjust budgets, and more. With automation, you and your team will be able to allo- cate time to more strategic work and wave goodbye to time-consuming manual tasks. Automation helps you succeed at work and gives you more time to spend with the people you love during the holidays.
Stay consistent and creative
The world is visual, and brilliant creative is the most powerful perfor- mance driver. Winning advertisers produce as much as 11-times more creatives, and with more creatives at hand, it’s easier to fight ad fatigue.
However, thumb-stopping ads that resonate with consumers require rounds of testing to know what works. Therefore, creative testing is key for long-term success. We have also seen that successful brands have their creative and marketing teams working closely together to see what works and what doesn’t. During the holidays, it’s crucial to stay consistent and true to your brand, but adjust your messaging and add seasonal ele- ments to the creatives.
“Because of the COVID-19 pan- demic, the world has increasingly moved online,” says Smartly.io VP APAC Kevin Huang. “Therefore, brands need to reach out to their target audiences in a highly personalised way.
“It is critical for brands to reso- nate with their audiences, espe- cially with creatives, to succeed in social advertising during the holi- day season — the most competitive season of them all.”