As high streets start to get busy in the run-up to the holidays, so do digital channels, where competition for customers’ attention is high. The stakes are also high, but marketers have limited budgets and time resources to implement their performance marketing strategies. AI tools can improve the efficiency of businesses during their busiest times, free up time for professionals to think strategically, and alleviate some of the pressure of competing for attention during the very important period of Black Friday and Christmas.
Mobile platforms, and especially social platforms, are crucial for brands during the holiday season. According to Meta’s “Holiday Season Performance Guide,” more than half of global shoppers (55%) say Meta helped influence their seasonal purchases. But these buyers have diverse needs and behaviors that businesses need to be aware of if they want to optimize their ads and stay relevant. At this pivotal time for brands, AI can step in by becoming a creative partner, a source of audience insights, and a foundation for new formats that keep your brand and products fresh in consumers’ minds and help to avoid advertising fatigue.
An additional advantage to meet demand
A useful tool is Meta-advantage, which uses AI to optimize every stage of your campaign, including audience, creative, destination, location and budget, to effectively manage your campaigns.
Meta advantage understand Advantage+ Shopping Campaignswhich automates the targeting, distribution and placement of advertising campaigns to find new customers. To better optimize their budgets for times when they anticipate higher sales, marketers can also use budget planning when setting up their Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns. It’s an approach that works. Tests have shown that on average, Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns improved cost per acquisition by 17% and return on ad spend by 32%.
In addition, Advantage+ Catalog Listings automatically provide product recommendations in carousel ads based on a person’s interests. Advertisers can provide more engaging product information to viewers with product-level videos in their campaigns. Advantage+ Catalog Listings also make Reels shoppable, allowing people to easily browse multiple products at once. These features help marketers drive sales for the best products in their catalog as well as their flagship creative.
The use of these tools is already more widespread than one might think. Almost all of our advertisers on Meta use at least one AI-based element of the Meta Advantage Suite and they see that it pays for itself. We published research in conjunction with the National Bureau of Economic Research and found that every £1 spent on our adverts by businesses in the UK generates on average £3.46 in revenue for advertisers. This means that advertising spend on our platform directly supports over £15.5 billion in business revenue each year in the UK.
A Fast Path to Targeted Advertising Designs
Indeed, understanding and adapting to rapidly changing behaviors, such as last-minute gift purchases or impulse purchases, requires precise targeting, but also a bold and proactive approach to creative assets. However, time-poor marketers find themselves increasingly stretched during the holiday season, and with the sheer number of different formats to create assets for, it can become a complex and demanding task to stay afloat.
Generative AI tools can help marketers create new ads with customer-tailored messages faster, allowing them to diversify their creatives at scale. For example, businesses can use Background generation to add variety to the background of product images so they can target different audiences. In the same way, Image expansion seamlessly adjusts creative assets to fit different aspect ratios across multiple surfaces such as stream or reels, while Text variations generates multiple versions of advertising content to be relevant to specific consumers.
Advertisers using these types of creative diversification have seen a 32% increase in campaign effectiveness.
Building for new formats
The holiday season extends beyond a single day and a single opportunity to interact with consumers. That’s why it’s important to leverage a wide range of formats that help you tell a story in new and exciting ways.
Reels have become a format that drives engagement and purchasing decisions by leveraging the power of video with creators to drive performance. In fact, when surveyed by Meta, 79% of respondents said they purchased a product or service after watching Reels. On top of that, there are reminder ads that help advertisers increase awareness, anticipation, and consideration during holiday sales on Instagram by reminding people to shop at the start and before the promotions end.
It is also possible to interact directly with consumers through messaging on various Meta platforms to build relationships and move them further down the purchasing funnel. Announcements Click to send a message send people directly into conversations in Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp when they click on an ad.
Growth Opportunities
Some view the holiday season as a time of year when the growing demand for media buying, optimization and reporting seems insurmountable. Others see it as an opportunity to take advantage of the biggest cultural moment of the year to be seasonally relevant to customers and ready to capitalize on improving brand visibility, market share and customer loyalty. Thanks to AI tools, it’s now easier than ever to be there when, where and how customers need you, while having the resources to strategically plan future campaigns.
