The 2024 Guide to Meta Ad Attribution Windows

[00:00:00] It is Friday, April 5th, today, understanding attribution, 7D-C, 1D-V, which should we be using

[00:00:09] now?

[00:00:10] Also, what post type on LinkedIn will get you more engagement?

[00:00:13] Snapchat bolsters its agency program and the new retail media network with more purchase

[00:00:20] data than you can imagine.

[00:00:22] And here's a first, spoilers ahead for the video game Bioshock.

[00:00:26] I'm Tod Maffin.

[00:00:27] That's ahead today in Digital Marketing.

[00:00:29] Well, every Friday we check in with our Meta ads correspondent Andrew Foxwell.

[00:00:34] Andrew has visibility to $300 million in Meta ad spend through his Slack community called

[00:00:40] Foxwell Founders.

[00:00:42] If Meta ads are not relevant to what you do, if you're a premium member, just tap

[00:00:45] the next story in your chapters list or if you're not skipped to the 8 minute 25

[00:00:50] second mark.

[00:00:51] And Andrew, it might be a bit of a boring topic, but I think an important one for

[00:00:55] marketers and people who buy Meta ads, which are attribution windows.

[00:00:59] We've got all sorts of different ways of constructing this.

[00:01:02] Big changes happened with Apple that forced us to sort of change the way these appear.

[00:01:07] What are the best practices this year, 2024 in terms of attribution windows in Meta ads?

[00:01:12] It definitely depends always.

[00:01:14] But I think it's important to point out that there's been a lot of discussion

[00:01:18] about this like what are you optimizing for and seven day click that the two

[00:01:24] long didn't read is seven day click actually is usually going to bring more

[00:01:30] quality clicks and therefore quality visitors and therefore quality conversions.

[00:01:38] So if you're already on seven day click one day view, which is the auto,

[00:01:42] you can actually go through and check your one day view metrics across all

[00:01:47] active campaigns in the last 90 days to see what impact one day view has on

[00:01:52] the account.

[00:01:53] Meta takes a lot of credit with one day view and it's not bad.

[00:01:58] Certainly like you want to know some of that, but one day view is modeled.

[00:02:06] And so if it's a lot of your account data that can skew things.

[00:02:12] And if you have more than 25 to 30% of you through when you're using the seven

[00:02:17] day click one day view, then sticking with just a seven day click can be a much

[00:02:24] better thing to do in terms of quality visitors.

[00:02:27] The results likely are going to actually look worse in Facebook.

[00:02:31] But if you're using a third party tool, they should start to look better over time.

[00:02:37] Your CPMs will also increase initially.

[00:02:40] But it's because it kind of creates a drop in what they call the value drop

[00:02:47] in the delivery auction.

[00:02:50] But over time, actually, it does deliver better results.

[00:02:54] Yeah.

[00:02:54] I use a model we should probably explain model means sort of, I mean,

[00:02:59] a friendly way of putting it is met as best guess at something often,

[00:03:03] you know, especially with the changes to iOS a couple of years ago now,

[00:03:07] the meta platform is not getting that data as fast as it used to.

[00:03:10] And so it sort of does its best guess at what it thinks that the number should be.

[00:03:15] That's improved.

[00:03:17] That modeling has improved.

[00:03:18] And when it first came out, it was terrible.

[00:03:20] Where do you find modeling?

[00:03:21] Not just with attribution, but sort of as a whole these days on the meta

[00:03:25] platform, is it good enough to rely on?

[00:03:28] Yeah, you know, it definitely is better than it used to be by a significant

[00:03:33] margin.

[00:03:34] The issue is if you're someone that are, if you see a lot of like I saw

[00:03:39] an account the other day, it was 50% of it was one day.

[00:03:43] It was like through view through conversions.

[00:03:45] And if meta is sort of hypothesizing and get like, you know, modeling 50%

[00:03:55] of them, that can be misleading in my opinion.

[00:03:58] Like I'm not saying it doesn't have any impact, but I think you are better

[00:04:02] off doing a seven day click while knowing that there will be an impact

[00:04:05] of some like some view throughs that come through that, but optimizing

[00:04:09] for that's not necessarily a good thing.

[00:04:10] So so where like, where is it in terms of how do I trust it?

[00:04:14] I would say that it's something to use as like a secondary signal,

[00:04:19] but it's not something I want to lead with.

[00:04:22] You know, you can there are people that have gone off of using

[00:04:25] a third party tool and they're just going to look at what Meta says

[00:04:28] and they're going to use, you know, seven day click one day view

[00:04:31] and they're going to say, look, if it's modeled, that's okay.

[00:04:33] It seems to match up relatively close to what we have.

[00:04:37] And if that's true and that works for you and you feel like it makes sense,

[00:04:41] then great for me, I always like to know, even if the model data

[00:04:46] has improved in this in the accuracy, I always like to know

[00:04:51] and optimize for more quality as much as I can and not be dependent

[00:04:56] upon this modeled piece.

[00:04:58] And just over time, we've tested seven day click enough that it may

[00:05:03] I have more confidence in that than I do on the one day view

[00:05:07] coming from model.

[00:05:08] So it depends on the brand, of course, if it's low, if it's a low

[00:05:11] amount of modeled stuff coming, you know, then that's okay.

[00:05:14] And I think you can leave that in like low being sub 20 percent

[00:05:18] or something like that.

[00:05:19] But in most cases, that's not the case.

[00:05:21] He said something interesting that hadn't occurred to me before.

[00:05:23] You mentioned that the attribution window is part of optimization.

[00:05:28] Unless I misheard you, I had assumed that the attribution window was

[00:05:32] just strictly a reporting function.

[00:05:34] Are you saying that?

[00:05:34] And maybe this has been well known in the industry and I'm just an idiot.

[00:05:37] But are you saying that your choice of attribution window when you set

[00:05:42] up the campaign is used as one of the optimizing features of that campaign?

[00:05:47] In other words, if you have two different optimization windows,

[00:05:51] let's say for two different campaigns, that it will go out and seek

[00:05:54] different people based on the different attribution windows.

[00:06:01] Yeah. Why?

[00:06:02] That doesn't seem to make any sense to me.

[00:06:04] Yes.

[00:06:04] Yeah, because so it's like it does that because it's finding people.

[00:06:09] So it's just like a bid.

[00:06:10] Like if you did an auto bid, it's going to find the most people

[00:06:13] because you're fine.

[00:06:14] You know, you're like, yeah, whoever you want to find.

[00:06:16] And in this one, what it's saying is those, you know, seven people

[00:06:20] that are going to bid for a seven day click.

[00:06:21] Obviously, you're doing the targeting.

[00:06:23] You look at it as a whole circle and seven day click is a more narrow

[00:06:26] group of people within that that are like more quality people that are more,

[00:06:30] you know, they have intention to click.

[00:06:32] They click more often.

[00:06:33] They look around.

[00:06:35] They spend time on sites when they're clicking around.

[00:06:37] Oh, OK.

[00:06:38] So so it's going to go find people that will that will trigger

[00:06:41] inside that window.

[00:06:42] I didn't realize that was part of the optimization.

[00:06:44] Yes, it is part of the optimization.

[00:06:46] Now, the degree to which Meta talks about this being being

[00:06:50] a big part of it isn't a lot because they want people to be using

[00:06:55] their defaults to be the biggest that it can be.

[00:06:58] Right.

[00:06:59] And they want you to believe that the model data is trustworthy

[00:07:03] and everything else.

[00:07:04] So they don't talk about this a ton.

[00:07:07] And if you try to find documentation, it's like trying

[00:07:09] to throw darts at a wall.

[00:07:11] It's difficult.

[00:07:11] But you but the reality of it is, yes, you will be trying

[00:07:16] to find, you know, more people, which is why over time the CPM

[00:07:20] generally will rise if you switch to seven day click

[00:07:24] because it's finding people that are a smaller group of people.

[00:07:28] But if your audience is big enough, generally,

[00:07:33] you know, and like, you know, you're not trying to do all these

[00:07:35] small little retarking things like we used to do, then utilizing

[00:07:39] a seven day click is actually going to be a little like dip

[00:07:41] and then go back over time to be better.

[00:07:43] So especially in reference to new customer CPA, which is a big

[00:07:47] part of what a lot of us track now in direct response, not just

[00:07:51] the overall row as and things, which is good too.

[00:07:54] But especially in reference to finding new folks for

[00:07:56] prospecting campaigns.

[00:07:58] Very interesting.

[00:07:59] As usual, you lead us through the weeds with with great

[00:08:02] a plumb, as they might say.

[00:08:03] Thank you, Andrew.

[00:08:04] Thank you.

[00:08:05] Andrew Foxwell was our meta ads correspondent.

[00:08:07] You can learn more about Andrew's digital ads training

[00:08:09] at b.link slash Foxwell or his slack community of senior

[00:08:14] meta ad buyers at b.link slash founders.

[00:08:18] Both of those are affiliate links and you can find those

[00:08:20] links at the bottom of our show notes.

[00:08:26] Social Insider has some new data on LinkedIn's best

[00:08:29] performing organic post types.

[00:08:31] This comes from content published on the social Insider

[00:08:34] platform, but that's a pretty big data set.

[00:08:36] First overall, the engagement rate spiked 44% last year

[00:08:41] compared to the previous year.

[00:08:43] That engagement rate as measured against impressions was

[00:08:47] 3.85%.

[00:08:49] In terms of specific formats, multi image posts

[00:08:52] generated the most engagement and by a pretty healthy

[00:08:55] margin, quoting social media today, quote, multi image

[00:08:59] posts were carousel posts until December last year when

[00:09:03] LinkedIn eliminated native carousels as an organic

[00:09:07] posting option.

[00:09:08] You can still replicate them by posting a PDF with each

[00:09:12] page displaying a different image, but you can't actually

[00:09:15] post carousels anymore.

[00:09:17] So multi image posts based on this data is the best

[00:09:21] alternative followed by document posts, images and

[00:09:24] video unquote.

[00:09:26] As per the other platforms, link posts are way down

[00:09:30] the list of engaging formats.

[00:09:32] I only mentioned this because it's still the format

[00:09:35] that many brands default to when they're trying to

[00:09:37] share news or announcements.

[00:09:39] And it makes sense.

[00:09:40] No social media platform wants you to be taking

[00:09:42] users off their site, so they deliberately downrank

[00:09:45] links in the algorithm.

[00:09:47] If the engagement you're trying to get is shares

[00:09:50] specifically, video posts generate the most sharing

[00:09:53] on LinkedIn.

[00:09:54] On average, each post gets three shares, but video

[00:09:58] posts will get you more.

[00:09:59] This seems to be the case regardless of how many

[00:10:02] followers your page has.

[00:10:04] We have a link to the full study in today's email

[00:10:05] newsletter, which is free to subscribe to just tap

[00:10:08] the link at the top of the show notes or go to

[00:10:10] today in digital.com slash newsletter.

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[00:10:27] Protection, we go beyond to protect more than

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[00:10:32] cities to local communities, CBP agents and

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[00:10:40] beyond for something far greater than yourself.

[00:10:44] Learn more at CBP.gov slash careers.

[00:10:48] You have one unheard message.

[00:10:51] Hi, I was calling current the influence or

[00:10:54] marketing platform, but I think I just got

[00:10:57] redirected to a bunch of people listening to a

[00:10:59] podcast.

[00:11:01] Well, anyways, I was calling current because I

[00:11:03] was told they could help get my brand set up

[00:11:05] on TikTok shop and even build out an affiliate

[00:11:09] program of content creators promoting my brand

[00:11:12] and even have those content creators go on

[00:11:14] live streams and promote my product there.

[00:11:18] Wow, I could really use current.

[00:11:22] I also heard that the brands they work with

[00:11:24] are making millions in sales.

[00:11:26] I guess I'll just go to the website at current.tech.

[00:11:31] Snapchat is launching a new agency program

[00:11:33] called the Advanced Partner Program.

[00:11:36] This is a kind of upgrade to their existing Snap

[00:11:38] Partner Program, which is a marketplace of

[00:11:41] certified Snapchat experts ready to help

[00:11:44] agencies and brands with their on platform

[00:11:46] marketing, quoting Snapchat.

[00:11:48] Advanced partners will receive unique benefits

[00:11:50] throughout the year, including personalized

[00:11:52] training and enablement sessions, dedicated

[00:11:55] support and additional tools and resources.

[00:11:58] We're also making it easier for our partners to

[00:12:00] buy, manage and measure on Snapchat by rolling

[00:12:02] out several new features to simplify collaboration,

[00:12:05] unquote. Those things, by the way, include

[00:12:07] bulk invoice downloads and better campaign

[00:12:10] management. They're also improving asset

[00:12:12] sharing across different brands.

[00:12:14] Some agencies are already in the new advanced

[00:12:16] program, including VaynerMedia, WPromote,

[00:12:19] Horizon Media, Kepler and PMG.

[00:12:22] Despite seeing some increase in revenue,

[00:12:24] Snapchat's growth so far this year has been

[00:12:27] more slow and steady and spectacular.

[00:12:30] This has led the social media company to make

[00:12:32] some tough decisions, including cutting

[00:12:34] staff and streamlining projects in an effort

[00:12:37] to better its financial health.

[00:12:43] Another large retail chain is launching its own

[00:12:45] ad network, but this time it's a bank.

[00:12:48] Chase has launched Chase Media Solutions

[00:12:51] and as far as anyone can tell,

[00:12:53] it's the first media platform led by a

[00:12:55] financial institution.

[00:12:57] The platform lets brands send promotions to

[00:13:00] Chase's 80 million customers.

[00:13:02] This was expected after Chase acquired the

[00:13:04] digital ad platform FIG in 2022.

[00:13:07] And some industry watchers say there's one

[00:13:10] big reason banks may end up being a huge

[00:13:13] player in the retail ad space, quoting

[00:13:15] Martek, quote, Chase's advantage is

[00:13:18] transactional first party data, which

[00:13:21] allow brands and agencies to target based

[00:13:24] on purchase history.

[00:13:25] Retail media networks have that data too,

[00:13:28] but only within their specific stores

[00:13:30] and owned channels.

[00:13:32] Chase customers have purchase histories

[00:13:35] across retailers and other businesses

[00:13:37] they buy from, unquote.

[00:13:43] If you've seen your brand's Instagram

[00:13:44] engagement drop lately, it's likely

[00:13:46] because for whatever reason, the

[00:13:48] algorithm isn't showing your content to

[00:13:50] people who follow your account.

[00:13:52] So Instagram is fixing that and will

[00:13:55] now show all your content to everyone

[00:13:58] who follows you.

[00:13:59] No, I'm just kidding.

[00:14:01] What they have done though is added a

[00:14:02] new sticker that you can add to your

[00:14:04] posts, which when tapped will pop up

[00:14:06] the per account notification panel to

[00:14:09] let users turn on notifications for

[00:14:11] your posts, stories, reels and

[00:14:13] live streams.

[00:14:14] Instagram's head Adam Masari

[00:14:16] reminded brands this week that just

[00:14:18] because a user wants to see all your

[00:14:20] content doesn't mean that Instagram

[00:14:22] will let them, quote.

[00:14:23] Nobody reaches all their followers when

[00:14:25] they post primarily for two reasons.

[00:14:28] One, a lot of your followers won't

[00:14:29] open the app that day and two, those

[00:14:32] who do log in have far more posts to

[00:14:34] see than they have time to spend and

[00:14:36] don't scroll down far enough to get

[00:14:38] every post unquote.

[00:14:41] This is a bit disingenuous, of

[00:14:42] course, since there are actually three

[00:14:44] reasons, the biggest being that it's

[00:14:46] not in Meta's financial interest to

[00:14:48] show all your content to all the

[00:14:50] people who follow you.

[00:14:52] After all, if they did, you wouldn't

[00:14:54] need to run ads to reach them,

[00:14:57] quoting social media today, quote.

[00:14:59] The logic here seems to contradict

[00:15:01] Instagram's push to insert more

[00:15:03] AI based recommendations from

[00:15:05] profiles that you don't follow

[00:15:06] into your feed.

[00:15:08] If there are far more posts in

[00:15:09] your feed than you can possibly see

[00:15:11] each day already, adding in

[00:15:13] additional recommendations is only

[00:15:16] going to make that worse, right?

[00:15:18] In any event, the point is that your

[00:15:19] followers are not necessarily going to

[00:15:21] catch all of your updates.

[00:15:23] And this will provide another means

[00:15:25] to ensure that you're maximizing

[00:15:26] reach to your most engaged fans by

[00:15:28] giving them the option to opt into

[00:15:30] alerts for specific content types.

[00:15:37] And finally, the once ad free

[00:15:40] world of streaming video services

[00:15:42] is almost entirely gone now.

[00:15:44] Only Apple TV is still ad free and

[00:15:47] I give that another month or two

[00:15:48] max before they start running ads

[00:15:49] there too.

[00:15:51] We've even seen these platforms have

[00:15:52] ad placements for when people have

[00:15:54] paused their program placements,

[00:15:57] which let's face it as marketers

[00:16:00] are kind of genius.

[00:16:02] But now enter the world of pause

[00:16:04] ads on hardware.

[00:16:06] Roku has a recently revealed patent

[00:16:08] that will show an ad whenever

[00:16:10] anything plugged into your TV's

[00:16:12] HDMI port is paused,

[00:16:15] which could mean if you're using an

[00:16:17] Apple TV box to watch Apple TV

[00:16:19] content, even though Apple

[00:16:21] hasn't put any ads there,

[00:16:23] your HDMI port will.

[00:16:25] But it's not just TV sticks and

[00:16:27] boxes that are plugged into those

[00:16:28] things DVD players are.

[00:16:31] Even gaming consoles connect via

[00:16:33] HDMI.

[00:16:35] You imagine spending 60 hours

[00:16:38] in the brilliant game of Bioshock.

[00:16:40] You finally get to the end.

[00:16:42] Meet Andrew Ryan.

[00:16:44] You think you have memories

[00:16:47] of family

[00:16:49] and airplane.

[00:16:51] A crash.

[00:16:53] Was there really a family?

[00:16:56] I have typed you diabetes,

[00:16:58] but I manage it well.

[00:16:59] It's a little pill with a big story

[00:17:02] to tell.

[00:17:03] It's actually even more Machiavellian

[00:17:04] since the patent mentions text

[00:17:06] recognition to try to figure out what

[00:17:08] you're watching at that moment

[00:17:10] and then try to find an appropriate ad

[00:17:12] to play, which,

[00:17:14] in the case of Bioshock,

[00:17:16] would be hilariously ironic given the

[00:17:18] game's theme of capitalism

[00:17:20] gone amok.

[00:17:22] Of course, it's just a patent

[00:17:24] might not go anywhere.

[00:17:26] But like Andrew Ryan himself said,

[00:17:30] if I were a betting man,

[00:17:38] on Monday, a deep dive into

[00:17:40] shrinkflation from the

[00:17:42] marketer's perspective, nobody wants

[00:17:44] to have to do it.

[00:17:45] But if you must, turns out there's a

[00:17:47] right way and a wrong way.

[00:17:49] I will speak to the author of a new

[00:17:50] research paper on the topic

[00:17:53] that will do it for the week today.

[00:17:54] In digital marketing is produced by

[00:17:56] Engage Q Digital on the traditional

[00:17:57] territories of this du name of First

[00:17:59] Nation on Vancouver Island.

[00:18:01] Our production coordinator is Sarah

[00:18:02] Guild. Our theme is by Mark

[00:18:04] Blevis ad coordination

[00:18:06] by Red Circle.

[00:18:08] I'm Todd Mappin.

[00:18:09] Have a restful weekend, friends.

[00:18:11] I'll see you on Monday.

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