Cycling through our Facebook content compliance series, MGID has given tips on how to improve the quality of copy content and ad placement. Now, we’ve come full circle, bringing us to one of the most integral aspects of Facebook’s new content policies: the ads themselves. MGID has spent several years developing tools to control advertising content, allowing publishers to ensure their ads are compliant with the latest trends and developments in the industry. Here are some of the most common ad content pitfalls, as well as 4 indispensable MGID solutions at publishers’ disposal to avoid these threats.
Threats
Lack of Ad Content Control
Many ad networks provide publishers little to no control or customization options for rotating ad content. This can leave publishers at risk for unpredictable situations, and even eventual platform bans.
Overlooking Traffic Source Requirements
Ignoring requirements of traffic sources when reusing content can be a huge risk. Publishers and affiliated websites could eventually be banned by the traffic source if these policies are continuously disregarded.
Overuse of Filtering tools
While some publishers may believe using filtering tools as much as possible will enhance viewers’ experiences, statistics show that it can also cause a significant decrease in revenue. Generalized ad filters can cause publishers to exclude content that could’ve been relevant to potential audiences of their sites.
Solutions
Single Ad Filtering
To assist publishers in avoiding the threat of lost revenue through over using ad filtering, MGID developed an unprecedented tool to eliminate individual ads in widgets. Publishers can decide if individual ads will appear within each ad widget by simply deleting an ad directly from their websites. Publishers then have the option to specify additional banning of the ad on widget or account level. This allows a heightened level of customization without filtering out significant quantities of ads through over generalized ad categories. Additional quality control and increased content relevancy to varying audiences are just a few benefits of this advanced native advertising tool. Wide Range of Ad Categories
MGID has created a massive selection of ad categories, compiled in a comprehensive creative guideline collection under the “MGID Category” tab. This 134-category collection gives publishers significant options to choose from, as well as examples and commentary so users know exactly what to expect from different category usage. Publishers can contact their account managers for assistance with needed changes.
Sophisticated Ad Rankings
First used by the Motion Picture Association of America to rate movies, ranking systems were eventually used for various types of content. Foreseeing a need for ranking in the ad industry, MGID adapted the MPAA’s system to be used with ads. The rank-based filtering is open to all publishers in their respective dashboards.
MGID's creative guideline outlines details on what constitutes each ranking (PG, R, NC17, and NSFW), complete with example images and headlines. For instance, fitness, beauty, health, and swimwear can fall into all four categories depending on the content, whereas, dating is typically rated R or NSFW and politics potentially falling under PG, R or NC17. Additionally, publishers can find information on ad categories and suggestions on ranking stipulations for different platforms—such as MGID’s observation that publishers are typically safe to work with Facebook when ads on their sites fall into the PG ranking.
Artificial Intelligence
MGID has developed a refined artificial intelligence, or Al, that targets ads to specific visitors based on past behavior. The self-educating algorithm suggests ads that each specific user is most likely to click, increasing engagement. When using any of the solutions mentioned above, it is best to use caution as over usage could potentially limit the algorithm’s choices, and thus possibly having a negative impact on revenue. To allow the algorithm to reach optimal performance, publishers should only filter out content that is completely inappropriate for their sites, as well as exercising thoughtfulness with additional solutions.
While the above-mentioned threats and common mistakes can become cumbersome to navigate, MGID has streamlined improving ad content with these tried and true solutions. Publishers can utilize these tools to avoid these ad content pitfalls by tailoring their native advertising to suit their own audience and associated content guidelines.
