Social Media Networks or Ad Networks?

What to Expect in Upcoming Social Ads

Landing pages with videos increase conversion by 86%.  Videos are one thing that gets advertisers salivating – because clearly videos led to customer interaction with their brand. And advertisers are always looking for new ways to engage customers on social media.  

And new ways they are finding. Here are some things you can expect to see in your newsfeeds in upcoming months:

Instagram

Instagram and Omnicom just signed a deal to collaborate on some new, creative ad products. Omnicom is the ad agency responsible for household names like AT&T and Pepsi, so they’re no stranger to thinking of ways to hit coveted target markets.

What to expect: Ads are going to be in the same medium, meaning photos and videos. But expect to see campaigns with different imagery – more high-quality images from a limited number of brands. It sounds like you can expect to see more of the same brands, just in a different, more striking way. What does “striking” mean? We think images that steer away from the homemade/amateur vibe that we’ve seen on Instagram before, and are more polished and professional.

Facebook

We’ve been hearing a lot about Facebook video ads over the past year,  but now it’s finally coming to fruition. Facebook just announced  that our news feeds will become home to video ads “over the next few months.” Premium Video ads will be about 15 seconds long and are rolling out with a select group of advertisers that are unnamed for the time being.

What to expect: Auto-play. It may not make consumers happy, but Facebook will use auto-play (and Ace Metrix) to help “advertisers review the quality and engagement level for each ad BEFORE it runs on Facebook,” according to Mashable.

Vine

In the U.K., Pepsi Max is taking social media somewhere it hasn’t really been before – outside. Pepsi Max is advertising Vine videos on billboards to promote its “Live For Now” campaign. Twitter users can make their own Vine video (which, in contrast to the 15-second Facebook ads, are only 6 seconds), and submit it with the hashtag #LiveForNow.

If your Vine video gets chosen, you could see it broadcast in seven of Britain’s largest cities, according to AdAge.

Plus, Pepsi Max is making the best Vine submissions available on a YouTube channel to encourage even more consumer engagement.

What to expect: Unconventional videos. The brand has a history of posting crazy videos on its Facebook page (like the first ever attempt of a human doing a loop-the-loop).  Pepsi Max is probably going to select videos that are unique, high impact and fall on the “extreme” side of things.        

Stay tuned to find out how these new ways of social media interaction will impact brand awareness and engagement!