If you have ever used Facebook’s advertising system, then you know just how powerful it can be. If only you could bring Facebook’s advertising capabilities to other platforms. Well, now you can. The Facebook Audience Network is a collection of Facebook-approved websites and apps where ads can be displayed. It essentially takes the power of Facebook advertising and brings it to the rest of the web.
According to Facebook, 40% of the top 500 apps are integrated with the Facebook Audience Network. In addition, 80% of audience network ads are native. Native ads draw seven times greater cost-per-impression and 20-40% higher revenue per user than banner ads, creating one of the biggest advantages of utilizing Facebook Audience Network.
How does it work?
The basic rule for learning how to use Facebook Audience Network is understanding how to master the five fundamental types of audience network ads:
- Native Ads: Native Ads give you the freedom to design the best ad units for your business. Since you are deciding how the ads are formatted, they will seamlessly fit in the space you choose. The goal is for these native ads to be organic, thus functioning perfectly with the specific app or platform. Facebook provides many tools for advertisers to build their native ads.
- Banner Ads: These are the ads that show up at the top of an app while it is in use. They tend to be bit less organic and are more “in your face.” These are the designs you think of when someone mentions digital advertising.
- Interstitial Ads: These types of ads are a little more complicated. The interstitial ad is full screen and is usually displayed during a transition in an app (i.e., finishing a level in a game or after loading a story in a news app.)
- In-stream Video Ads: These are the ads that most people dread. On platforms like YouTube, they interrupt the video you are watching for a specific amount of time and you may or may not be able to skip it after 5 seconds. Because people are generally so annoyed with in-stream video ads, it is important to keep them natural, native, delightful and most importantly, brief. Focus on the features that will benefit your audience as quickly as possible so that you increase your chances of grasping and retaining their attention before they click off to continue their viewing experience.
- Rewarded Videos: This is a growing ad type that takes advantage of the mobile game-obsessed generation. Rewarded videos offer users incentives such as virtual currency or other in-app items for watching the video ad all the way through. Make sure your rewarded ads are linked to relevant apps, games, products and services.
What are the benefits?
- Reach: Facebook Audience Network is so cool because it allows you to reach your Facebook users even when they are not on Facebook. You can even target people that do not use Facebook at all. They are able to do this by gathering data from third-party websites and apps.
- Additional Remarketing Opportunities: You will be able to expand the reach of your campaigns significantly. This is great if you have a higher reach objective or if you have a very specific niche audience to reach. With Facebook Audience Network, you will have more opportunities to make yourself visible to them. This means you will be able to target your audience at various stages in the buyer’s journey in order to remarket to them at the best moment.
- Security: According to Facebook, the Audience Network is free of bot traffic and is virtually fraud-free.
- Lower Cost Per Click: Cost-per-click on Facebook Audience Network tends to be lower than that of other promotion platforms. In addition to prices that are already quite affordable, setting up an Audience Network campaign correctly will ensure that you are reaching more people, increasing your conversion rate and doing it all at the lowest possible price.
- Advertiser Outcome Score: This is feedback given to publishers about how ads perform on their content, compared to the Facebook Newsfeed.
How can I get started?
Facebook lists the following steps to get started with Facebook Audience Network:
- Set up your account: Create a Facebook Business Manager account or sign in with your existing account. You’ll need this account to log into Monetization Manager, which is the Audience Network platform for managing your ad monetization.
- Upload your ad: Add the details of the ad you want to start promoting. The Facebook team will review it to make sure it complies with their policies.
- Create your placement: Set up your first placement choosing from our wide range of flexible formats such as rewarded video, playables and interstitials. You’ll also need to integrate the Audience Network SDK (app).
- Increase your traffic and conversions: Publish your ad to start seeing an increase in the number of inquiries and sales. Track your analytics to understand how your ad performs and how you can make changes to increase your conversion rate.
Facebook Audience Network is a great opportunity for both advertisers and app or website owners. It helps save money for marketers and businesses who seek to run Facebook ads on multiple platforms. Since placement is automatically enabled for almost all ad campaigns, it is a marketing option that is effective yet low-maintenance.
Read more about developing a digital ad strategy for your business in our guide on advertising.