Looking to boost your digital marketing strategy with quality content? Want to reach a qualified, engaged audience across the web? You've heard of Outbrain, but you're not sure how to use it effectively?
This article is for you! We'll walk you through Outbrain, the leading content recommendation platform on the web, and share the best practices for getting the most out of its features. Whether you're an advertiser or a publisher, you'll discover how Outbrain can help you achieve your visibility, traffic, and conversion goals.
Introduction to Outbrain
What is Outbrain and why does it matter?
Outbrain is a platform specializing in sponsored link recommendations in the form of native ads — ads that blend seamlessly into the editorial content of media websites. Outbrain allows advertisers to distribute their content (articles, videos, infographics, etc.) across a network of more than 10,000 partner sites, including Le Monde, L'Express, Le Figaro, and others. Outbrain also enables publishers to monetize their audience by displaying personalized content recommendations to their readers.
Outbrain is therefore a platform that connects content creators with content consumers, using sophisticated algorithms that analyze users' behavioral, contextual, and demographic data. Outbrain generates more than 344 billion recommendations per month, reaching over one billion internet users worldwide.
Outbrain is an essential platform for digital marketing professionals, offering several key benefits:
- It helps build brand awareness and credibility by distributing relevant, high-quality content on reputable media sites.
- It drives traffic to your website by capturing users' attention with compelling headlines and eye-catching visuals.
- It improves conversion rates by targeting a qualified audience that is genuinely interested in the content topic.
- It helps optimize cost-per-click (CPC) through a performance-based bidding system.
- It lets you measure campaign effectiveness using detailed analytics and reporting tools.
Outbrain Basics for Advertisers
How to set up an Outbrain Advertiser account
To get started with Outbrain as an advertiser, you need to create an account on the platform. Simply fill in a few details like your name, email, country, and currency. Then, choose one of the three ad formats available:
- Amplify: Outbrain's classic format, which involves distributing links to external content (articles, videos, etc.) across partner sites. This format is well-suited for driving traffic to your website and generating leads.
- Video: Outbrain's video format, which lets you run native videos (which auto-play as the user scrolls) or in-stream videos (which play before or during another video) on partner sites. This format works well for building brand awareness and engagement.
- Carousel: Outbrain's carousel format, which lets you display multiple images or videos in a single ad with a swipeable interface. This format is ideal for showcasing multiple products or services.
Once you've chosen your ad format, create your campaign by filling in the following details:
- Campaign name
- Total budget and daily budget
- Campaign start and end dates
- Maximum CPC (the maximum amount you're willing to pay per click on your ad)
- Content to promote (the ad's headline, URL, and image)
- Geographic, language, demographic, and behavioral audience targeting
- Advanced options such as device targeting, site targeting, interest targeting, etc.
Once the campaign is created, you'll need to wait for Outbrain's review, which checks that the content complies with the platform's editorial guidelines. These guidelines are designed to ensure the quality and relevance of content distributed across the Outbrain network by filtering out misleading, offensive, illegal, or inappropriate content. Allow approximately 24 hours for the campaign to be approved and go live.
Choosing the right ad format
To choose the ad format best suited to your goals, consider the following factors:
- Content format: depending on whether you want to distribute text, images, or video, go with the Amplify, Carousel, or Video format. Also make sure to follow each format's technical specifications, such as size, resolution, or duration requirements.
- Content message: depending on whether you want to inform, entertain, or persuade users, adapt the tone, style, and content of your ad. Also ensure your content complies with Outbrain's editorial guidelines, which require content to be clear, honest, and relevant.
- Stage in the customer journey: depending on whether you want to attract attention, generate interest, or drive action, choose the ad format that matches your audience's level of readiness. For example, the Video format can be effective for brand awareness, while the Amplify format can be effective for lead generation.
You can test different ad formats to compare their performance and optimize your strategy. Outbrain offers an A/B testing tool that lets you create multiple variations of the same campaign and measure key metrics like click-through rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC), conversion rate (CVR), or return on investment (ROI).
How to Optimize Your Outbrain Campaign
Techniques for creating compelling ads
To create ads that grab attention and get users to click, follow these best practices:
- Write compelling headlines: use keywords that resonate with your audience, include numbers or statistics to back up your point, and ask questions or use phrases that spark curiosity or emotion. Avoid headlines that are too long, too vague, or overly sensationalized.
- Choose eye-catching images: use high-quality images that illustrate the content topic, feature human faces or emotions, and incorporate bold or contrasting colors. Avoid images that are too small, blurry, or generic.
- Tailor your content to the context: consider the site where the ad will appear, the type of device the user is on, the time of day, and the season. Personalize your content based on the user's profile or behavior whenever possible.
You can use Outbrain's automatic creation tool, which generates multiple variations of the same campaign using different headlines and images, letting you pick the top performer.
The importance of proper targeting
To maximize the return on investment of your Outbrain campaign, you need to reach the right audience — one that's likely to be interested in your content and take action. To do this, use the targeting options Outbrain provides to segment your audience across multiple dimensions:
- Geographic targeting: lets you run your ad in one or more countries, regions, or cities.
- Language targeting: lets you run your ad in one or more languages.
- Demographic targeting: lets you run your ad based on users' age, gender, or income.
- Behavioral targeting: lets you run your ad based on users' interests, purchase intent, or browsing habits.
- Device targeting: lets you run your ad based on the type of device (desktop, mobile, or tablet) the user is on.
- Site targeting: lets you run your ad on specific sites or site categories (news, sports, entertainment, etc.).
You can combine multiple targeting criteria to narrow your segmentation and reach a more qualified audience. You can also use exclusion lists to exclude certain sites or audiences that don't align with your goals.
Understanding and Using Outbrain Smartfeed
What is Outbrain Smartfeed and why use it?
Outbrain Smartfeed is an innovative Outbrain feature that enhances both the user experience and campaign performance. Outbrain Smartfeed is a personalized content recommendation feed displayed as an infinite scroll, allowing users to browse through content that interests them. Outbrain Smartfeed blends editorial content, sponsored content, and interactive content (polls, quizzes, games, etc.) to deliver a richer and more engaging experience for users.
Outbrain Smartfeed offers several benefits for advertisers:
- It increases ad impressions and clicks by making them more visible and more appealing.
- It improves user retention and loyalty by surfacing content tailored to their preferences and behavior.
- It optimizes cost per acquisition (CPA) and return on investment (ROI) by targeting a more qualified and more engaged audience.
How to integrate Outbrain Smartfeed into a marketing campaign
To integrate Outbrain Smartfeed into your marketing strategy, follow these steps:
- Create an Outbrain advertiser account and choose the Amplify, Video, or Carousel ad format.
- Create your campaign by filling in the required details (budget, content, targeting, etc.).
- Select the "Smartfeed" option in the campaign's advanced settings.
- Launch the campaign and wait for Outbrain's approval.
Once the campaign is live, you can track its performance using the analytics and reporting tools provided by Outbrain. You can also optimize your campaign by testing different ad variations or adjusting your targeting.
Tracking and Analyzing Campaign Performance
What tools and reports does Outbrain provide for tracking?
To measure the effectiveness of your Outbrain campaign, use the tools and reports the platform makes available. Outbrain offers several types of reports that let you visualize key campaign data, such as impressions, clicks, conversions, cost per click (CPC), cost per acquisition (CPA), return on investment (ROI), and more. Outbrain also offers custom reports, which let you filter data by different criteria such as date, country, site, ad format, and so on.
Outbrain also provides optimization tools to help improve campaign performance, including A/B testing, which lets you compare multiple variations of a campaign and identify the top performer, and the conversion pixel, which tracks the actions users take after clicking on an ad (purchase, sign-up, download, etc.).
How to analyze results and make the necessary adjustments
To analyze the results of your Outbrain campaign, focus on the key metrics that align with your goals. For example, if the goal is to drive traffic to your website, look at the number of clicks and the click-through rate (CTR) for your ad. If the goal is to build brand awareness, look at the number of impressions and the impression rate (ITR) for your ad. If the goal is to generate leads or sales, look at the number of conversions and the conversion rate (CVR) for your ad.
To make the necessary adjustments, identify the factors influencing your campaign's performance, such as the content, targeting, or budget. For example, if the click-through rate is low, you may need to update your ad's headline or image to make it more compelling. If the conversion rate is low, you may need to refine your targeting to reach a more qualified audience. If the cost per click is high, you may need to reduce your budget or maximum CPC to optimize your return on investment.
Outbrain for Publishers
Benefits of using Outbrain for publishers
Outbrain isn't just a platform for advertisers — it's also a powerful tool for publishers. Outbrain enables publishers to monetize their audience by displaying personalized content recommendations to their readers. Outbrain offers two types of recommendations:
- Editorial recommendations: these are the publisher's own content, displayed at the bottom of articles to encourage readers to spend more time on the site and explore additional pages.
- Sponsored recommendations: these are content pieces from Outbrain's advertiser partners, displayed at the bottom of articles to generate ad revenue for the publisher.
Outbrain offers several benefits for publishers:
- It increases time on site and pageviews by surfacing content tailored to users' interests.
- It improves user satisfaction and loyalty by delivering an enjoyable experience without disruptive advertising.
- It generates additional revenue by sharing a portion of the income generated from clicks on sponsored ads.
Getting the Most Out of Outbrain Advertising
Winning strategies to improve ROI
To get the most out of Outbrain advertising, you need an effective marketing strategy tailored to your goals. Here are a few tips for a successful Outbrain campaign:
- Define your goals and key metrics: know what you want to achieve with your Outbrain campaign and which metrics will measure success. For example, if you want to drive traffic to your website, track the number of clicks and click-through rate (CTR) for your ad.
- Create quality content: produce content that delivers real value to users — content that is relevant, original, and engaging. Also make sure to follow Outbrain's editorial guidelines, which ensure the quality and credibility of content distributed across the network.
- Choose the right ad format: select the Amplify, Video, or Carousel format based on the format, message, and stage of the customer journey your content addresses. Test different ad variations to find the top performer.
- Target the right audience: use Outbrain's targeting options to segment your audience by geographic, language, demographic, behavioral, and other criteria. Also exclude sites or audiences that don't align with your goals.
- Use Outbrain Smartfeed: enable the Smartfeed option to take advantage of this innovative feature, which enhances the user experience and boosts campaign performance.
- Track and analyze results: use the tools and reports provided by Outbrain to measure campaign effectiveness, focusing on the key metrics that match your goals. Make the necessary adjustments based on the results.
How to increase traffic and visibility with Outbrain
To increase traffic and visibility for your website with Outbrain, you need an effective content marketing strategy tailored to your audience. Here are some tips for a successful content marketing strategy with Outbrain:
- Define your target audience and their needs: understand your audience, their interests, pain points, motivations, and more. Also identify the keywords they use to search for content online.
- Create relevant, useful content: produce content that addresses your audience's needs and expectations — content that provides information, advice, and solutions. Make sure the content is clear, well-structured, and easy to read.
- Distribute content on Outbrain: choose the Amplify ad format to promote your content across the Outbrain network, using compelling headlines and eye-catching images to drive clicks. Target your audience using the most relevant criteria to reach qualified users.
- Optimize your website: make sure your website delivers a great user experience by being fast, responsive, and secure. Also optimize your site for organic search (SEO) by using relevant keywords, appropriate HTML tags, internal and external links, and so on.
- Build audience loyalty: encourage users to come back to your website by consistently delivering varied, high-quality content. Give them the option to subscribe to your newsletter, follow you on social media, or reach out by email.
Conclusion
Outbrain is a platform that offers significant advantages for digital marketing professionals, whether you're an advertiser or a publisher. By using Outbrain, you can:
- Distribute quality content across a network of reputable media sites.
- Reach a qualified and engaged audience online.
- Improve your visibility, traffic, and conversion rates.
- Optimize your cost per click and return on investment.
- Monetize your audience by displaying personalized content recommendations.
- Enhance your user experience and build loyalty.
Outbrain is a platform that can help you achieve your digital marketing goals by offering solutions tailored to your needs and budget. It's also a platform that continues to evolve, rolling out innovative features like Outbrain Smartfeed that keep you ahead of the latest web trends.
Want expert support for your digital marketing strategy? Don't hesitate to reach out!
FAQs
Q: How does Outbrain work?
R: Outbrain is a native advertising platform that automatically recommends content across your favorite media sites. These recommendations are based on how you interact with the content where Outbrain is installed. Advertisers can refine their campaign targeting to boost their results.
Q: What is paid Outbrain?
R: The term "paid Outbrain" refers to content you pay to distribute and promote. This includes paid search, social media advertising, display ads, sponsored content, and content discovery platforms like Outbrain.
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