Ginny Marvin says, “As video is expected to bring in over $10 billion in digital ad revenue this year, according to eMarketer, publishers see video as the number one trend affecting their businesses. A new survey from video ad tech firm Mixpo of 263 US sales and marketing professionals at local and national media outlets looks at the opportunity and challenges publishers face in taking full advantage of the digital video surge. Across the board, video formats topped the list of ad units seen as most likely to drive the highest ROI or ad revenue, with pre-roll video by far the preferred ad... [...]

Tim Peterson says, “The trend of ad-free Facebook Pages continues. Facebook has started testing another redesign of its desktop Pages that omits the ads that normally appear on the right-hand side of the page. A reader tipped us off to the new look, and a Facebook spokesperson confirmed that this is one of the ad-free layouts the company is trying out, in addition to the one we reported on last month. Based on the two experimental layouts, Facebook seems to have four ideas in mind of how it wants to change the current look of its desktop Pages: separate the profile photo from the cover photo,... [...]

Lindsay Kolowich says, “With more than 1.65 billion monthly active users, Facebook is a major player in the world of social networking. Businesses looking to market using Facebook have one major tool at their disposal: the Facebook Page. Facebook Pages were specifically engineered for businesses. They provide a public home on Facebook for a business, and they allow businesses to publish content and receive comments and feedback from fans and customers. Facebook Pages are a simple tool, but they allow for many interesting business opportunities. There are some companies out there who really... [...]

Tamar Weinberg says, “In a little over two months since Facebook Messenger Platform was launched, the bot app landscape has changed pretty significantly. According to an update provided by Facebook’s David Marcus, Vice President of Messaging Products, the platform is attracting brands and businesses throughout, with more than 11,000 bots having been launched and more then 23,000 developers expressing interest for Wit.ai’s bot engine. But there’s more. As a result of the ongoing feedback from these developers, Facebook has launched a new blog for Messenger Platform developers, as well... [...]

Trond Lyngbø says, “Baking a cake is easy — when you use all the right ingredients from the beginning! But just imagine how it would be if you mixed the batter, poured it into a tray, sprinkled icing sugar all over it, and were just about to pop the creation into the oven… when you remember that you forgot to add eggs! You’d have to do either bake it without the eggs, resulting in a flat and crumbly cake, or you’d have to start over again from scratch, this wasting valuable time, energy and ingredients. Sadly, many Web shops and online businesses build their website in the same way.... [...]

Rebecca Pollard says, “Searching for a tactic to send more traffic to your website sign up forms and grow your email marketing audience? Facebook’s a good option. With 1.65 billion monthly users, Facebook gives you a huge audience, who you can connect with, drive to your site and get to join your subscriber list. At AWeber, Facebook ads are one of our highest-performing Facebook strategies. When done correctly, Facebook ads are budget friendly, bring in qualified leads and reach a large audience, unlike unpaid Facebook posts (algorithm changes are a pain). In this post, I’ll walk you... [...]

Patricio Robles says, “Recently, Facebook came under fire after former workers claimed that they routinely suppressed conservative news stories from the company’s “trending” section. While the company disputed the claims, the implications were so serious that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with conservative leaders. Now, Facebook is taking action to ensure that its users not only see the content most likely to be relevant to them, but also that they understand how Facebook selects that content. Here’s what marketers need to know about the changes Facebook has made... [...]

Tim Peterson says, “It’s a weekday, so there’s a good chance Facebook is recalibrating its all-important News Feed algorithm. And as is often the case that means Pages will have a tougher time getting unpaid placements in people’s feeds. This time around Facebook is making Pages’ organic reach even more dependent on people sharing Page posts with their friends. “If a lot of your referral traffic is the result of people sharing your content and their friends liking and commenting on it, there will be less of an impact than if the majority of your traffic comes directly through Page... [...]

Khalid Saleh says, “With 1.09 billion users, Facebook is an advertiser’s dream come true. But this immense reach also brings with it a lot of challenges. As click-through rates drop and competition increases, it’s more important than ever to run a conversion-focused Facebook ad campaign. In this post, I’ll share four things you can do to create a Facebook campaign that brings in leads, not just traffic. 1. Run broad tests before zeroing in on an audience set Facebook’s targeting capabilities are its biggest strength. You can zoom in and target cat lovers who like Kanye West and live... [...]

Ayaz NAnji says, “What motivates people to share third-party content on Facebook with their friends? Are there differences between why men and women share on the social network? To find out, Fractl surveyed 2,000 consumers about what they share on Facebook and why they share. The researchers focused on third-party content: i.e., why people post links/articles/videos from external websites to Facebook and why they reshare external links that other users post. Some 48% of respondents say the primary reason they post third-party content to Facebook is to entertain their friends. Just 17% share... [...]