Performance marketers are now operating in an environment where being able to make meaningful connections with customers is more vital—but harder to do—than ever before.
This was a central theme at Meta’s Performance Marketing Summit, attended by over 700 marketers from top brands.
When we began exploring the vision for this summit, I worked closely with our top sales leaders and partners to define how this day would best prepare them to achieve long-term performance marketing success.
The Summit content focused on how today’s best practices can drive growth today and build bridges to the opportunities of tomorrow. Mirroring our suggested allocation of resources for marketers below, 70% of content focused on steps marketers can take today to drive growth while roughly 30% explored testing and learning what will work in the future.
Focus on the fundamentals
Devote roughly 70% of your resourcing to these immediate, fundamental building blocks that can help establish a strong foundation for long-term growth:
Automation: In his session “The Performance Roadmap,” John Justice, VP, product management at Meta, discussed using automated solutions, such as Meta’s Advantage + Shopping Campaigns. This type of AI-powered automated solution can help resource-strapped marketers quickly learn what ads are working while freeing their time to explore more visionary opportunities.
Creative Diversification: Marketing today is a constant value exchange, so it’s not surprising that a Meta study of over 100,000 global advertisers showed that after four exposures to the same ad, a person’s likelihood to purchase dropped by roughly 60%. The “Creative Catalysts” session brought together a creative expert and a data scientist to explore this phenomenon and how marketers can combat creative fatigue by keeping the creative mix fresh using multi-asset campaigns. Reels, for example, is an effective creative format that leverages lo-fi production quality to drive authenticity and performance.
Creators: Creators are focused on building trust with their audience, so when they recommend products or services, consumers take note. In the “Creator Connection” panel, Jackie Pimental, head of creator marketing, Instagram, highlighted how creators using branded content ads can help drive a 19% reduction in CPAs, 53% higher clickthrough rates based on a 2022 Meta analysis of 15 advertiser split tests. Collaborating with creators today can also forge important in-roads into the metaverse.
Measurement: Advertisers are expanding into new areas across the marketing funnel. In the “Measuring Success Today” fireside chat, Ken Nelson, managing director at Deloitte, encouraged marketers to use multiple measurement solutions to track all components of a brand’s marketing strategy.
Test and learn your way into new frontiers
While Meta is working collectively with the industry to build the metaverse frontier, clients are encouraged to test existing metaverse technologies and consider how these experiences might fit into a long-term growth roadmap. Eva Press, VP, global business group, Meta, highlighted three key areas for exploration:
Augmented Reality (AR) Ads: AR is a foundational technology for the metaverse that brands can activate today. In fact, according to Facebook IQ (June 2021), 700 million people use AR effects across Meta technologies every month. As you consider testing AR within the customer journey, focus on how the technology is providing true added value to your customers.
Virtual Reality (VR): Meta has launched two immersive VR platforms, Horizon Worlds and Horizon Workrooms, where people can transform how they meet and interact. The most creative ways to use these spaces are still being invented, so there are wild opportunities for you to author an exciting VR future for your business and customers.
Unique digital product offerings (NFTs): New opportunities exist with one-of-a-kind NFT collectibles, so it’s not too early to start thinking now about how NFTs and other innovative digital product offerings could break the mold of engaging customer experiences.
The conversations that took place at Meta’s Performance Marketing Summit reflect an important reality: Strong fundamentals are always essential for performance marketing in any environment, but smart marketers should also be testing, learning and discovering tomorrow’s bleeding edge.
