Nanigans is one of Facebook’s largest ad buyers specifically focusing on retail advertising. According to the company (via VentureBeat), iOS-based ads have shown a surprisingly high click through rate:

“Retailers are realizing significantly greater return from audiences on iOS than audiences on Android,” the report says. “For the first three quarters of 2013, RPC [revenue per click] on iOS averaged 6.1 times higher than Android and ROI [return on investment] on iOS averaged 17.9 times higher than Android.”

“Audiences cost more on iPhone, and the reason is that it’s worth it,” Slagen said. “Typically, we’re not looking to acquire one-time customers, we’re looking to invest over time … so we pay more up front for better long-term results.”

The graph above shows retailers’ return on investment for Facebook mobile advertising. It’s definitely an interesting study considering that Facebook seems to be deeply integrated with Android. It’s also important to note that these results will vary across different industries.

According to VentureBeat, Nanigans SVP Dan Slagen said that this data is very different when looking at the gaming or e-commerce industries, but when it comes to retail, iOS is the clear winner. Apparently, iOS users click on ads and buy more merchandise than Android users. Could it be that the mobile shopping experience across various sites caters to iOS devices over Android devices?

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Image: Flickr, Simon Q

The post Facebook Ads Are 1,790% More Profitable on iOS Than Android appeared first on Digitrock.

Nanigans is one of Facebook’s largest ad buyers specifically focusing on retail advertising. According to the company (via VentureBeat), iOS-based ads have shown a surprisingly high click through rate:

“Retailers are realizing significantly greater return from audiences on iOS than audiences on Android,” the report says. “For the first three quarters of 2013, RPC [revenue per click] on iOS averaged 6.1 times higher than Android and ROI [return on investment] on iOS averaged 17.9 times higher than Android.”

“Audiences cost more on iPhone, and the reason is that it’s worth it,” Slagen said. “Typically, we’re not looking to acquire one-time customers, we’re looking to invest over time … so we pay more up front for better long-term results.”

The graph above shows retailers’ return on investment for Facebook mobile advertising. It’s definitely an interesting study considering that Facebook seems to be deeply integrated with Android. It’s also important to note that these results will vary across different industries.

According to VentureBeat, Nanigans SVP Dan Slagen said that this data is very different when looking at the gaming or e-commerce industries, but when it comes to retail, iOS is the clear winner. Apparently, iOS users click on ads and buy more merchandise than Android users. Could it be that the mobile shopping experience across various sites caters to iOS devices over Android devices?

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Image: Flickr, Simon Q

The post Facebook Ads Are 1,790% More Profitable on iOS Than Android appeared first on Digitrock.

Previously, teens using Facebook were only able to share content with friends, friends of friends and custom groups like “family.” Now, they can choose to share posts to anyone on Facebook, just like users 18 and older.

“Teens are among the savviest people using of social media, and whether it comes to civic engagement, activism, or their thoughts on a new movie, they want to be heard,” Facebook wrote in a blog post. “While only a small fraction of teens using Facebook might choose to post publicly, this update now gives them the choice to share more broadly, just like on other social media services.”

Any teenager wishing to share a status update or post publicly must first manually change the audience setting on his post to “public” before sharing. After doing so, a pop-up explains that the post will be visible to everyone on the site. The post will go live once the user clicks “ok” on this pop-up box, acknowledging he has seen the warning and intends to share publicly.

Facebook’s audience settings remain unchanged from post to post for all users, including teens. For example, if a user shares a post publicly, the audience setting will remain on “public” for the user’s next post. For teens, a second reminder message will pop up if they choose to post publicly the next time around.

Teenagers can also change settings to allow non-friends to follow public posts. Users who choose to follow a teenager will be able to see these public posts, with the exception of posts that have not been shared with them. Teenagers will not be followable automatically, and will need to manually update their settings to enable follows.

A new teenager who join Facebook will have his audience settings automatically set to “friends,” and will need to manually change that setting in order to share with the public.

Wednesday’s update will not impact existing Facebook posts from teens, and it won’t automatically change the audience for any future posts. That must be done manually. The update simply gives teenagers the ability to share publicly, just as they can on other social sites like Twitter.

The new update will begin rolling out slowly to all users starting Wednesday afternoon.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Image: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

The post Facebook Lowers Age Rule to Allow Teens to Post Publicly appeared first on Digitrock.

A lack of interaction tells the tale. Clearly you paid good money to expose lots of people to this particular piece of content, but most gave it little mind.

That doesn’t have to be the case. There are people who do nothing but study the performance of social advertising all day. We talked to some and gleaned a few insights. If you want to run an ad with a halfway decent chance of getting a social lift, check out these pro tips.

1. Think About Who You Are Targeting

While we’ve established that an ad with no Likes is an embarrassing failure, it’s also true that an ad with a lot of interaction from the wrong people is a waste of pixels. Lucky for you, Twitter and Facebook both have sophisticated turnkey programs that let you target users by demographic, location and affinities, among other variables.

For instance, say you wanted to target all the feta cheese fans in New Jersey. Facebook lets you do just that.

As Peter Goodman, VP of Social.com at Salesforce.com, notes, a successful social media ad program relies on good customer data. Who is really buying your products? What are they interested in? “You really need to start to think more deeply about these amazing targeting features,” he says. “Concentrate on the demo you know are going to work and then build that out to scale.”

How to do that? Back in March, Facebook released Lookalike Audiences, a program that uses Facebook’s data to identify people who aren’t currently fans of your site, but who have similar characteristics to your fans.

2. Not Every Ad Has to Be Social

Take a look at most advertising you see. Is it something you would want to pass on to a friend? No. That’s because most ads are not entertaining in themselves, but are either formulated to propose a call to action or as a branding exercise. “If you think of the typical ad with the shot of the car driving on the mountain against the sunset, there’s nothing particularly social about it,” says David Berkowitz, CMO of the marketing agency MRY. “You have to consider if there’s anything social about it.”

There doesn’t have to be. A very targeted ad with a call to action will be social because people seeing the ad are in the market for the product or service. Similarly, a branding ad might go over well with rabid fans of the brand.

Jimmy Kimmel notwithstanding, creating a viral video, though, is nearly impossible Berkowitz says. Jim Squires, director of ad product marketing at Facebook, says that video probably wouldn’t do much for your business anyway. “Stay on point,” he says. “Funny cat videos may pull likes, but they won’t help you achieve a business objective. Make sure you’re crisp on the business objective — as you would be for any ad campaign — and create content that is relevant and supports your story.”

3. Social Ads Don’t Have to Look Like Ads

Facebook’s Promoted Posts and Twitter’s Promoted Tweets look more like communication with consumers than ads. That’s by design. The top social networks are pushing a native advertising experience, which translates roughly to branded content.

“Take the time to do great creative — asset planning and creation is often overlooked for this new medium,” says Squires. “Sharing thoughtful, timely, iconic pieces is important, since it’s being seen alongside compelling content from friends and family.” At Facebook, they call these interactions “stories.” Squires says marketers should think of them the same way: “Tell stories –- people remember stories, not facts.”

Sometimes social ads don’t even need to be ads. Berkowitz points to the Audi Instagram feed as an instance of non-advertising advertising. “Almost every image has an Audi logo in it,” he says. “And there are thousands of interactions with each post.”

4. Optimize for Mobile

Obviously, a desktop-first model for advertising won’t work in a world in which Facebook’s mobile ad revenues are on track to supplant its take from desktop. How do you make sure your ad works as well on a phone or tablet as it does on the web? Says Squire: “Make sure posts are succinct — your key point should be made in the first 90 characters — and ensure that any photo or video works well on mobile.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Image: Red Bull, Facebook

The post 4 Best Practices for Social Advertising – Social Media Marketing appeared first on Digitrock.

The decision (.PDF) to consider a Facebook “Like” as protected speech may set a precedent of how courts apply freedom of speech rules to users’ online activities.

For the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va,, Liking a candidate on Facebook should have the same protections as real-life actions that show political support.

“Liking a political candidate’s campaign page communicates the user’s approval of the candidate and supports the campaign by associating the user with it,” wrote Judge William Traxler, who authored the opinion. “It is the Internet equivalent of displaying a political sign in one’s front yard, which the Supreme Court has held is substantive speech.”

The case hinged over whether B.J. Roberts, the sheriff of Hampton, Va., illegally fired six of his employees who supported Jim Adams, his opponent in the sheriff’s elections. One of the employees, Former Deputy Sheriff Daniel Ray Carter, had Liked the Facebook page of his boss’ political opponent.

Facebook, the fired employees and the American Civil Liberties Union argued that a Facebook Like must be considered free speech. This would mean that an employer cannot legally fire his or her employees for expressing opinions on the social network. an employer cannot legally fire his or her employees for expressing opinions on the social network.

The federal district judge who first ruled on the issue decided that a Facebook Like was “insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection.” For the judge, a Facebook Like didn’t involve an “actual statement,” unlike Facebook posts, which have been granted constitutional protection in other legal cases.

Today, Judge Traxler disagreed.

“On the most basic level, clicking on the ‘like’ button literally causes to be published the statement that the User ‘likes’ something, which is itself a substantive statement,” he wrote.

“We are pleased the court recognized that a Facebook ‘Like’ is protected by the First Amendment,” read an emailed statement by Pankaj Venugopal, Facebook’s associate general counsel.

The ACLU applauded the decision as well. “This ruling rightly recognizes that the First Amendment protects free speech regardless of the venue, whether a sentiment is expressed in the physical world or online. The Constitution doesn’t distinguish between ‘liking’ a candidate on Facebook and supporting him in a town meeting or public rally,” said Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU Speech, Privacy & Technology Project in an emailed statement.

The ruling reinstated the claims of Carter and two other fired employees. If they win the case, they may get their jobs back.

Do you agree with this decision? Should the First Amendment protect Facebook Likes?

Image: Photo by Stephen Lam/Getty Images

The post Your Facebook ‘Like’ Is Now Protected by the U.S. Constitution appeared first on Digitrock.

The company is currently selling a shade of nail polish, “social butterfly blue” at its campus store in Menlo Park, Calif. Although Facebook told Mashable it added the polish to its collection of branded swag at the beginning of the year, its existence was recently brought to light by Huffington Post executive tech editor Bianca Bosker, who tweeted a picture of it on sale at the headquarters’ store.

You won’t find the Facebook logo on the packaging, though. Instead, it’s decorated with a small icon of a butterfly.

Unfortunately, you’ll have to visit the shop in person to pick up your Facebook blue polish; no online orders are available. Each bottle costs $4.95.

Image: Mashable composite; images: iStockphoto, gawriloff; Facebook

The post Facebook Sells ‘Social Butterfly Blue’ Nail Polish- Facebook Marketing appeared first on Digitrock.

When users sign in to an app like Lyft or Words With Friends using their Facebook login credentials, they can now specify exactly what they would like to share with Facebook in a two-step process. The first step asks for “read permissions,” which dictate the information from the app accessible to Facebook. The second step presents “write permissions,” which if accepted, allow the user to post directly back to his news feed through the app.

Previously, the two permissions were a package deal, meaning you couldn’t agree to one without also green-lighting the other. The update in April granted users more control and enabled them to accept just one or the other if they weren’t comfortable accepting both, according to Chris Daniels, director of business development at Facebook. The update is now fully available to all users, and a recent study of certain “high quality” apps by the social network found that 80% of users accepted the permissions when prompted.

Facebook benefits from users logging in to third-party apps using their Facebook profile. Those who log in with Facebook count as “active” users for the platform — more logins mean more content shared back to the site. Facebook has more than 850 million login events per month, and 81 of the 100 top-grossing iOS apps support Facebook login features, according to the company’s blog post. On Android, 62 of the 100 top-grossing apps support Facebook logins.

The new permission option was based on feedback from users and developers who felt they needed more control, Daniels said. Often, users timid about sharing back to Facebook saw the permissions page and simply elected to bypass logging in altogether.

“We understand people’s concerns about apps posting on their Timeline or to their friends,” Facebook posted on its blog. “The recent changes to Login are just the beginning of more improvements you’ll see as we continue working to provide useful services for developers that are easy for users to understand.”

Have you ever skipped logging into an app because of Facebook permissions? Tell us in the comments below.

Image: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

The post Facebook Now Gives More Control Over What You Share appeared first on Digitrock.

In an attempt to make it easier for businesses to create a Facebook ad, the company announced a deal with Shutterstock on Thursday that will provide free access to millions of images for use in ads. The photos will be available in Facebook’s ad creation tool.

“This is important especially for small businesses who may not have resources for sourcing quality images,” Facebook noted in a blog post.

In addition, businesses can use multiple images in different ads to test which ones work best and then place their buys accordingly. Ben Pavlovic, founding partner of VineSprout, a Chicago-based PR firm, says adding such functionality will help small businesses. “Before you had to take your own [photos] or find your own free service,” he says. “I also think you have companies out there that wouldn’t think twice about pulling a Google image.” Pavlovic says photos are an integral element. “Just in terms of engagement, finding the right image can make or break your ad,” he says.

As part of the announcement, Facebook also updated its Android and iOS Pages Manager apps. Users can now upload multiple images from their mobile phones and edit existing Page admins and add new Page admins to Pages they manage.

The upgrade comes after Facebook announced in June that more than 1 million advertisers are using the platform.

Image: Flickr, Orin Zebest

The post Facebook to Provide Free Photos for Businesses to Use in Ads appeared first on Digitrock.

In an attempt to make it easier for businesses to create a Facebook ad, the company announced a deal with Shutterstock on Thursday that will provide free access to millions of images for use in ads. The photos will be available in Facebook’s ad creation tool.

“This is important especially for small businesses who may not have resources for sourcing quality images,” Facebook noted in a blog post.

In addition, businesses can use multiple images in different ads to test which ones work best and then place their buys accordingly. Ben Pavlovic, founding partner of VineSprout, a Chicago-based PR firm, says adding such functionality will help small businesses. “Before you had to take your own [photos] or find your own free service,” he says. “I also think you have companies out there that wouldn’t think twice about pulling a Google image.” Pavlovic says photos are an integral element. “Just in terms of engagement, finding the right image can make or break your ad,” he says.

As part of the announcement, Facebook also updated its Android and iOS Pages Manager apps. Users can now upload multiple images from their mobile phones and edit existing Page admins and add new Page admins to Pages they manage.

The upgrade comes after Facebook announced in June that more than 1 million advertisers are using the platform.

Image: Flickr, Orin Zebest

The post Facebook to Provide Free Photos for Businesses to Use in Ads appeared first on Digitrock.

When it comes to Facebook, however, monthly active users have become a mere side dish to the more relevant main course that is “daily active users.” During the company’s Q2 earnings call, there was an entire menu of them: Daily actives worldwide (699 million), mobile daily actives (469 million in June), and even the number of active users during America’s daily primetime television hours (88 to 100 million).

So when Facebook unveiled its daily active users figure for the U.S. last week — 128 million — it didn’t simply break the industry standard, it began the process of rewriting it.

“A lot of people focus on monthly active users or even registered users to demonstrate their size and scale,” the Menlo Park, Calif. company wrote in an email to media. “We think this is becoming on old way of looking at the media world. In this world, understanding who comes back at least once a month is only part of the picture.”

Facebook defines “daily active users” as those who “actively visited/engaged with Facebook.” In other words, active users are considered anyone who uses their Facebook login, even if it’s for a third-party app.

A company spokesperson said the announcements highlighting daily active users won’t come regularly, and that there is still value in monitoring and publishing monthly active users. Facebook’s actions, however, seem to demonstrate its dedication to using the new metric.

For a company with the social-media giant’s user base, there are multiple benefits to releasing daily user figures. For starters, they uphold the network’s position as an industry leader, but these figures can also have a major impact on ad sales by providing marketers with information on exactly who they can reach and when.

“Our clients rely on Facebook to connect their message with the people that matter to them, every hour of every day,” Will Platt-Higgins, Facebook’s director of global accounts, said in a statement. “We want to provide marketers with helpful metrics and insights on consumer behavior, across all devices, to maximize the effectiveness of their campaigns. If a business has a sale on Monday, or if a film is premiering, Facebook gives marketers the certainty that they are reaching the right people, on any given day.”

Of course, changing the industry standard — intentionally or not — requires participation from said industry. Other social networks don’t break out daily active users, although some appear to share Facebook’s mindset.

“We look at a number of signals for engagement, but since most members rely on Nextdoor on a daily basis, it makes sense for us to focus on daily and weekly actives,” Nirav Tolia, co-founder and CEO of Nextdoor, said in a statement. Nextdoor, a social network for neighborhoods, does not reveal its daily active user data.

Path, a social network for close friends and family, has a similar view.

“What we care most about is that people use the app multiple times every day,” Nate Johnson, the company’s vice-president of marketing, said. “We pay very close attention to that.” Path also doesn’t publish daily user data.

Other social networks such as LinkedIn, however, are not convinced.

“LinkedIn will continue to use monthly average users as a way to gauge engagement,” according to a company statement. “Because we focus on the quality of time spent by our members rather than the amount of time, monthly average user continues to be a meaningful metric for advertisers who want to drive engagement over time.”

Both microblogging service Twitter and Google+, the second-most popular social platform behind Facebook based on monthly active users, declined to comment. (Vine, the video-sharing service owned by Twitter reported total registered users on Tuesday, but not monthly actives.)

For the time being, Facebook appears to be in a league of its own, and said it plans to continue releasing monthly active user metrics. After all, it is the industry standard.

Would you rather receive data about a social network’s daily or monthly active users? Give us your take in the comments, below.

Image: Flickr, Robert Scoble

The post Can Facebook Rewrite the Industry Standard For User Engagement? appeared first on Digitrock.