Targeting Online Casino Ads on Facebook, Instagram, and VKontakte

The Smart Money studio introduces you to the features and benefits of targeted promotion. We will explain the stages of creating ads on popular social networks.

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Targeted Advertising: Basic Info

This is a method of promoting an iGaming project, according to which messages are shown only to the target audience.

Advertisements are available on social networks, search engines, instant messengers, and thematic online resources. Most often, experts focus on internet social communities as the most dynamic web environment.

Information about gamers is collected in 2 stages:

• During the initial registration, the system receives data on age, gender, marital status, education, country of residence, and contacts.
• In the process of player interaction with the platform, the program analyses subscriptions, comments, participation in thematic groups, reactions and other activities that indicate the interests of the audience.

Modern business accounts (based on social networks and search engines) contain a huge number of filters and settings (geolocation, socio-demographic parameters, approximate income level). An operator can collect a more accurate portrait of the target audience, as well as qualitatively segment customers into small groups.

Benefits of the Marketing Tool

Let us review the main advantages of the solution:

Types of Targeted Advertising

There are several categories depending on the audience parameters:

1. Socio-demographic. These are age, gender, marital status, education, and income level. The gamer indicates all the information when registering in the messenger or social network. Specialists can run ads without waiting for data to be collected.
2. Geographic. This means customising the region or country for displaying messages based on the operator's business goals and the advertising restrictions in specific jurisdictions. Geolocation allows an entrepreneur to stay in a legal field and deliver targeted ads to the exact address.
3. Psychographic. This is an analysis of user behavioural preferences. They include participation in communities and thematic groups, search queries, clicks, reactions, and comments. They can form a pool of interests of the targeted audience.
4. Temporary. It means the demonstration of ads by time of day, day of the week, and month. The option is effective for those jurisdictions where casino advertising is prohibited during the daytime. These are the United Kingdom, Spain and other European countries.
5. Targets for advertising purposes. Promotion objectives should be set at the first stage of strategy development. For the iGaming industry, this means an increase in the percentage of conversions, the profitability of online casinos, the number of downloaded mobile applications, etc.
6. Other characteristics. The operator can select an audience by external segments, types of devices and browsers used, place of residence, position, and other parameters.

There is a concept of remarketing in the industry. These are advertisements shown to those players who have previously interacted with a gambling site, a business page on a social network or a messenger.

The tool improves communication with a regular audience. As a rule, it is used to inform about current promotions, new entertainment, thematic missions, and profitable bonuses.

What to Do before Launching a Casino Ad

An approximate action plan for an iGaming site owner includes such stages:

1. Set a clear business goal for the marketing campaign and calculate the budget.
2. Study the target audience, its main needs and interests, and group users into selected clusters.
3. Choose a platform for online casino promotion (targeting is available on social networks — Instagram, VKontakte, Facebook, popular instant messengers and search engines).
4. Make a map of segments and come up with an advertising concept for each of them (slogan, informational message, targeted offer, creative format).
5. Set up a business account (set the necessary filters, download additional services, and synchronise with the CRM system).

Effective Promotion in Social Networks

Let us consider the procedure for launching targeted advertising on popular internet resources.

Facebook

Marketing campaigns are created in Ads Manager. The programming environment contains a wide range of settings for posting publications, end-to-end control and prompt changes.

The main stages of launching a Facebook promotional campaign are:

1. Creating an office. On the Ads Manager page, an operator clicks the "Create advertising" button and selects the promotion goal. There are 3 types of tasks: recognition, leads and conversion. The next step is to specify the country and currency, enter the credit card for online payments, and confirm the business page on Facebook.
2. Setting up targeting options. An entrepreneur sets the schedule and budget for displaying, the location of the conversion event, and the duration of the promotion. As a rule, targeted advertising is launched for a week or a month. The cost is indicated for 1–100 demonstrations, as well as for the entire duration of the campaign. The display of messages can be continuous or scheduled.
3. Definition of the target audience. An operator sets the program metrics to determine the selected audience. These are socio-demographic characteristics, geolocation, interests, behavioural factors and other parameters.
4. Choice of placement. An operator activates the site to display the advertisement. Facebook offers manual and automatic placement (optimal for gambling companies). In the second case, the operator needs to tick the following options: feeds, stories, search, messages, programs and sites.
5. Installing the Facebook Pixel. A tool for counting and monitoring the actions of gamers (events) who entered an online casino from Facebook advertising. The program analyses the number of views, visits, registrations, deposits and other activities on the gambling site. Based on the received data, the operator generates statistics and analyses the effectiveness of targeting.
6. Setting up conversions. Ads Manager provides 17 types of templates, but the operator is only interested in 4–5 options. These are the lead (the gamer left his contact information), the start of the trial period (the user launched the demo version of the slot), registration, purchase (transaction) and content subscription/viewing.
7. Development of ads. The entrepreneur needs to pass the identification of the company, enter the message title, and set up the publication format (image, text, video, ring selection). At this stage, content is optimised for mobile devices and advertising creatives are added. The last step is to click on the "Create Ad" button.

Instagram

An operator can adjust Instagram ads in 3 ways:

• through a software application (optimised for visiting a profile);
• using the advertising centre (suitable for improving iGaming brand awareness, link building, increasing comments and reposts);
• through the ADS Manager business cabinet (the procedure is similar to posting on Facebook, but the user needs to link accounts with Instagram).

Advertising setting includes such steps:

1. Preparatory work. The first stage is to convert a personal profile to a business page. The option is available in the "Account" section, and the operator must specify "Products and Services" on the "Category" tab. After changing the status of the page, a module appears with statistics and analytics, functions for managing advertisements, and contact information.
2. Create a marketing post/story. Casino managers can use text, graphics, videos, carousels, gifs, animations, polls, timers, and other types of creatives. The advertising message should be clear and informative, revealing the essence of the issue and explaining the benefits of visiting a wagering site. This includes access to the best games, welcome bonuses, and high cashback.
3. Post/story advertising. After placing the publication in the News Feed or Stories, the operator clicks on the “Promote” button. Then, the manager opens a page with settings to specify the target action (going to a gambling site), budget, payment model (CPC or CPM) and duration of the campaign.
4. Audience selection. In the advertising account, the operator has to choose the "Create your audience" item and set the parameters. These are geolocation, age, interests, gender and other behavioural characteristics. On the "Interests" tab, it is important to use the search, since not all positions will be displayed.
5. Campaign organisation. The manager must select a payment method (most often, credit cards) and click on "Create a promotion".

VKontakte

These are the main stages of launching a targeted campaign on the network:

1. Preparatory works. The operator can create an ad in a personal account on the VKontakte advertising exchange. There are advanced statistics and analytics, a reporting module, and additional marketing tools.
2. Selection of recording format. The publication is placed in the news feed or on the site page. Carousel, universal recording, collection of applications, recording with a button (go to the site, register, play demo), site advertising and history are available. The casino manager can choose a text-graphic block or specify additional formats (for example, promotion of a mobile application).
3. Setting the parameters of the advertised object. An operator chooses the subject of the message and the age marking (from 18–21 years depending on the jurisdiction) and places a link for the demonstration counter.
4. Defining the target audience. Various promotional settings are available on VKontakte: geographic, demographic, by interests, education and work. The operator can do deep segmentation, for example, by the retargeting audience (via a JavaScript pixel), devices, and lists of people who have used a QR code.
5. Setting up financial metrics. These are the schedule of displaying (monthly, weekly, hourly), payment model (per click or 1,000 views), price settings and selection of promotional platforms (on all devices, only on PC or gadgets).
6. Posting a message. The user must save all the settings and click on the "Place an ad" button. After moderation, screenings will begin, the results of which can be followed in the business office.

The Main Things about Online Casino Targeting

This type of marketing is a popular way to promote an iGaming project.

• The advantages of the solution include high efficiency, fast optimisation of the advertising budget, interaction with the target audience, and improved communication with regular customers.
• An operator can segment users according to socio-demographic characteristics, geolocation, interests, depending on the goals and time of advertising, and behavioural preferences.
• Most often, targeting is used in social networks — Facebook, Instagram, and VKontakte. The sites delight with a variety of settings and an in-depth reporting system.

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