Ad Frequency Optimization Methods

The biggest miss we're seeing with upper funnel execution is FREQUENCY. We just audited a business running awareness media on paid social: - Spending about 16% of budget on awareness (Ad recall optimized) - Running on automatic placements on Meta - 15 unique ads per ad set - Targeting Broad audiences (18+, US, Women) - Average weekly frequency across their awareness efforts was 0.90. We fortunately have a lot of research quantifying how frequency impacts effectiveness (example research shared below). Reach of course still matters a lot, with the first impression having the largest marginal impact. But proper frequency is a key driver of impact: - 0-1.5 weekly frequency is too low - particularly for lesser known brands or more complex products - 1.5 - 2 weekly frequency is optimal - especially when looking at purchase intent - 2+ weekly frequency is most critical for shorter term campaigns, like BTS, but the marginal return per impression is approaching 0 at this point. This is why I have previously harped on broad targeting for "new to awareness" advertisers on Meta. Broad audiences are not inherently bad, and in fact broad reach is important. But broad audiences at the expense of frequency is not a worthwhile tradeoff for most brands moving up funnel. Over emphasis on diverse creative only exacerbates this frequency problem. Performance-oriented teams are conditioned to needing a LOT of ads to "feed the algo" and keep performance up (ASC campaigns often feature 25+ ads). But excessive-creative proliferation dilutes your message and branding even further. So how can you tackle this problem? - Construct your audience size to allow for proper frequency at your budget - broad but not too broad - Test optimizing to reach with a target frequency - this will allow you to maintain a broader audience, but focus delivery on proper frequency - Filter out unproductive reach/impressions with placement exclusions - focus on feed, reels and stories, or just feed and reels. - Limit creative to 2-4 concepts - avoid running with an ASC 20+ creative strategy - Monitor & report on weekly frequency - it's ok to adapt mid flight if you are seeing too high or too low frequency And for those looking to go the extra mile, setup a lift experiment testing across different frequency levels (3-cell, 1, 2 and 3 weekly frequency - or something similar). The above are just guardrails - the best solution for you is to test for yourself. New Engen

1 Metric to improve LinkedIn Ads ROI by 2-5x (no joke) FREQUENCY - What should it be? How to control?? What is frequency, and why is it so important? It's the average number of ads from a given campaign in a given time frame that the typical prospect will see. Example: 90-day retargeting campaign frequency = 5 Meaning: The average prospect in this campaign sees five ads over 90 day period Result? A frequency of 5 in a 90-day period is much too low to have any significant conversion result. Correction: Increase budget or reduce audience size to increase frequency Explanation: So here is the part that most don't seem to understand...what is a good frequency level, and how do I monitor and control it? 1. To view frequency correctly, you must view it through the proper time-frame. There is a different frequency depending on what time frame you look at. 7 days, 30 days, 90 days etc. Looking at the 90-day frequency number when the campaign has only been running for 30 days? This is inaccurate information. You must view it in a time frame where there was data the whole time for it to be accurate. So, for newer campaigns, you'll need to consider a 7-day or 30-day frequency and then do some math to assume a 90-day frequency. 2. Control frequency - The main two levers to control frequency are budget and audience size. Increase budget = increase frequency. Decrease audience size = increase frequency. 3. The most typical mistake I see when it comes to frequency -Low frequency in retargeting campaigns Typical actions that could save $10,000+ in most ad accounts A. If the frequency is too small and the budget isn't easy to increase..look to reduce retargeting audience size by adding in qualifying filters. Possible criteria: 90-day website visits (all traffic not just LinkedIn ads traffic..so yes..this includes Google ads traffic, SEO, organic, and any other paid) 90-day company page visits 90-day cold ad interaction Additional qualifying filters layered on top to reduce audience size AND seniority director level and above AND job function business dev (this is actually how LinkedIn classifies almost all C-suite decision-makers) + marketing functions AND company size 50-200 (have the budget) AND Geography USA + Canada (where we do the most business) Usually, adding in these filters will reduce the audience by 1/2, doubling the frequency and improving the retargeting audience's quality. That's my tips for the day around ad frequency : ) #Linkedinads #marketing #b2b #abm

Meta just dropped a new game-changer tool! Frequency Control for Sales campaigns is finally here. It matters a lot for creative testing. Study shows that after 4 views, performance drops by 60% Your ad might not be bad. It might just be shown too often to the same people! But now we can control it, not only in Reach objective but in Sales. I've seen frequency spikes after just $20 in ad spend on some ads. Now, we can limit that. Quick facts about the new feature: ↳ Only for lifetime campaigns  ↳ Activates after 7 days of running ↳ Not compatible with cost/bid control ↳ Won't work with A+ audiences Despite the limitations, I want to test this for our clients. Controlling the frequency could improve our creative testing process: ☑ Effectively spend your budget ☑ Reduce creative fatigue ☑ Improve performance Fresh eyes = better results. Have you tried it yet? Share insights below! 👇