How effective is information flow advertising? What are the advantages of information flow advertising?

What is information flow advertising ?

"Feeds ads", as the name suggests, are ads that appear in the updates of social media users' friends. The earliest version of this type of advertising appeared on the social networking giant Facebook in 2006, followed by Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, and domestic social media such as QQ Space, Weibo, and WeChat Moments, which also launched information flow advertising.

Information flow advertising combines programmatic buying with highly interactive social platforms. It has the characteristics of personalized delivery, sharing, and commentability. These characteristics determine that it is integrated into the user's friend dynamics in a very natural way and has a high reach rate. Thanks to news feed ads, Facebook, which was once questioned for its inaction on mobile advertising, now has 62% of its revenue coming from mobile advertising.

If you still don’t understand the conceptual information, the following diagram will provide you with a detailed answer.

Is this an information flow ad? The answer is definitely yes. In fact, it is very simple to determine whether it is an information flow advertisement. It depends on the following two points:

1. Product + Native Advertising

For example: the content displayed on the Baidu mobile homepage and the advertisements mixed in with the consulting information when using the APP function to browse information look like news information, but they are more of an introduction to the product. Allow users to browse news and obtain product information imperceptibly.

2. Active push

Information flow is also called feed flow. Feed is a data format through which websites transmit new information to users. The prerequisite for users to subscribe to a website is that the website provides the source of the news. Sources are widely used by blogs and news sites, which update their content frequently. News source is also translated as source material, feed, information provider, contribution, summary, source, news subscription, and online source. As the name suggests, the same is true for information flow advertising, which is actively pushing advertisements. Therefore, passive advertising on some vertical information platforms cannot be considered current information flow advertising. For example, 58.com’s product function is to provide local information services. When netizens search for information on 58, the platform application will display merchant advertisements. These advertising information are themselves platform functions, but they are not actively pushed, but passively triggered, so they are not information flow ads.

Combining the above two points, information flow advertising is actually native advertising that is actively pushed to users when they use Internet service functions and mixed with service functions. What we often see are patterns that appear in social media and information.

Now that you know what information flow advertising is, Xiaodu will show you why major Internet giants are scrambling for information flow advertising.

According to the latest data released by eMarketer, the revenue of various information flow ads in China in 2016 was approximately 24 billion yuan, and the same figure is conservatively estimated to exceed 36 billion yuan in 2017. It is even more likely that for every 5 yuan of budget you spend, 1 yuan is contributed to Feeds AD.

Information flow is a huge piece of cake that all major Internet giants are scrambling to grab. As a giant in Internet advertising, Baidu has also begun to pay attention to information flow advertising. Huang Yan, senior director of display advertising at Baidu, said, "In the U.S. market in 2015, information flow advertising and traditional display advertising each accounted for half of the market. After that, there will be a golden cross between the two, and it is estimated that by 2018, the proportion of information flow advertising will reach 65%. This year, the overall market for information flow advertising will grow by nearly 100%. And Baidu's information flow market volume and share will also soar to the surprise of everyone."

Among many cases, the Eye-catching voice interaction launched by Mercedes-Benz AMG is a typical example. Let us analyze it in detail. Mercedes-Benz has joined hands with Baidu Information Stream and combined with voice recognition technology to turn advertising into a competitive game. Through sound recognition, the advertisement is brought to life. After users enter the interactive interface through Mercedes-Benz information stream advertising, they can shout "start the challenge" or "pass the curve" to precisely control the car; "sprint, sprint" to feel the car's surging power... This series of smooth and cool voice interactions allows users to experience the dynamics of voice interaction in an immersive way. At the same time, once this information advertisement was launched, the number of people participating in the interaction exceeded 700,000, and the click-through rate exceeded the average of the automotive industry by 50%.

Data shows that within just one week of the ad being online, the number of participants exceeded 730,000+, and the click-through rate exceeded the automotive industry average by 50%.

If the barriers of time and space make the car driving experience a dark sea, then Baidu's intent engine and artificial intelligence technology are the innovative forces that cut through space and transcend time.

It has to be said that information flow advertising is diverse in form and can be personalized. It will definitely become the mainstream development trend in the development of Internet business. Today, Baidu has become the main business force of information flow. Baidu has a large amount of data monitoring, among which the core competitiveness of traffic is also a big weight. At the same time, its team of creative optimization service experts also increases its competitiveness.

The channels for the delivery and use of information flow ads are important, but it is equally important to clarify the categories of information flow ads. The following is a brief introduction to the categories of information flow advertising.

Types of information flow ads

Information flow ads contain a lot of content, and if you want to understand them one by one, it will inevitably take a lot of time. However, even if you spend a lot of time, you may not master all of them, so it is very important to classify them effectively at this time. Through the classification of product functions, Xiaojun will briefly introduce as follows:

1. News and information: Its characteristic is that users use it anytime and anywhere in fragmented time, with high frequency and strong stickiness. At the same time, since consulting products were the first to launch information flow advertising, the advertising sales forms are diverse and there are many types of advertising positions. Make precise placements in advance.

2. Social media: Baidu Tieba, etc., which are characterized by strong user interactivity and secondary dissemination of information. They contain a large amount of user registration information and can accurately determine the natural attributes of users. However, since there are no multiple channels like consulting apps, the advertising forms and styles are relatively simple.

3. Search engine: Baidu Mobile is one of the most outstanding search engines in the current search industry, and Baidu Mobile currently has dual superimposed functions: search function + news information. Its characteristics are: due to the dual overlay functions (search + information), it has a huge number of users. Marketing delivery is highly accurate and can target users’ recent purchasing needs. The ROI (return on marketing investment) is high. Due to the large number of users, the traffic cost is reduced and the accuracy is high, the ROI is slightly higher than that of other information flows. It started late, and the forms and styles of delivery are still relatively simple.

4. Video: iQiyi, etc. Due to the improving prospects of the Internet online video market, it is one of the more popular information flow advertisements. However, the characteristics of native information flow advertisements make the production cost of video information flow advertisements relatively high, and it requires the integration of resources from multiple parties.

5. Browser: Baidu Browser and others have the following characteristics: they have a large user base, are often integrated with other platforms, are only triggered on the homepage, and have low user attention.

6. Other content alliances: WIFI keys. This type of product has a single function, a small user base, and a low frequency of use. Therefore, information flow ads are usually launched jointly for multiple products. Compared with other types of information flow ads, their delivery range, accuracy, and conversion rate are slightly insufficient.

From the above introduction, it can be seen that the product functional attributes of information flow largely determine the usage scenario, that is, the product value. News, social media, and search engines are currently the information flow advertisements that advertisers prefer due to their large user base, high accuracy, and strong operability.

Advantages of information flow advertising

Users have gradually formed the habit of reading mobile information through their accumulated online browsing habits. Through native processing of content, users will gradually ignore its advertising attributes, which can achieve the role of brand promotion and finally be fully integrated into the social life of users. The advantages of information flow can be summarized into the following three points:

1. High user accuracy

In order to enable core users to receive advertisements carefully designed by advertisers. Information flow advertising platforms use a variety of methods to find potential users who are interested in products, industries, and brands. Behind every ID is a flesh-and-blood user. In the daily process of browsing information, they will generate their own attribute labels, such as: 18 years old, college student, plastic surgery, two-dimensional, weight loss, etc., and analyze the user's social relationships, interests, hobbies, regions, etc. from multiple angles. Users have their own labels, and advertisers can divide the population according to the labels according to their own needs and find their desired target population.

2. High user experience

Social media increases the relevance between information flow ads and users, allowing advertisers to deliver targeted ads while ensuring that user experience is not compromised. It’s not just about what ads to send to users, but also when to send them. Facebook, the originator of information flow advertising, tends to favor users over advertising interests. When a user shows a strong interest in a certain topic or product, the media will push some related ads to him. But when a user frequently browses and comments on a specific topic or event, the appearance of ads in the information flow will make the user feel irritated and reduce the user experience. If a user browses information without any pattern, without a clear theme or choice, he will be shown more different forms of ads from various industries.

3. Strong relevance

Social media has a love-hate relationship with in-feed ads. On the one hand, information flow advertising is the source of funds that the media relies on for survival; on the other hand, excessive intensity of information flow advertising will affect user popularity and lead to user loss. Therefore, the fundamental thing is to improve the relevance between information flow ads and users, so as to achieve the advertiser's goals while bringing a good experience to users. In addition, when pushing information flow ads, avoid excessive intensity and limit the number of ads.

In short, the placement of information flow advertising is a complex technical job. Only by catering to users' preferences, interacting with users in a subtle way, respecting users, and placing advertisements while ensuring a good user experience can you bring about unexpected results.

Author: Zero Mindset.

Source: Zhihu