2019 Digital Campaign Checklist
Now that 2019 is here we're all setting goals for the year, drinking more water, doing yoga, and making sure we live a healthy lifestyle. These things are great, but you know what else is great? A healthy digital campaign. We compiled a list of measurables you should look at to see if your campaigns have put on a few pounds over the holiday season.
WHAT'S YOUR FIRST-TIME IMPRESSION RATIO?
I'll be honest, I didn't know this was a thing until about three months ago. Now, it is at the top of my list when I am assessing if I need to adjust my Facebook campaigns. I picked this up from a blog by Jon Loomer called How To Use Facebook Delivery Insights. Your first-time impression ratio shows you what percentage of people are seeing your ad for the first time. If your ads aren't performing the way that you want, check on your first-time impression. If this ratio is dropping, then you should expand your audience. The higher the better. If the ratio has dipped below 70% then it might be time to expand or use a different audience. If the ratio has dropped below 50% then it is definitely time to make a change. This is super helpful to help you know if you're putting ads in front of a tired audience or not.
HAS YOUR CPM CLIMBED?
Another good indicator of a tired audience is CPM (Cost per 1,000 impressions). If your campaign is optimized for reach or awareness and your CPM is over $5 per 1,000 impressions it's time to do some investigating. You're simply paying too much money to reach your given audience. This could be due to several things such as too much text in your creative, audience size, device optimization, or your bidding strategy. A lot of the time it comes down to your audience size when assessing CPM so I'd start there if your CPM has climbed.
DID YOUR CPC CLIMB AND/OR CTR DROP?
This is probably the reason why you are going through your campaign checklist in the first place. Your cost per click (CPC) has climbed and/or your click-through ratio (CTR) has dropped. If your CPC has climbed there are just shy of 1,000 reasons why it went up. Again, audience size and how long you've been running the same ad to the same audience plays a huge role. Seasonality can play a big role too. Are you running the same ads during the holiday season that you are during the summer or fall? That's a huge no-no. Your ads can get crushed if you aren't making constant changes.If your CTR has dropped, a good indicator is your call to action (CTA). Is your CTA strong enough? Is it an overused CTA or have you been using the same CTA over and over in your campaigns? I recommend mixing up your CTAs to see what works best and finding what people click on.
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU UPDATED YOUR CREATIVE?
Don't lie... creative is usually the last thing we want to change. It is the most time consuming and isn't necessarily a quick fix. If you go down the creative rabbit hole you never know what you'll find. However, there is a reason why it is on the list. If you have a low first-time impression ratio, a high CPM, your CPC has climbed and your CTR has dropped...YOU. NEED. TO. UPDATE. YOUR. CREATIVE.People simply have seen the same image and messaging too many times. These potential customers have already made up their mind about your ad. They either did what you wanted or they didn't. it is time to move on and give them something new to look at.
HAPPY CAMPAIGNING IN 2019!
We hope this list helps refresh your digital campaigns this year. Don't be afraid to test new things, adjust audiences, platforms, and ads. The only way you'll know what works is by testing and figuring out what doesn't work.
Beau Baumbach the Marketing and Social Media Strategist for TIV Branding–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––TIV Branding is a boutique branding firm in Sonoma County, California. We specialize in building brands by using traditional, social and digital channels in unison. If you would like to discuss a project or find out more about how we do what we do, please email us at info@TIVbranding.com.