Like email marketing, SMS marketing is a form of opt-in marketing. Like email marketing, SMS marketing requires a subscription. There are many ways in which marketers can acquire these contact lists, from inquiry forms to online orders. 

SMS marketing differs from email marketing in that it is less popular among users, making clever strategy and easy-to-access opt-out options essential for customer retention. When done well, however, SMS marketing is more effective at driving conversion and encouraging previous customers to make another purchase. 

Some of the most effective marketing messages to send via SMS are: 

• Surveys
• Remarketing
• Discounts or sales
• Exclusive promotions

Why marketers choose SMS marketing

There are several reasons why SMS marketing is a good choice for marketers looking for another avenue for customer communication. While unpopular with some demographics, reaching customers through texts can be very effective because it’s direct and to the point. One reason many marketers choose SMS is because of its high level of engagement. Text messages are personal and encourage strong interaction from recipients. 

Text messages also have higher click-through and open rates than other forms of messaging such as email and social media marketing.

There are a few reasons for this. Two major contributing factors are: 

• customers who’ve opted into SMS messaging are more likely to be interested in communications from that brand
• the direct nature of texts 

Text messages, more so than emails, tend to encourage curiosity among recipients. 

In certain use cases, SMS also makes the most sense. For instance, when customers need to interact with tech support, SMS is the most practical tool for the job because text messaging makes quick communication with representatives easy for customers, with as little interruption to their day as possible. 

Does SMS marketing work?

Many marketers long to know if SMS marketing actually works. The answer depends on how effectively marketers use it. 

When used strategically, SMS marketing is incredibly impactful. Marketing communications platform Attentive attributed $1.8 billion to SMS marketing initiatives sent via its platforms during Cyber Week 2023. The platform’s users sent over 2.2 billion text messages over the week of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, with the largest number of texts sent on Black Friday itself. 

SMS marketing has also proven effective for mobile sales. Attentive reports that brands on its platform have a 36.6% mobile conversion rate for behavior-based SMS messages. It also reports that sellers on their platform were able to recover $148 billion from abandoned carts. 

When used strategically, SMS marketing is an incredibly effective way to communicate with customers. By giving customers abandoned cart reminders or sale notifications, marketers can nudge consumers along the bottom of the funnel toward conversion without causing ad fatigue and irritation. 

As digital marketing has shifted over the years to keep up with the times and adapt to new technology, SMS marketing, like email marketing, has remained steadfast in its effectiveness. Marketers with an eye for short, eye-grabbing massaging can easily take advantage of the benefits of SMS without contributing to ad fatigue. 

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The Company is in the process of identifying Mr. Ahmed’s successor, and on an interim basis, his responsibilities will be assumed by Joe Ontman, the Company’s Chief Business Development Officer and Co-Founder.

About illumin:

illumin is a journey advertising platform that enables marketers to reach consumers at every stage of their journey by leveraging advanced machine learning algorithms and real-time data analytics. The Company’s mission is to illuminate the path for brands to connect with their customers through the power of data-driven advertising. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, illumin serves clients across North America, Latin America, and Europe.

For further information, please contact:

Disclaimer in regards to Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements included herein constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies.  In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements and information relating to the Company’s belief that the NCIB is in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders and that underlying value of the Company may not be reflected in the market price of the Shares. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, illumin does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect, in particular, new information or future events.

For more complete information about the Company, please read our disclosure documents filed on EDGAR at www.sec.gov and SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.com.

While some platforms handle moderation better than others, recent events have solidified the importance of clear policies and effective enforcement for protecting brand integrity. 

Ever since social media’s meteoric rise, community guidelines have proven essential to social media platforms’ business models. While some take moderation very seriously, others don’t – and they pay the price. 

X is losing advertisers

X (formerly Twitter) is losing money rapidly because of poor content moderation and posts from its owner.  

IBM, Apple, Disney, Airbnb, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and more halted ads on X (formerly Twitter) in Nov 2023 after owner Elon Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory. Ad pull-outs were estimated to reach $75 million in advertising revenue loss by the end of 2023 – just two months. 

The New York Times reports that according to internal documents, more than 200 ad units of companies halted or considered pausing their ads on the social network.

X also discontinued one of its moderation tools – one that detected coordinated misinformation. The platform also removed a feature that once spotted accounts that shared identical media, which has been crucial for finding and stopping disinformation campaigns. 

Stepping away from content moderation has landed X in hot water with both advertisers and governments. The EU has issued a formal warning to the company about disinformation on the platform and X could face major fines if the issue isn’t resolved. 

Social media moderation is essential for compliance

X isn’t the only platform to run into hurdles because of poor community management, Meta has also had its fair share of content issues, with its Oversight Board currently examining a manipulated video of American President Joe Biden. The video will likely impact Meta’s Manipulated Media policies in 2024, ahead of the US election. 

This investigation comes as global governments look into the impact of disinformation campaigns and altered media on elections and the responsibility social media platforms have to tackle misrepresentation. 

Meta also suspended COVID-19-related searches on Threads, exemplifying the importance of social media moderation to the success and growth of its brand as well as to maintaining consumer trust and attracting advertisers.  

Many countries and governments have passed legislation to protect their citizens from disinformation online, and it behooves social media platforms to understand this legislation and comply with its terms. The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) contains strict content moderation rules and requires any platform operating in the EU to follow them or face severe penalties. 

This is just one piece of legislation passed in recent years and it marks a significant shift in digital regulation. The DSA compels companies like Meta and X to prioritize content moderation and conduct a proper risk analysis to protect European citizens’ privacy and to prevent misinformation and the misrepresentation of public figures. 

The DSA applies to 19 companies, all of which it defines as “very large online platforms“, having more than 45 million monthly users. This is likely only a first step from the EU in regulating user-generated digital content – other countries are poised to enact legislation in the coming years as well. 

The writing is on the wall; effective social media moderation is a critical part of successfully running a social media platform. Advertisers are paying close attention to which organizations take the task seriously. When user-generated content becomes hateful or works to spread disinformation, consumer trust is lost and advertisers are quick to move on. Instead, they will opt to spend their ad dollars where they can more effectively build trust with their audience. 

Trust is central to effective advertising – and that makes social media moderation essential for building an advertiser-friendly platform.

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The short answer is no, as long as you’ve followed email marketing best practices. The organizations the policies impact are the ones who’ve irresponsibly collected or bought email lists, and whose strategies rely on mass emailing rather than strategic, targeted communication.

In its announcement, Google says: “Starting in 2024, we’ll require bulk senders to authenticate their emails, allow for easy unsubscription, and stay under a reported spam threshold.” 

When bulk senders don’t securely configure their systems, they are left vulnerable to attackers who can easily target them and their recipients. This is just one reason why Google and Yahoo are keen to implement policies to protect their users. 

Another key factor: for many email users, bulk emails are a frustration. By limiting bulk emails and effectively filtering spam, Google and Yahoo can cement themselves as user-friendly. For marketers who rely on bulk emailing, it may pose challenges. 

Regarding security, Google states that their new policy will help validate “that a sender is who they claim to be.” This should come as no surprise; email marketers with above-board practices have nothing to worry about on this front. 

Google also now requires that emails sent to Gmail addresses have some form of authentication. Since these requirements were implemented in 2023, Google’s seen unauthenticated messages drop by 75% – helping to declutter inboxes and block scammers. 

Decluttered inboxes are great news for email marketers. With less spam floating around, qualified subscribers are more likely to see, open, and read the messages they receive. Google’s new policy hopes to improve upon this, blocking even more unwanted emails from reaching their users. 

How will Google and Yahoo’s changes impact email marketers?

Marketers who send less than 5000 emails a day will have an easier time following Google and Yahoo’s new policies, but there are still several requirements they need to pay attention to. Many of these items are already best practices. 

Email marketers should do the following to ensure their emails always reach their subscribers: 

• Utilize Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) authentication. 
• Have a One-Click unsubscribe option for all recipients. 
• Maintain a low spam rate.

SPF and DKIM authentication is crucial for validating email sources. SPF validates that emails come from an authorized domain, which helps ensure that they won’t end up in the spam box. DKIM adds a digital signature, helping to ensure the integrity of the content and authenticate the sender. 

One-click unsubscribe buttons have been mandatory on mass emails for years, also known as RFC 8058 headers. By remaining compliant with this legislation, marketers ensure their emails continue to hit their recipient’s inboxes. 

Finally, by maintaining a low spam rate, marketers maintain a healthy relationship with Google and Yahoo and with their recipients. Google recommends that spam rates stay between 0.1 and 0.3%.

For larger, bulk senders who send more than 5000 emails a day, additional measures are needed. These include: 

• Create a DMARC record. Google and Yahoo will now require that large bulk senders have a DMARC record with an enforcement policy of ‘p=none.’ 
• Provide DKIM-Signed unsubscribe URLs and tracking links. Under new policies, marketers must ensure that their unsubscribe and tracking links and DKIM are signed. 
• Prepare for increased email deferrals. With the new policies, there will be more email deferrals for Gmail and Yahoo accounts. Anticipating this increase will help marketers react quickly and effectively. 
• Create separate email channels. By using multiple subdomains for different types of emails, marketers can more effectively filter by email services and keep their spam rates down. 

Email marketers with complaint strategies will have very little friction, if any, in adapting to Google and Yahoo’s new email policies. 

Email marketing’s future is one of quality over quantity – a future grounded in meaningful engagement that puts the security and privacy of recipients over the desire to hit as many inboxes as possible. Marketing as a whole is placing greater emphasis on consumer consent and privacy and these policy changes play their part in building a more secure digital future.

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This exciting event let us gather with an insightful panel of CMOs to share ideas and compare best practices from the past year. Attendees could hear productive and unique reflections throughout the event, alongside exciting expectations for 2024. 

The panel held important discussions about marketing and leadership, tackling the state of CX, and how leaders can enhance the customer experience – a major priority for CMOs. Is the rapid development of tools and technology making it easier for marketers to create more engaging campaigns, or is it complicating processes too quickly for them to keep up? 

It was incredible to see so many strong leaders delve into the details of their favorite strategies for advancing contemporary marketing while analyzing the tactics and trends that made 2023 a success. Examinations of what worked and what didn’t grew into conversations about future trends and impactful changes. Where are leaders pushing their digital media strategies in 2024? Where are they investing? What patterns are worth paying attention to? Every conversation at BIMA was worth a listen. 

Alongside moderation from illumin’s own Seraj Bharwani, there were engaging appearances from Justin Holmes (Head of Marketing, Zipcar), Nancy Tao Go (CMO, Devoted Health), and Mekea Harvey (Director of Marketing, Greater Boston Food Bank).

To see more from illumin, be sure to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn where we share interesting news and insights from the worlds of ad tech and advertising.

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As we enter this new age of advertising, both security and compliance are more important than ever. Privacy is top of mind for advertisers (and AdTech companies) because it is a central concern for their customers – both existing and potential. 

The industry has known about Google’s sunsetting plans for third-party cookies since 2018 when GDPR went into effect in the European Union; many marketers and vendors have spent the past six years preparing for this very moment. 

To meet clients’ needs, marketers must achieve consistency with their core guiding principles and strategy, seeking customer consent for advertising across all touchpoints and media. 

And what shouldn’t be lost is this: measuring media impact on brand equity lets marketers better understand business outcomes, achieving unduplicated reach and effectively retargeting and controlling ad frequency. 

Are you ready to go cookieless?

There may not be a need for dire panic just yet. If you’ve paid attention to warnings like mine in the past few years, you know there are clear steps to adapt your targeting strategy to a cookieless reality. 

A strong approach is based on a proprietary consumer identity stack with multiple layers of precision. These layers depend on the targeting needs of advertisers and the requirements of a given campaign. They can include:

• Contextual targeting free from IDs and based on customer interest, gauged from content consumed across web channels. (For instance, at illumin we partner with industry leaders like GumGum, Peer39, DoubleVerify, and Oracle for contextual targeting.) Marketers should also adhere to an industry-standard content taxonomy, such as the one adopted by IAB Tech Lab.
• First-party reach based on advertisers existing first-party, CRM data. Of course, always use consumer data collected with consent. 
• Consent-collected second and third-party reach to target customers based on interoperable IDs across publishers and devices. 

The second and third-party data gathered should only be collected with consent using authenticated and interoperable IDs to enable scaled reach across the privacy-compliant publishers on the open web. 

Now, let’s be honest with ourselves – none of the AdTech media vendors on the open web are completely free from third-party cookies. However, companies that heeded the clear warning that this day was coming and made significant progress in the elimination process are in a much better position going into 2024. 

It is easy to talk about the eventual demise of third-party cookies, it’s another altogether to have taken any steps to address your data stack to adapt to the new reality. 

How we adapted our internal data and identity capabilities

When it comes to practicing what we preach, here’s how we fare today.

Our platform reaches 270+ million unique monthly users and tracks over 120 billion events in real time each day – thus attributing to each user’s unique interests, needs, and behaviors. 

The volume and richness we are afforded when controlling our own data let us build our own Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) programs to establish unique identity graphs. We can further augment these graphs with external partner integrations to provide advertisers with legitimate cookieless targeting capabilities. 

Some of these partners include: 

• OpenRTB Publishers offering CTV, OTT & DOOH, and Digital Audio that do not rely on third-party cookies
• TAPAD cluster IDs (to provide cross-device graphs)
• Authenticated audience IDs from Publishers and data providers like RampID, UID2, and Panorama ID

This work is not easy. Marketers and companies like ours must constantly evaluate new players in the AdTech space to assess incremental reach, effectiveness, and opportunities. This is an arduous but essential part of remaining relevant in a highly competitive industry. We cannot snooze on upgrading our identity stack and providing the best possible service to our customers.

And guess what marketers? Your customers feel the same way. They don’t want you to talk about your commitment to finding them a cookieless solution. They want to see your workings when it comes to modernizing your targeting.

Consumer privacy and fraud protection are of the utmost importance in our industry and should be a marketer’s top priority going into the post-cookie age of advertising. By implementing strategies that respect the consent of consumers, marketers embrace the attitudes of a new era of the internet, rather than trying to fight against it while simultaneously futureproofing their targeting strategy as cookieless deadlines loom. 

I’ve given you solid advice above to find your foothold in this era: are you ready to step up?

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This is a long time coming; marketers who’ve prepared ahead of time are ready and able to pivot – adjusting their strategies and targeting approaches to still reach their audience effectively. 

Some marketers and advertisers will be unaffected by the elimination of third-party cookies. But for those working and targeting on the open web, adjustments need to be made. And they need to be made quickly. 

On January 4, the Tracking Protection tool was made available to the first cohort of Chrome users, a long-anticipated move from the search giant towards eliminating third-party cookies from its platforms. This is only the first step: by the end of 2024 marketers should completely eliminate third-party cookies from their strategies. 

This process is the culmination of years of effort to advocate for user privacy, empowering consumers to consent to where and when their information is gathered and to whom that information is shared. That’s why the two core principles all marketers need to consider when building a post-cookie approach to targeting are consent and privacy. 

And since customer consent and privacy are at the core of these plans, they need to also be at the core of marketing strategies going forward. 

Google’s first step toward cookieless 

On January 4, 2024, a random 1 percent of global Chrome users received the new Tracking Protection web-browsing feature, receiving a notification on desktop Chrome or their Android devices. The feature restricts third-party cookies by default, limiting tracking capabilities for many marketers. 

Google has planned to eliminate third-party cookies for years, but the company continually pushed back deadlines due to advertiser opposition and regulatory issues in the UK. Now, it appears everything is on track and Google users can expect to say goodbye to third-party cookies by the second half of 2024. 

Google isn’t the only web browser with removal plans; Firefox already removed third-party cookies in 2023. However, what concerns many marketers is Google Chrome accounts for a massive 65% of browser usage. 

Although the company gave marketers ample warning – and pushed back its plans several times – the Wall Street Journal reports that many marketers still aren’t ready. 

For those marketers looking to brush up on cookieless marketing, our full guide is here to lend a helping hand. 

According to eMarketer, cookies were used to target 78% or more of programmatic ad buys as recently as Q3 2023, showing an increase in cookie use. Many advertisers were even seen to be increasing their cookie ad spend. This is despite Google and Firefox’s plans to eliminate third-party cookie use. 

Marketers still relying on third-party cookies to build their 2024 strategies are in for a difficult year. 

Google’s third-party cookie depreciation trial

Google knows that removing these cookies leaves a void in many marketers’ strategies. To help them along and address potential compatibility concerns, it’s also announced a  third-party cookie deprecation trial. 

The goal is to eliminate third-party use of cookies on Chrome by 2024’s third quarter, but this program would let eligible brands extend that deadline until December 27, 2024. 

Qualifying websites can enable third-party cookie deprecation trials by providing unique access tokens in Chrome using JavaScript. 

To meet the requirements for this program brands must meet the following criteria: 

• Are not an advertising-related service
• Are not associated with advertising services or domains. 
• Can demonstrate a direct impact on end-users (this needs to be demonstrated in detail to Google) 

Google will only include sites with confirmed breakage as part of this program. There is also an appeals process for clarification or approval issues. 

Google’s Privacy Sandbox

With the removal of third-party cookies, many marketers are asking: what comes next? 

illumin’s Chief Strategy Officer Seraj Bharwani said in a recent article, “The emergence of large-scale data and identity resolution platforms with audience graphs across devices and households is a major step forward to helping reclaim control over reach and frequency. But there’s no single solution to the problem.”

Marketers need to critically think about what solutions will be most effective for their brands and they need to act fast. Google’s solution is its Privacy Sandbox. The goal is to make web browsing less intrusive for users by replacing cookies with contextual targeting. 

The Privacy Sandbox places users in groups according to similar interests and behaviors, without identifying them or overstepping privacy boundaries. The first stage of Google’s new targeting tool was rolled out in July of 2023. 

Contextual targeting like this is one of many ways that marketers can move forward in a cookieless world. 

With these targeting tools being brand new, marketers haven’t had much time to pivot. And while the market continues to speculate that Google will continue to delay its full cookieless launch, nothing is guaranteed. 

With the search engine’s January 4 launch, it seems Google means business this year. It is heavily speculated that third-party cookies will disappear from the digital world; marketers need to rapidly adjust their 2024 strategies to target and reach their audiences – the sooner the better.  

This is a new frontier for advertising on the open web. By embracing the change brands can make their mark and find a competitive foothold in a new era of digital advertising. 

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Platforms like Meta continue to dominate the social media advertising scene, especially with Facebook rebranding to Meta several years ago in order to better integrate its acquisition of Instagram. Meta continues to power advertisers’ core advertising strategies as the platform develops and innovates, bringing a top-the-of-the-line ad performance. Here’s what you need to know if you want to add Meta as part of your strategies as well.

What is Meta advertising?

Meta advertising through the years

Meta advertising has been around for more than a decade, dating back to 2004 in the platform’s infancy stages when it offered ‘flyers‘ and bits and pieces of ad space to companies in exchange for a small financial cushion to get the platform off the ground. 

However, it wasn’t until 2007 when Facebook officially launched its ‘Facebook Ads’ platform which allowed businesses to create individual profiles as well as “social ads” which were ads that combined social actions from a user’s friends (such as recent purchase of a business review) with an advertiser’s message. 

Several years later, it introduced ‘Sponsored Stories’, a desktop ad program that placed paid ads directly on users’ news feeds as well as expansion to mobile ads. By 2014, Facebook rolled out its three-level advertising campaign structure, offering “campaigns” and “ad sets” on top of standard ads. 

Campaigns consisted of overarching plans that correspond to specific advertising objectives and were designed to help users optimize and measure results of individual ads. 

Ad sets, on the other hand, are subsets of a campaign that could feature their own budgets and target separate audience segments. Facebook ads expanded its ad formats, featuring eight separate advertising options such as: photo, video, stories, Messenger, Marketplace, carousel, slideshow, collection, and playable content. 

With the rebranding of Facebook to Meta, new technology and trends will bring new formats to explore and familiar processes to refine.

How does it work?

At its core, meta ads are ads served to users based on their previous interactions and behaviors online. They leverage data collected about individuals’ browsing habits, search history, and other online activities to deliver ads that are highly relevant and personalized. 

Meta ads make use of ‘cookies’. When a user visits a website or engages with an online platform, a cookie is placed on their device. This cookie collects information about the user’s activities (such as the websites they visit, the products they browse, etc.). This data is then used to create a comprehensive profile of the user, which includes their interests, preferences, and demographics. Advertisers can then use this information to target specific groups of users who are most likely to be interested in their products or services.

However, with the deprecation of third-party cookies by companies like Apple and Google in early 2024, Meta has taken it upon themselves to create more in-house data integrations in its platform via the Conversions API.  The Conversions API is designed to create a connection between an advertiser’s marketing data from an advertiser’s server, website platform, mobile app, or CRM to Meta systems that optimize ad targeting, decrease cost per result and measure outcomes. In other words, the Conversions API tool helps advertisers use their own marketing data to optimize ad targeting, and is built to honor people’s privacy preferences without it being dependent on browser technologies that collect third-party cookies. 

Meta ads also utilize advanced algorithms and machine learning to analyze and interpret the collected data. These algorithms are constantly improving and evolving, allowing advertisers to deliver highly targeted ad campaigns that generate better results. 

Another important feature of meta ads is retargeting. This strategy involves showing ads to users who have previously interacted with a brand or visited their website. By reminding these users of their previous interests, retargeting aims to bring them back into the sales funnel and increase the chances of conversion.

Forms and types of Meta advertising

Meta ads offer various ad formats and placement options. They can be displayed on social media platforms, search engines, mobile apps, and websites, ensuring maximum reach and visibility. According to Meta, there are five main types of Meta ads:

• Image: this type of Meta ad consists of one image that usually contains a call to action and an attached link;
• Video: these types of ads are in the form of videos which make content more easily digestible and eye-catching for the user;
• Carousel: carousel ads showcase up to 10 images or videos in a single ad, each with its own link;
• Instant Experience: a fullscreen experience that opens after someone taps your ad on a mobile device;
• Collection: features multiple products and opens as an Instant Experience when someone interacts with it. Customers can discover, browse, and purchase products from their phones in a visual and immersive way;

PDFSimpli’s carousel ad shows its product features on each panel

In addition, there are other types of Meta ads that derive from the five main types:

• Slideshow ads: slideshow ads use images and videos (usually a minimum of 3 and up to 10 images or videos) to portray a story in slideshow form, appearing as videos cycling through slides and transitions. Slideshow ads can help illustrate a complicated sequence or simplify a complex process;
• Dynamic product ads: these are typically image or video ads that often change or are tailored according to users’ browsing habits, often used for re-marketing as you are promoting a product to already interested customers;
• Lead form ads: these ads direct users to a fillable form Fields are typically customized to obtain specific data that marketers want from users;
• Collection ads: collection ads entail a cover image or video with several products showcased under the cover image. When a user clicks on one of the images or videos, it will open the Instant Experience ad and show the rest of the product collection;
• Event ads: some brands make use of the “Events” feature on Meta to promote and advertise certain events and products, offering a unique way of showcasing their brand;
• Messenger ads: messenger ads appear on the messenger feature of Meta (typically in between your conversations). Users will see a call to action that will end up in the destination you set when create the messenger ad;
• Marketplace ads: marketplace ads make use of Meta’s marketplace feature and are typically used for businesses wanting to reach more people who are browsing in the marketplace. Ads in the marketplace will both show in the marketplace as well as in people’s news feeds and will display a “Sponsored” label on the ad;
• Stories ads: stories ads are Meta ads that make use of the “Stories” feature, providing a fast and natural full-screen and vertical view of the brand’s ads;
• Poll ads: these make use of polls (typically appearing at the bottom of photos and videos) on the “Stories” feature, offering brands the opportunity to engage with the users;

Why invest in Meta advertising?

Meta continues to be a popular form of online advertising for marketers worldwide as evidenced by the consumption of users and ad spend by companies on the platform. According to Insider Intelligence, Meta still accounts for 75% of US ad dollars spent on social media for 2023. 

In addition, Facebook accounts for more than half (54.6%) of Meta’s $51.35 billion in US ad revenues this year. Furthermore, Meta and Instagram are still the kings of social spend compared to TikTok’s 9% social spend. 

With the mass variety of ad forms and the vast user reach on the platform, it offers a lot of flexibility and customization options for marketers that are tailored to their goals and ad purpose. Whether it’s lead generation or increasing brand awareness, there’s an option and format that marketers can use in Meta that will optimize their goals and results and fully reach their ad potential. 

Additionally, Meta offers the option to let you reach specific target audiences, using demographics and characteristics (such as age, gender, location, etc.) to reach the right audience.  

Another reason to invest in Meta advertising is how cost-effective it is to utilize their ad platform. According to a 2022 study made by Brandwatch, Meta or Facebook is the second cheapest platform in terms of average cost per click compared to the other three major social networks when using their ad platforms. Marketers often get better value-for-money advertising on Meta compared to other online platforms.

Facebook has a cheaper average cost-per-click compared to others (Source: Brandwatch)

Challenges of Meta advertising

As with any online ad platform, there are challenges and things to keep in mind when investing in Meta advertising. These challenges can often pose difficulty for advertisers to fully take advantage of the platform’s benefits and capabilities and therefore, need to be part of their considerations when investing in Meta advertising. 

Privacy in data

Privacy violations can lead to data falling into the wrong hands. The use of data for nefarious purposes such as theft, identity issues, and cyberbullying is increasing. 

According to statistics from Pew Research, 54% of Americans have made adjustments to their privacy settings for their accounts, particularly in light of multiple alleged antitrust violations. There have been incidents of pop-up ads and spam content that lead to phishing, identity theft, and data privacy violations that makes users cautious of opening and checking out ads on social networking platforms. 

The laws of privacy with Meta have overarching effects on all stakeholders in the process. The revelation in 2018 that Cambridge Analytica used personal data from Facebook to profile millions of Americans played a significant role in the passing of California’s comprehensive consumer privacy law, known as CCPA. As a result, Meta has been fined €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) by European Union regulators for violating EU privacy laws by transferring the personal data of Facebook users to servers in the United States. That said, Meta users have a tendency for wariness when clicking on ads on the platform. Therefore, advertisers need to find ways to ensure their ads are legitimate and trustworthy enough for users to engage with them.

Usage of data by powerful AI technology

AI systems are designed to learn and improve by analyzing large amounts of data. As a result, the amount of personal data collected by AI systems continues to increase, raising concerns about privacy and data protection. 

Transparency in the use of personal data by AI systems is essential. Individuals must be able to understand how their data is used and have the ability to control the use of their data. This includes the ability to opt out of data collection and request deletion of their data.

Increased prejudice and discrimination on social media

Many ads (both digital and non-digital) have been under fire for not having an appropriate and fair message, often perceived as discriminatory and prejudicial – whether it was the advertiser’s intention or not. Such discriminatory content can be based on factors such as race, gender, or socioeconomic status. It is essential to ensure that all advertising collateral on Meta is tailored to diverse data and tested regularly to avoid bias and discrimination. 

Limited A/B testing potential on Meta

Meta doesn’t allow for features such as ad rotation, making A/B testing difficult and not the most optimal on the platform (unlike other ad platforms that explicitly offer A/B testing). While it does have a built in A/B test option, it would take a long time to arrive at statistically significant results without a large spend.

Advertising trends in Meta

With the advertising world constantly evolving and innovating, Meta more so grows and shifts alongside its user base as new trends emerge. Here are just some of the recent advertising trends and priorities on Meta.

Retail taking priority

Retail has been the largest ad spending vertical in 2023, accounting for 27.9% of US digital ad spending. This has led social networks to put their own retail networks at the top of their priority list, with Meta is placing continued emphasis on their Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns (ASC+), (which focuses on lower-funnel ads in order to attract advertisers looking for a steady revenue source). 

The rise and integration of AI technology on Meta

AI has also been a priority for Meta, with the company launching its AI Sandbox in May of 2023, providing advertisers with a testing environment to experiment with emerging AI-powered tools. These include an automated background generation tool for product images and an automatic resizing tool, so that images can more easily be made to fit Meta’s ad formats. While advertisers aren’t keen to jump on the generative-AI bandwagon, Meta is hedging its bets with this new suite of tools. 

Ad supply is soaring

Ad supply is not on issue on Meta’s platforms in 2023. In fact, its ad supply is oversized. In Meta’s Q2 2023 earnings call, the company declared it had sold 34% more impressions than in 2022. These impressions were also sold at a 16% lower rate. This massive increase in impressions is in large part because of ads being sold on previously under-monetized surfaces. Surfaces like Instagram’s search results and Reels, both of which have been largely successful with users this year, even though they have not performed as well as expected. 

Uncertainty towards Threads as app improvement continues

After Meta launched Instagram Threads in July 2023, the app saw about 100 million user downloads in just five days after its launch. However, Threads’ engagement saw a huge drop by a whopping 79% since July. According to eMarketer, however, Threads users are continuing to climb steadily, in pact with new Instagram users. 

Projected rate of change of Threads users in the U.S. for 2023-2025 (Source: eMarketer)

This comes as Meta continuously develops and improves its app, bringing in new features such as rolling out a web experience for Threads, testing keyword search for New Zealand, Australian and Spanish markets, and conducting focus groups to digital creators to better understand the market. That said, advertising on Threads could likely be a window of opportunity and future development for the up-and-coming social networking app. 

Programmatic advertising on Meta

Programmatic ads are popular on Meta. According to Media Radar, of the 17,400 companies that advertised on Facebook in April of 2021, only 543 purchased direct digital ad space, the remainder opted for a programmatic approach. 

Meta already makes it incredibly easy to include their ads in your programmatic approach; Facebook ads purchased directly from Facebook’s ad inventory, are delivered programmatically. But Facebook ads can also be bought through a separate DSP or journey advertising platform, making it easier to include Meta ads as part of a larger, more holistic programmatic strategy.

Tips on successful Meta advertising

In the ever-evolving advertising landscape, staying ahead of the game is crucial for businesses that want to maximize their reach and impact. Here are some tips to help you navigate the world of Meta advertising:

• Understand your target audience: defining your target audience is key to a successful advertising campaign. With Meta’s detailed targeting and lookalike audiences, as well as demographic and interest-based filters, you can precisely reach potential customers who are most likely to be interested in your products or services. 
• Utilize multiple placements: To maximize your exposure and reach, consider utilizing multiple placements within a single advertising campaign. Meta offers a wide array of advertising placements, including Facebook stories, Instagram reels, and audience networks.
• Optimize for mobile devices: With increasing users accessing social media platforms like Meta through their smartphones, it’s essential to ensure that your ads are responsive, visually appealing, and user-friendly on mobile devices. Test different ad formats and creatives to determine what works best for mobile users and tailor your campaigns accordingly.
• Implement retargeting strategies: Retargeting campaigns on Meta are highly effective in converting potential customers into buyers. With dynamic product ads and the ability to retarget specific audiences based on their actions (such as video views or interactions with your website) you can remind potential customers about your products or services and encourage them to take action.
• Monitor and optimize campaign performance: To make the most out of your Meta advertising, regular monitoring and ensuring optimal performance is key. Keep a close eye on key metrics like ad engagement, click-through rates, and conversions. Use A/B testing to experiment with different ad formats, messaging, and targeting options. By continuously analyzing the performance of your campaigns, you can make data-driven decisions and refine your strategies to achieve better results over time.
• Make use of automation tools: Different iterations of the same messaging also play a vital role in delivering relevant messages to specific audiences. Meta has a set of automation tools that can be used for the best advertising results. Meta’s AI systems allow advertisers to target ads based on user responses and trends identified through an algorithm.
• Utilize conversion tools: Advertisers should measure the impact of ads, quantify the value of marketing mix modeling, and use A/B testing to compare different strategies. Meta has rolled out its Conversions API to create a direct connection between marketing data and their own platform to improve campaign performance and measurement. Conversions API bridges data in Meta’s system with accounts that complete an action. Complement the API with Conversion Lift to measure ad performance as well.

Examples of Meta ads

Intuit Mailchimp’s image ad of its email marketing platform

Intuit Mailchimp’s image ad with an attention-drawing headline

Intuit Mailchimp does a good job of drawing viewers’ attention with its eye-catching graphic and its direct headline and ad copy. It concisely states what the product is, a benefit to using their product (“141% more revenue”),  and a clear call to action (identifying customers’ needs and converting more customers with shopping triggers). 

Adobe’s event ad of its Creative Cloud sales promotion

Adobe’s “Creative Cloud” event ad shows a limited-time offer to students

Software companies such as Adobe use event advertising to boost sales at specific points of the year and promote their brand and products on periods that matter the most to them. This event ad is showcasing a limited-time promotion aimed at students, citing savings of up to 65% on Creative Cloud app purchases and offering an additional free month of subscription throughout the month of January.  It expressly shows what the promotion is and until when the promotion takes place (“through Jan 29th”) and has a clear call to action (“Get offer”).

American Express’ video ad for its Cobalt credit card

American Express advertises its Cobalt credit card through a video ad

American Express launched a Meta video ad promoting its line of Cobalt credit cards. The ad’s video grabs attention to its viewers with eye-catching benefits (“earn 5x the points”, “up to $125 per month towards dinner out with friends”) that entices that viewer to apply. Its call to action is very clear and direct as well.

Final thoughts

Meta has proven itself to be a powerhouse in today’s digital advertising space. Its advanced capabilities and intuitive tools for creating impactful advertising have given companies and advertisers the resources they need to thrive in this ever-changing world. It’s no surprise that Meta advertising is here to stay and by utilizing the social media phenomenon as part of your strategies, you will be able to create more meaningful and results-driven advertising.

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In the past few years, the media has seen the steady climb of women’s pro sports, from soccer to hockey, to basketball. Alongside increased sponsorship and marketing, athletes are garnering higher viewership. Women’s athletics are slated to continue their climb in 2024, with the launch of the PWHL in January. 

Deloitte forecasts that women’s sports will surge in popularity, and could potentially earn $1.28 billion in 2024 – a 300% increase from 2022 and a massive win for the sports industry and women around the world. 

Women’s pro sports have entered the mainstream

Though it’s been a long time, women’s pro sports are finally starting to get the recognition they deserve from the mainstream media. This increase in attention is resulting in higher earnings for both athletes and broadcasters. 

Among the highest projected earning sports for 2024 are soccer and basketball, each projected to earn $555 million and $354 million respectively. And while soccer and basketball are predicted to be the highest earners, they aren’t the only sports making progress.

Women’s hockey is making huge strides, with the PWHL (Professional Women’s Hockey League) forming in 2023 after the Women’s Hockey Players’ Association (PWHPA) acquired the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), combining the leagues to create a single, unified professional women’s league in North America. 

The unification of professional women’s hockey was a long road worth the journey. The new league sets the sport up for success, and advertisers can expect continued inroads in women’s hockey over the league’s first few years. 

Women’s pro sports are marked and marketed for success

2023 also saw the creation of the Women’s Sports Club, founded by ex-Olympian Angela Ruggiero. The organization partners with major brands like Coca-Cola and Nike and sports leagues like the WNBA to help break down barriers between brands and broadcasters to boost women’s pro sports coverage and investment. 

Lack of marketing and broadcast space was a major barrier for women’s sports for decades and with the removal of roadblocks, women’s sports can find their target audience. 

Evidence of market support for women’s sports is easy to spot, with the NWSL (National Women’s Soccer League) Championship garnering primetime TV slots alongside ample commitments from advertisers like Ally Bank.  

The FIFA Women’s World Cup also saw major support in 2023 with record viewership and crucial sponsorship from major brands like Adidas. 

ESPN recently launched an all-female team on its SportsCenter broadcast. This show, like the NWSL Championship, was sponsored by Ally Bank as part of its plan to dedicate 90% of its sports marketing budget to women’s sports.

Ally Bank allocated 45% of its 2023 sports marketing budget to women’s sports this year, moving towards a 50/50 split with men’s sports by 2024. Advertisers are supporting women’s athletics and broadcasters are following suit, leading the way for a bright and competitive future. 

Media and marketing are picking up on trends, as they always do. In this case, women’s sports are gaining popularity and in turn, gaining much-deserved media attention. This traction will continue as marketing budgets increase and television spots improve, making now the perfect time for advertisers to jump on board. 

Women’s athletics brings with it a new audience, primed and ready to experience sports with excitement and intrigue. This is a fantastic opportunity for advertisers to access new audiences at the forefront of a rising industry. 

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Meta advertising trends for 2024

In 2024, Meta, and Facebook in particular, are continuing to shift away from written posts and pictures and towards short-form videos. The rise of TikTok has caused many social media networks to question their strategy and product, and Meta is no exception. eMarketer predicts that by 2025, adults in the US will spend more time on TikTok than on Facebook. 

Meta holds in its hand the favor of marketers and the potential for higher ad revenue. eMarketer adds that while TikTok will remain dominant with users in 2024, Facebook is going to be the higher revenue earner, with Facebook bringing in $1.02 per user, per hour by 2025. 

Analyst Debra Aho Williamson describes the reason for this discrepancy in the podcast Behind the Numbers, saying: “Advertisers are just wedded to Meta…From the perspective of an advertiser wanting to have a regular, reliable partner to advertise on, Meta is still going to get that lion’s share of dollars.”

Advertisers are going to remain loyal to Meta not because of how the platform performs with users, but because of its familiarity and ease of use from a marketing perspective. Even though TikTok is the preferred short-form video app among users, the operational capabilities and ad products that Meta provides continue to keep them on the winning side with marketers.

Alongside the predominance of short-form video, here are some other key Meta advertising trends for 2024:

AI and retail take priority

As economic uncertainty continues to be a top concern for consumers and advertisers alike, commerce and retail are emerging as a steady ground to walk while the financial landscape evens out.

Retail was the largest ad spending vertical in 2023, accounting for 27.9% of US digital ad spending. This has led social networks to put their retail networks at the top of their priority list for the coming year, with Meta placing continued emphasis on their Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns (ASC+). 

AI was also a top priority for Meta towards the end of 2023 and will continue to be so in 2024.

The company launched its AI Sandbox in May of 2023, providing advertisers with a testing environment to experiment with emerging AI-powered tools, including an automated background generation tool for product images and an automatic resizing tool. These tools make it even easier for advertisers to create images that fit Meta’s ad formats. 

While advertisers aren’t keen to jump on the generative AI bandwagon, Meta is hedging its bets with this new suite of tools and is likely to persist with its AI efforts in the new year.

Ad supply will continue to soar

Ad supply is not an issue on Meta’s platforms going into 2024. In fact, its ad supply is oversized. In Meta’s Q2 2023 earnings call, the company declared it had sold 34% more impressions than in 2022; the company is going to continue to have ample supply in the new year. 

Since starting to sell ad space on previously under-monetized platforms, like Instagram’s search results and Reels, Meta’s had a huge uptick in impressions. This is going to continue next year, with both Reels and Instagram Search growing in popularity with users. 

Instagram Reels in particular was a major win for Meta in Q2 2023. For a third quarter in a row, CPMs on Instagram dropped. Not only did they drop, they dropped 29% YoY. This was largely due to Meta’s increased ad load and new Reels ad formats. 

In addition to the Meta’s success with Instagram Search and Reels, it has also seen major growth on Facebook. The quintessential social media platform now has over 3 billion users, with its daily active user rate climbing from 2.04 billion to 2.06 billion in Q2 2023. 

Since Meta has seen such great success with Instagram and Facebook in 2023, the company will likely continue to treat the platforms as its bread and butter going into 2024. 

Threads is unraveling

Along with this success, the company had some bumps along the road in 2023, which is likely going to impact Meta advertising trends in 2024. Specifically, Threads was a massive issue for the company. eMarketer predicts the new social platform will continue to decline, declaring that the network is “already unraveling.” 

This prediction came only a few weeks after Meta launched Instagram Threads, dominating tech and media headlines in the wake of Twitter’s sudden rebrand to X. While users flocked to the platform initially, usage steadily dropped.

It’s worth noting the “Twitter knock-off” isn’t dead just yet and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that Threads is “in line with his expectations”. Perhaps 2024 has some surprises in store for Threads users and marketers alike. 

The future is never set in stone, but predictions can help guide strategy and put marketers ahead of the curve. Whether or not Meta will continue to soar in 2024 is unknown, but it remains a safe bet for advertisers around the world.

If you’re looking to see even more of illumin’s predictions for 2024, be sure to check out our Programmatic advertising trends to watch in 2024. You can also read our advertising trends from fall 2023 to see how last season wrapped up.

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