The social network VKontakte is one of the most recognizable platforms in the world. On average, about 97 million people visit it per month. The coverage of the VKontakte application per month covers 77% of the audience. About 55% visit it daily.

Based on these statistics, most Russian companies turn to the social network for their own advertising and promotions.

1. Entries and publications from the profile.
2. Hidden entries VKontakte.
3. Placement and sale of own products.
4. Publications of texts and images.

This feature allows users to post any type of content and promote it on a social network, even without using the settings of their personal account.

This method allows you to use any type of attachments in a total of up to 10 images, videos, messages, polls.

Images:

• The size should start from a resolution of 510x510 pixels.
• If the photo is rectangular then the sides should be 3:2.
• The maximum image resolution is up to 1000x700 pixels.
• It is better to take a picture on the cover of a publication with a size of 510x286 pixels.
• The snippet has an image size with an external link of 537x240 pixels.
• The photo must be compressed to the maximum size of 1280x1024 pixels.
• For pictures, use only JPG or PNG and GIF formats.

• The maximum admissible video size is up to 5 gigabytes.
• Almost all available video codecs are supported.
• It is better to use a video resolution of 1280x720 pixels. Can be higher quality. The main thing is that the volume does not exceed the recommended one.

• Minimize the number of emoticons in a message to 5.
• The post should be no more than 16 thousand characters.

Hidden posts and advertising carousel VKontakte

Two types of settings are available:

1. Carousel.
2. Recording with a button.

There are several objects in the carousel. Each card can contain editable data. For each of the products in the carousel, it is possible to set prices in pairs, for more convenient display of the discount.

• It is better to add up to 10 cards to the carousel at once.
• All photos added to the carousel must be at least 400 pixels wide and square.
• The maximum amount of text is up to 220 characters.
• The title should not exceed 25 characters.
• Almost any price is set. Either all prices in the cards are filled in or none is indicated.

Recording using the Vkontakte button

The difference from a regular post is a call to perform an action by clicking on a button.

• The entry should be no more than two paragraphs with a total number of characters up to 220.
• Title no more than 80 characters.
• The size of the picture should not be less than 537x240 characters.

Placement and sale of own products

• It is better to use a product photo with a size of 1000x1000 pixels.
• Each card must contain 5 photographs.
• The length of the name should not exceed 120 characters.

Publication of texts and images

This type of content is on the left side of the screen. You can view it only by going to your VKontakte profile through a browser on a PC.

Content Customization Tips

• The image must be at least 148X85 pixels in size.
• The maximum title length is 33 characters.
• The description has a maximum length of 70 characters.

Large aspect ratio setting

• The photo size starts from 145x65 pixels.
• The file size should not exceed 5 megabytes.
• Almost all graphic formats are available.
• Title up to 33 characters.

When promoting a Vkontakte group

• The picture is at least 145x145 pixels.
• The file is not larger than 5 megabytes.
• Title text up to 33 characters.

If a square image is used

• The resolution in the picture is at least 145x145 pixels.
• Up to 5 megabytes in size.
• Any graphic extension type.
• Title text up to 33 characters.

Special advertising content VKontakte

• Image sizes from 256X256 pixels.
• Up to 5 megabytes in size.
• Any graphic extension type.
• Title text up to 33 characters.

When using the application showcase

• The number of characters in the title is 33, and in the description up to 70.
• Image size starting from 560x315 pixels.
• Up to 5 megabytes in total size.
• All available graphic extensions.

Newbie

Targeted advertising on VKontakte: overview of formats

The audience of VKontakte, according to social network, is 97 million unique users, 77% of whom come from mobile devices. Ads can be shown in mobile and desktop versions of the social network, as well as in VKontakte applications.

With the help of targeted ads, you can advertise several types of objects: communities and applications on VKontakte, external sites and community posts.

Text-graphic block: advertisements on the pages of VKontakte

This format allows you to promote an app, community, or external site. Certain ad formats are available for each advertised property. Ads are shown only on the desktop version of the site on the left side of the page.

A text-graphic block can include up to three advertisements on each page of VKontakte. You pay per click (CPC) or per impression (CPM). Ads support behavioral and point targeting, as well as retargeting by pixel or CRM.

The main task of text-graphic block ads is to generate traffic. However, with the help of such ads, the company can also increase awareness, attract new users, and inform about promotions.

In this format, the main thing is the visual component, not the text. It is the picture that attracts attention, so it is important to choose a catchy illustration that will not lose quality due to its small size. A high-quality image in the ad ensures a high CTR. Creatives should match the interests of the target audience and evoke emotions.

Four formats can be displayed in a block of text and image ads:

1. Image and text. The ad consists of a title (up to 33 characters), a 145×85 pixel image and a description (up to 70 characters).
   

   To motivate the user to take a targeted action, the description text should include a CTA, for example, “learn more”, “read on the site”, “buy”. The length of the description line allows you to tell a little more about the offer:

   • inform customers about promotions and discounts;
   • describe competitive advantages product;
   • specify a price to cut off the audience for which it may be high.
2. Large image. There is no description in the ad, but there is a title (up to 33 characters), an image sized 145x165 pixels. The link can lead to a website, community, or app.
   

   The main focus is a large image, thanks to which the ad attracts the user's attention and encourages them to click on the ad for detailed information about a product or service. You can put catchy and easy-to-read text on the picture, for example, the main advantage, selling triggers, brand name or CTA.

3. Community promotion. Includes the following elements: a title, a 145x145 pixel square image, a "Join", "Subscribe" CTA buttons for groups and public pages, or "I'm going" for events, and information about the number of members or friends in the community.

   

   Such ads help to increase the number of subscribers of the VKontakte community. An active CTA button allows you to join a group or take part in an event without going to the community page. The format works well for well-known and popular brands.

4. square image- a format for promoting applications and games. A 145×145 pixel image is pulled into the ad (or uploaded by the advertiser), the name of the application, the number of friends in the application, and the Play or Launch CTA button.
   
5. Special format for app promotion. Announcements appear on the app catalog page and in the news feed. In addition to the application name and image, you can add its rating and genre. The image can be either the application's cover art or a manually uploaded 128x128 image.
   

   Special ads do not participate in the general auction. They compete in a separate auction with competitive ads of the same format.

   In the feed, the coverage is much smaller than in the text-graphic block on the site pages. Feed ads provide brand presence in user news and posts and increase awareness. On the application catalog page, the design of ads does not differ from the list of other games and applications. If the user is shown relevant ads here, taking into account interests and other targeting, then the probability of getting clicks and transitions is very high.

Promoting Posts - Sponsored Posts in the News Feed

The format works in the mobile and desktop versions of the site, posts are shown in the news feed of users and on the walls of other communities. As with any post, you can add up to ten attachments to a promotional post: illustrations, video, survey, map, products, and others.

The advertiser pays for advertising in this format according to the CPM model. Advanced targeting options are available for ads, as well as retargeting. These options allow you to either match or exclude an audience that has already shown your ad.

The format supports the installation of counters from third-party traffic audit systems, such as AdRiver and Weborama. To start independent tracking of statistics, you need to connect a pixel of one of the systems.

Promotional posts are suitable for promoting publications with information about the company's services, contests and events, and surveys. Using this format, an advertiser can work with users at different levels of the funnel: target new users and increase brand awareness, tell people who are already familiar with the product about the benefits, carry out upselling and cross-selling, work with existing clients(advertise limited promotions, provide bonuses, etc.).

1. Put an existing post in the community up for promotion.
2. Create a hidden post without posting on the wall and show it only in the news feed of the right audience. With the help of hidden promo posts, it is convenient to attract new users to the community and conduct A / B testing of creatives or targeting.

By default, advertisements are shown in users' news feeds. However, it is possible to show promo posts in advertising network— popular communities that monetize by placing ads on the wall and in the news feed of subscribers. It's important that the target audience is selected according to the targeting settings specified when setting up the ad.

You can check the effectiveness of a promotional post using the metric "Assessment of advertising records" (in November 2017). The algorithm takes into account positive (link clicks, video views, group joins) and negative (complaints, hiding from the feed) user interactions with the publication and compares them with competitors' ads within the same format. The rating starts to be displayed after 2000 impressions of the promotional post.

Don't choose "Score" as your primary campaign performance metric. The metric is useful for A / B testing and will indicate a record with a low rating in order to control the budget in time.

1. Try different targeting settings: by interests, communities, similar audiences, remarketing audiences, geolocation, etc.
2. Test ad design:
   • attract attention and engage: add video, gif-animations, bright colors to the ad, but remember that the quality of the ad should not suffer from this;
   • focus on the main thing - important details should immediately catch your eye;
   • create ads that match the interests of the audience;
   • add high-quality and understandable images;
   • images can describe the benefits of a product or service, talk about a successful purchase or cooperation experience, demonstrate the most popular item or arrivals of a new collection, collected in one collage.
3. Keep your landing pages relevant. Main information it is better to place it at the top of the landing page, in plain sight.
4. Alternate ad formats to promote the same product.
5. Analyze statistics and control changes in a timely manner:
   • change the bid if the intensity of impressions or the recommended value has changed;
   • set limits at the level of ads and advertising campaigns to control budget spending;
   • study demographics and their impact on performance;
   • if necessary, create a separate creative based on the demographics of the audience.

Promotional posts with a button

Unlike promo posts, this format has a button with a call to action and the inability to attach any attachments. A post with a button has text (up to 220 characters), a snippet where you can change the title and manually add an image (537×240 pixels).

A link in an ad with a button can lead to a community page or website, to a community app, VKontakte app, directly to a dialogue with the community, or generate calls. There can only be one link per ad. Payment for placement - according to CPM or CPC models.

According to VKontakte, the effectiveness of publications with a button is higher than without a button. Ads get 30% more clicks, CTR is 1.5 times higher, CPC is 32% lower.

• go;
• open;
• buy;
• to buy a ticket;
• fill;
• enroll;
• contact;
• join;
• register;
• write;
• more.

One variation of the CTA button is the call button. It appears in ads in mobile applications"VKontakte" and in the mobile version of the site. Such ads allow the user to directly contact the office or call center of the company.

Using the application

Last time . Today we will continue to look at ad formats. And look at social media. Advertising in in social networks may also look very different, let's figure it out.

In contact with

Image and text

Small ads that appear on the left under the main menu. A variant with a small picture, heading and text is possible, or with a large picture and only the heading. From such ads, a link can lead to any of your resources.

Community promotion

Special

Promoting Community Posts

You create a post in your community, launch ads on it, and this post appears in the user's feed among the posts of the communities to which they are subscribed. It looks like a regular community post, it's not immediately clear that this is an advertisement. This type of advertising is also called native.

Community advertising

If you are interested in the audience of one particular community, then this posting format is just for you. big picture and detailed description to attract the attention of the target audience.

classmates

Multi-format placement

Teaser 90х75

Carousel

This is a "scrolling" tape of 3-6 slides. Each slide is a picture and a caption. Slides can be any, but most often any product offers are placed in this format. They are displayed on the mobile version of the site and on the desktop version.

Preroll in video

The pre-roll is shown before the start of the main video in social networks and on Mail.Ru Group projects.

Video notes (OK)

A small video clip that starts automatically in the user's event feed.

Notes (OK)

Banner 240x400

A static or animated banner that is displayed on several social networks and on Mail.Ru Group projects.

Facebook

A photo

Simple and convenient, one might say, "classic" advertising format. Your ad post consists of an image and a short description. Appears in different places on the site, depending on the device from which the user is logged in.

Video

ring gallery

An analogue of the Odnoklassniki carousel.

Slide show

Compilation

Unusual advertising format. Advertising entry complemented by a selection of products in the form of individual images. After looking general information about the advertised product, the user can go to products from product line or related products.

Messenger

Instagram

Square

Scenery

Vertical Format

ring gallery

When using the carousel format, your Instagram ad will appear in a square format. Users can click the arrows to the left and right of the image to see more images.

Instagram Stories

I hope the material was interesting for you. is no longer a novelty, but a necessity for modern business. Think about whether you can connect a couple of additional advertising formats?

Alexey Ofitserov

Salute to the readers of the TexTerra blog! At first I wanted to tell how the cops work in advertising, but then I decided that this was of little use to business owners. Just to laugh heartily. Therefore, today we give more useful things, from simple to complex:

Carousel

The carousel gave great results when the format first appeared. Now, many experts say that such ads often perform poorly, although there are exceptions. The format itself is aimed at communities with a product catalog. From my own experience I will say that the carousel has shown itself well in food deliveries, but not so much in other goods.

“Why not use this format now?” - you ask. Of course, use. But with caution.

The text of the main entry should not exceed 220 characters. The carousel holds from 3 to 10 cards. Card title up to 25 characters.

A carousel with a relatively good result for a gift and adventure store:

A couple of screenshots of statistics from these carousels configured for different target audiences:

Universal notation

This is the standard entry you see on the news. Go to the news feed and see - this format is everywhere. How is it different? You can write a lot of text, a link to your product is indicated in the text, a wide range of image sizes.

Universal recording allows you to write great storytelling, which works very well in some niches. Plus you describe all the benefits in detail. I believe that this format is underestimated and needs to be tested in all niches.

The maximum number of characters in the universal notation is 16,384, including punctuation and spaces.

Recording with a button

This format works best when the audience is hot and needs to be called to action. Moreover, not only the button itself is clickable, but the whole picture. Despite the 220-character text limit, button entry is a great option. Promotions and short offers go with a bang. Enjoy.

There are no size requirements for a post with a + video button, insert any video.

Collection of applications

Relatively new format- lead form. Gives the opportunity to collect applications for events, consultations, participation in promotions. That is, we pour traffic from ads to the lead form. We create and fill out the form ourselves. When creating, you will need a link to your privacy policy. If you don't have it, take it vkontaktovskaya just paste the link in the relevant section:

Quote from VKontakte:

It is convenient for interested customers to fill out the form. It is adapted for mobile devices and does not require manual data entry for some fields. First name, patronymic, last name, city, age, phone number and e-mail are filled in automatically if this information is specified by the user on the VKontakte page.

Watch a two-minute video on how to create a lead form:

How to create a lead form

The collection of applications works well in promoting through a free class. For example, in a language school.

An interesting observation:

If you put a link to the lead form in the button, the advertising account analytics calculates the CPL (price of the lead). If the link comes from the text, there is a transition and an application, but the CPL is not considered. Perhaps this bug will be fixed soon, but for now, this is how it is, so do not rush to scold the targetologist.

Site advertising

Despite the policy of keeping users within the social network, VKontakte still made it possible to fully advertise sites. This format is relatively new. Here is what the platform itself writes about it:

Add a title, logo, description, and large image, add a link, and drive visitors to your site right from your feed. The announcement does not require binding to the VKontakte community, and the transition is carried out by clicking on any of its areas.

Format features:

Image size from 1080x607 pixels. Title up to 25 characters. Description up to 90 characters. Text near the button up to 25 characters. You can upload your logo.

Teasers (side ads)

Teasers are a rectangular advertisement that looms to the left of the computer version of VKontakte. There were times when for only 1000 rubles. the targetologist attracted 500 subscribers for 2 rubles. Now the rates have warmed up and a subscriber for 12 rubles is considered a good result. if everything is set up well. Let's look at the pros and cons of such advertising.

Pros:

1. Teaser advertising is cheaper than promotional posts.
2. Only teasers are set to a personal page.
3. Teasers catch users who do not scroll through the feed (I wonder if there are any?).

Minuses:

1. Teasers are visible only in the web version, so 80% of the audience will not see them, because people are sitting on mobile devices.
2. Limiting the amount of text reduces the message and results in less conscious clicks. Hence the problem: there are a lot of clicks, and the conversion is low.
3. If a user has Adblock or other blocking extensions installed, he will not see your teasers even from a computer.
4. Sometimes the display is cut off, like this:

I hope I didn't scare you too much and you haven't changed your mind about using teasers yet. Let's look at them in more detail.

There are three types of teasers:

1. Appendix.
2. Community.
3. External site.

Each view has its own display options, here are the main ones:

Image and text

The image is 145x85 pixels. Two blocks of text: title up to 33 characters and description up to 70 characters

Use text on the image if it takes up less than 50% of the image area.

Community promotion

The image is 145x145 pixels. It differs in that the name of your community is automatically inserted into the title, which can only be shortened. The rest of the settings are the same as elsewhere.

big image

A 145x165 pixel image with a title but no description block.

You can also use text on the image for less than 50% of the image area.

My favorite format, because it's the most convenient way to get creative here. For example, making “cartoons” is a great option for promoting a person with a focus on their subscribers. These are contrasting and funny images that do not go unnoticed, even if the audience does not know you.

Speaking of headers...

How to write teaser titles

Let's start with the foundation. How does a person perceive advertising? I'm not a psychologist, so I'll tell you without terms, if anything, correct me.

The brain is conditionally divided into two parts. The first is responsible for attention and the thought process - here and now. The second is responsible for the automatisms that a person does unconsciously, based on past experience. Automatisms save energy. Our brain is a lazy thing, so it needs such an autopilot to relax.

Imagine that you are focused on work, but at the same time you are hungry. As soon as you hear something about food or smell something, you are distracted from work without noticing it. The autopilot scans the environment with the help of the senses in search of satisfaction of current needs.

All the images we see and the texts we read are first captured by the autopilot. Therefore, the best texts and images affect precisely the “zone of automatisms”.

There are several methods for writing headlines based on autopilot motivations. Let's consider:

• Pain motivation.
• Motivation from joy, benefit and result.
• Intrigue.
• Direct sale.

Motivation for pain

We use everything related to the specific pain of a person. For example, if you are afraid to speak in public - the heading "Afraid to speak?" will be a catchy trigger for you.

We select the appropriate visual. You may remember that many fears come from childhood, and if a person is afraid to speak, reading poems in public is also a problem for him, and he remembers this.

Motivation from pain is the strongest, so niches where there is pain are much easier to promote. Unfortunately, you can't always work out of pain. For example, VKontakte prohibits pointing directly to a person’s illness. So the headline "Do you have hemorrhoids?" will not pass moderation. Therefore, here we go from the benefit - "Get rid of hemorrhoids in 3 days!"

Motivation from joy, benefit and result

If there is no pain, we show the benefit. Profitable offers, promotions and clear benefits that a person receives are suitable here.

But what are the statistics of a jar of cucumbers:

There was no fine tuning, so the clicks came out expensive - 8 rubles each + we take into account the specifics of the audience - business. But there is one caveat: since the link led to the VKontakte channel, the subscriber also went out for about 8 rubles. The fact is that after clicking on the ad, there is an automatic subscription. Again, until this bug is fixed.

Intrigue

Maybe someone remembers the teasers with Pavel Durov and the headline "Another News" - the very time when Pasha left VKontakte. So, this is the intrigue.

The biggest intrigue in my practice:

I note that red-haired people and a direct look perfectly attract attention. It's time to introduce the term "clickable appearance" :-)

direct sale

I don't think there is much to explain here. Direct selling works for a hot audience.

Advice: If possible, use the same visuals in advertising and on the site where you drive traffic.

A person clicks on an ad and sees a form on the site with the same visual, which strains the brain less and brings you up to speed faster. Think about the autopilot, which is influenced by advertising. Let the audience's brain save energy - get more applications.

Structure of a working promo post

No matter what anyone says about changing trends, the foundation always remains. Posts created using the AIDA formula work:

• Headline with pain relief, benefit or offer.
• Brief summary of the proposal.
• Benefits, benefits, closing objections.
• A clear call to action.

Forget super design. Anything can work in a target, and it is extremely difficult to predict the reaction of the audience. But there are a few fundamental things:

A simple photo on a smartphone or a screenshot of a review

In the commodity business, screenshots of reviews with ordinary photos work well. Why? It's simple:

The posts of our friends in the feed are ordinary photos taken on the phone. And our internal “ad filter” takes these posts as “ours”, disables banner blindness.

direct look

Want to draw attention to your creatives? Use the look. A person sees a direct look best, including peripheral vision. When someone is staring at us, we notice it. The reason comes from antiquity. A man needed to notice a saber-toothed tiger lurking in the jungle before he rushed to the attack. The world has changed - the reflex remains. Enjoy.