It's the first Product Update after last week's DoStuff Summit and we're starting off with a bang. Check below for a sneak peek at the new (and much-requested) ad targeting feature in Radmin.
Ad Targeting
Well, that’s all about to change. Rolling out next week, you will now have Lens-level targeting abilities for every ad you sell.
How It Works
From now on when you create an ad in Radmin, you will see a big blue Targeting box at the bottom of the setup page. This is now your command center for where an ad will appear at any given time.
By default, the box for every property (main site and Lenses) will be checked for a new ad. You have the option to manually deselect any property you don’t want the ad to appear on. If you only want the ad to appear on certain lenses and not the main metro page, that’s an option too.
If you need to edit an existing ad's targeting options at any time, just go to that ad’s details page (the “magnifying glass” icon). You’ll see a section below the ad preview that says “Properties Attached To”. This is a list of all the places the ad is currently set to run on.
If you want to add or remove a property from the list, click “Edit” and select/deselect the appropriate check boxes.
It’s that simple.
Why Is This Such a Big Deal?
We probably don't need to tell you this, but these new targeting features will open up a ton of opportunities for ad sales.
If you have a potential ECP partner that's uneasy about showing Featured Event ads that don't match their audience, you can assure them that if an ad comes up that they REALLY don't want on their site you can easily take it down.
Or, if you're thinking of building a Metro Lens focused on a niche audience -- like Do312's Rainbow Lens or Do206's Geek Lens -- you can now sell brand ads that only appear on that property. That can be a big deal for local brands looking to target a specific scene.
How to Weigh Brand Ads
While Featured Event ads are easy enough -- you just check the box for the properties they should appear on and move on -- brand ads are a bit trickier. With these new targeting features, managing the weights for each brand ad space is a little more complex. But fear not.
The primary rule of thumb is to just weigh everything the way you want them to appear on your main site.
If you choose not to run an ad on a certain Lens, the remaining ads will adjust proportionally -- nothing else required from you. If it's an ad that will only run on a Lens and not the main metro site, just deselect that main metro property and set the weight to how often you want it to run on the Lens(es).
There is one BIG caveat here -- if you set a brand ad's weight to 100 it will pause all other ads on your metro, even ads only running on a single Lens. The best way to avoid this is to NEVER set an ad weight to 0 or 100.
For example, if you're creating a brand ad for a single Lens and it will be the only ad on that Lens, just pick any number between 1 and 99. If there are no other ads attached to that Lens, it will run 100% of the time.
Well, we've already gotten started on some of those SEO improvements by changing the way the metadata on your sites is formatted. Metadata is the HTML that Google reads to figure out what words to display in its search results.
While we clearly have the best event listings in every metro, our metadata wasn't making it obvious to Google's bots what we're all about. Now when someone searches "New Year's Eve in Indianapolis", "The Black Keys Seattle", or "Comedy tonight in Nashville", Google will start ranking the DoStuff Network higher and higher.
There's one issue with the new metadata that could cause problems if your metro spans more than one city or borough (I'm looking at you, Do314, Do415, DoLA, doNYC, Do617, Do415, Do502, and Vancouver!). If the city/borough in the Venue's address is incorrect on your site, the metadata is going to display it incorrectly on Google and it's going to hurt your page rankings (see Do415 example below).
Over the next week or so, take a look at your Venues across the river/bay/I-35 split and make sure they're listed in the right city. As the Google search bots start recognizing our new metadata formatting over the next few weeks, we want to make sure they pull in the right info.
By default, the box for every property (main site and Lenses) will be checked for a new ad. You have the option to manually deselect any property you don’t want the ad to appear on. If you only want the ad to appear on certain lenses and not the main metro page, that’s an option too.
If you need to edit an existing ad's targeting options at any time, just go to that ad’s details page (the “magnifying glass” icon). You’ll see a section below the ad preview that says “Properties Attached To”. This is a list of all the places the ad is currently set to run on.
If you want to add or remove a property from the list, click “Edit” and select/deselect the appropriate check boxes.
It’s that simple.
Why Is This Such a Big Deal?
We probably don't need to tell you this, but these new targeting features will open up a ton of opportunities for ad sales.
If you have a potential ECP partner that's uneasy about showing Featured Event ads that don't match their audience, you can assure them that if an ad comes up that they REALLY don't want on their site you can easily take it down.
Or, if you're thinking of building a Metro Lens focused on a niche audience -- like Do312's Rainbow Lens or Do206's Geek Lens -- you can now sell brand ads that only appear on that property. That can be a big deal for local brands looking to target a specific scene.
How to Weigh Brand Ads
While Featured Event ads are easy enough -- you just check the box for the properties they should appear on and move on -- brand ads are a bit trickier. With these new targeting features, managing the weights for each brand ad space is a little more complex. But fear not.
The primary rule of thumb is to just weigh everything the way you want them to appear on your main site.
If you choose not to run an ad on a certain Lens, the remaining ads will adjust proportionally -- nothing else required from you. If it's an ad that will only run on a Lens and not the main metro site, just deselect that main metro property and set the weight to how often you want it to run on the Lens(es).
Confused? Here's a breakdown of the math
There is one BIG caveat here -- if you set a brand ad's weight to 100 it will pause all other ads on your metro, even ads only running on a single Lens. The best way to avoid this is to NEVER set an ad weight to 0 or 100.
For example, if you're creating a brand ad for a single Lens and it will be the only ad on that Lens, just pick any number between 1 and 99. If there are no other ads attached to that Lens, it will run 100% of the time.
SEO Improvements: New Metadata Formats
As Do206 MP Scott Porad pointed out during his Summit presentation, improving the way we appear in Google search results can have a big impact on our user growth over the coming years.Well, we've already gotten started on some of those SEO improvements by changing the way the metadata on your sites is formatted. Metadata is the HTML that Google reads to figure out what words to display in its search results.
While we clearly have the best event listings in every metro, our metadata wasn't making it obvious to Google's bots what we're all about. Now when someone searches "New Year's Eve in Indianapolis", "The Black Keys Seattle", or "Comedy tonight in Nashville", Google will start ranking the DoStuff Network higher and higher.
There's one issue with the new metadata that could cause problems if your metro spans more than one city or borough (I'm looking at you, Do314, Do415, DoLA, doNYC, Do617, Do415, Do502, and Vancouver!). If the city/borough in the Venue's address is incorrect on your site, the metadata is going to display it incorrectly on Google and it's going to hurt your page rankings (see Do415 example below).
Over the next week or so, take a look at your Venues across the river/bay/I-35 split and make sure they're listed in the right city. As the Google search bots start recognizing our new metadata formatting over the next few weeks, we want to make sure they pull in the right info.
The Other Bits
This Product Update is already big enough, but there are a few more important fixes to note this week:- Past Events Search Fixed: Since the launch of Radmin, we've been having trouble getting all past Events to show up in search. We're confident that we've finally cleaned out the last of the bugs and Event search should be working as expected. Success!
- More RSVP Times: We added a LOT more options for when to send RSVP lists from the dropdown menu in Radmin. Pretty much anytime within 24 hours is now available.
- Fixed Ongoing Events Bug: Now when you remove the end date from an ongoing event, the "Ongoing?" box will be automatically deselected. This prevents a previous issue with linked ads.
That's all for this week! Keep an eye out in your email and Slack for the rollout of ad targeting in Radmin.
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