Salesforce: Which Advertising Formats Have the Highest Engagement?

OREANDA-NEWS. April 20, 2016. In our most recent report, the 2015 Annual Salesforce Advertising Index, we analyzed “Post Engagement” ad formats for Q4 2015, in which advertisers seek to drive engagement for an actual Facebook post. There are four ad formats for this objective that we looked at across the United States: Video, Photo, Link, and Status Ads. In the end each format bore very different results.

Our analysis supports the use of photo, video, or link ads in nearly all of your Facebook ads. Text-only ads significantly underperform these other 3 formats, likely because they are not as compelling to the audience to interact with. The ad format with the highest engagement rate are video ads, at six times greater than any other format (minimum 3 second video view). If your goal is to engage users with your content, video is a good way to go. Another option, if your goal is to get users to click on your ads, is to choose photo ads which have the highest click performance with a 12% higher CTR than video ads and 18% than status ads.

Lastly, we can’t forget to mention link ads. While less engaging than video and photo ads, link ads are a less expensive option in terms of your media cost as measured by CPM. In addition, you have the ability to combine a link ad with website click or website engagement objectives, as opposed to post-engagement.

While choosing the right ad format for your objective is important, so is retaining users. This is especially true when it comes to mobile apps. Today, 90% of mobile time spent is within apps, up from 72% just 3 years prior. Apps are fast replacing the web as the primary go to destination for people to get the information they need, perform a transaction and of course communicate. Due to this consumer shift, it’s no surprise that the competition within the app market is fierce to both find and retain those people.

Mobile app install and re-engagement ads have helped marketers solve for these issues so people could discover their apps in the first place and be brought back to them subsequently. According to a recent study by Yahoo Advertising, nearly half (49%) of all dormant users will return to an app as a result of online advertising. This is a more powerful investment for a brand than things like discount offers to achieve this goal.

Financial services ranks third highest in overall US share of total digital ad spend across all industries. Financial brands despite being in a heavily regulated industry are also some of the most innovative digital marketers in the world and adopt new digital channels and technologies faster that many other industries. In 2015, overall US digital advertising spend grew to all new heights, reaching \\$58B according to eMarketer. The financial services industry comprised \\$7.2B of this amount which was a 14.5% growth in spend from 2014.

To learn more about the power of digital advertising within the financial services industry, join our webinar 10 Tips For Running Highly Efficient Digital Advertising Campaigns for Financial Brands” on April 20, at 12pm U.S. ET.