As we head into 2023, businesses are once again looking for ways to optimise their online advertising campaigns. One platform that's likely to play a key role in this process is Microsoft Ads, formerly known as Bing Ads.
In the past year, Microsoft has made a number of changes to its advertising platform, aimed at making it more user-friendly and effective for businesses of all sizes. These changes include updates to the user interface, improvements to targeting options, and enhanced reporting capabilities.
In this blog post, we'll take a closer look at these changes and explore how they can help you improve your Microsoft or Bing Ads campaigns in 2023.
Multimedia ads
Since its inception in the early 2000s, search advertising has become increasingly valuable, but competition for customers' attention has grown exponentially. In such a crowded field, it's important for brands to stand out and communicate their value effectively. But how can you achieve this? How can you drive product discovery, inspire action, and build loyalty?
Enter Multimedia Ads, a new and innovative responsive ad format now available on Microsoft Bing.com search pages. With Multimedia Ads, you can showcase your brand and products with an attention-grabbing, visually-rich format. As part of their global rollout, customers in several markets, including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, will begin seeing this new ad format today, while all other customers will have access to this feature in the coming weeks.
But what exactly are Multimedia Ads, and what do they look like? These ads are designed to leverage the power of machine learning technology and your own assets, such as images, headlines, and descriptions. Multimedia Ads offer a large visual format that captures attention and engages audiences. These ads are prominently displayed on the right rail of the search results page, and to provide exclusivity and maximum impact, only one Multimedia Ad is displayed on a page at a time for a single advertiser.
In other words, Multimedia Ads represent a powerful new tool for brands looking to differentiate themselves and make an impact in the competitive world of search advertising. By leveraging the latest technology and a visually-rich format, these ads can help drive engagement, inspire action, and build loyalty among your target audience.
Action extensions
Are you looking to drive more conversions and encourage potential customers to take the next step in their buying journey? Look no further than Action Extensions, the latest addition to Microsoft's suite of ad extensions. With Action Extensions, you can add a call-to-action button to your text ad, allowing customers to instantly interact with your ad to place an order, book a hotel, send a message, and more. With 62 preset action types to choose from, you can find the perfect action to suit your business needs.
This clickable extension will appear next to your ad's description, allowing you to focus on the key action you want potential customers to take. By giving customers a clear call-to-action, such as "download," "apply now," "reserve," "subscribe," "watch now," and many others, you can encourage them to take the next important step in the buying journey.
Action Extensions offer flexible associations, allowing you to associate them at the account, campaign, or ad group level. They can also be combined with most other ad extensions, giving you even more flexibility to create highly targeted and engaging ads.
Action Extensions can also help increase click-through rates (CTRs) and conversion rates (CVRs), driving more traffic and conversions to your website. So if you're looking to improve your ad performance and drive more conversions, consider adding Action Extensions to your text ads today.
Video extensions
Looking for an interactive way to showcase your brand and products? Consider Video Extensions, the perfect addition to your ad campaigns. With Video Extensions, you can express your brand identity in an engaging and interactive way, demonstrating your products, services, and brand messages through the power of video. Whether you're showcasing special deals, emotions, ambiance, culture, or action, Video Extensions offer a rich experience that stands out from traditional images and text.
When a user clicks on your thumbnail image on desktop, your video will play in a full-screen overlay above the Display text and Action text, allowing viewers to watch the video and then click on the call-to-action button or text in your ad. On mobile, the video plays in the frame with the Display text, making it easy for viewers to engage with your content on any device.
To get the most out of Video Extensions, it's important to ensure that the video complements your ad with unique content rather than simply repeating what users can already read in the text. By doing so, you can generate more views and engagement, and create a memorable brand experience for your customers.
Combined with other extensions, Video Extensions can create an even richer experience, helping your ads stand out from the competition and drive more conversions. So why not express your brand identity and showcase your products and services with Video Extensions today?
Tl;dr
The changes to Microsoft Ads in 2022 include Multimedia Ads, which combine your own assets with machine learning technology to create attention-grabbing visual ads, and Action Extensions, which allow you to add call-to-action buttons to your text ads to encourage customers to take the next step in their buying journey.
Video Extensions are another way to express your brand identity and showcase your products and services in an interactive way. They can be combined with other extensions to create a richer experience for customers.
All of these features can help increase click-through and conversion rates, making them valuable tools for advertisers looking to stand out in a crowded field.
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