As digital marketing continues to grow, ad fraud and fake engagement have become major concerns for brands. With an estimated $42 billion lost to ad fraud in 2019, it’s clear that something needs to be done to safeguard brand reputation and maximize marketing spend.
Fortunately, there is a solution: content syndication. By promoting their content directly to their ICP, brands can combat ad fraud and fake engagement while ensuring a guaranteed ROI, full transparency, and weekly lead deliveries.
Key Takeaways:
- Ad fraud and fake engagement are major concerns for brands, with an estimated $42 billion lost to ad fraud in 2019.
- Content syndication offers a solution to combat ad fraud and fake engagement.
- Content syndication provides guaranteed ROI, full transparency, and weekly lead deliveries.
- Opt-ins and first-party data can contribute to higher-quality leads and improved conversion rates.
Understanding Ad Fraud
Ad fraud is a widespread problem that affects businesses of all sizes. There are several types of ad fraud, including:
Made for Ad Fraud (MFA)
MFA websites are created solely to display ads, with no real content or audience. These websites use bots to generate fake traffic and clicks on ads, resulting in wasted ad spend and false metrics.
Bot Traffic/Invalid Traffic (IVT)
Bot traffic refers to fake clicks and impressions generated by automated scripts or bots. IVT is typically caused by malicious bots or software that mimics human behavior to drive up ad impressions.
Ad Stacking
Ad stacking is a type of ad fraud where multiple ads are stacked on top of each other, with only the top ad visible to users. The other ads, despite being served, are never seen by users, resulting in wasted ad impressions and fraudulent metrics.
Naked Ad Calls
Naked ad calls occur when an ad is called but never served to an actual user or device. This results in false impressions and clicks, and wasted ad spend.
Ad fraud can significantly harm a business’s marketing budget and ROI, making it essential to address the issue. Content syndication is one strategy that businesses can use to combat ad fraud and fake engagement.
The Impact of Ad Fraud and Fake Engagement
Ad fraud and fake engagement have a detrimental effect on a brand’s marketing budget and ROI. In 2020, it was estimated that ad fraud cost the industry $35 billion, with the potential to reach $100 billion by 2023. Four common types of ad fraud include:
- MFA (made for ad fraud): This occurs when a fraudster creates a website or app with the primary goal of displaying ads and generating revenue. The site or app has little to no actual content, and the ads are often not viewed by real users.
- Bot traffic/IVT (invalid traffic): This involves bots simulating human behavior to generate clicks and fake engagement. This type of ad fraud can also include bots inflating viewability metrics by repeatedly loading ads in the background.
- Ad stacking: This occurs when multiple ads are stacked on top of each other, with only the top ad being visible to the user. Ad stacking can lead to inflated impression numbers and a lower viewability rate for each individual ad.
- Naked ad calls: This type of ad fraud involves requesting an ad from an ad server without actually displaying it to the user. The advertiser is still charged for the ad impression, even though it was not viewed.
Ad fraud and fake engagement not only waste budget but also damage a brand’s reputation. Consumers can lose trust in a company if they repeatedly encounter fake ads or misleading engagement metrics. This is where content syndication can help.
Introducing Content Syndication
Content syndication is a marketing strategy that can involve publishing content on third-party websites and/or promoting content to specific ICPs to increase reach and generate leads. By syndicating content, brands can leverage the audience and credibility of established publishers to expand their reach and attract new prospects.
Content syndication works by partnering with content networks and syndication platforms, that help promote & distribute content to a global audience via email and across a wide array of publisher websites. These partners ensure that either process is transparent; content is published on reputable websites and is not subject to ad fraud or fake engagement. While all CAN-SPAM and GDPR compliance factors are adhered to per mass-volume, global ICP email promotion.
Your dollars are safe!
Using content syndication as a marketing strategy can help brands safeguard their reputation and maximize their ROI. Let’s explore how content syndication can combat ad fraud and fake engagement.
Weekly Lead Deliveries with Content Syndication
One of the key benefits of content syndication is the ability to receive weekly lead deliveries. This frequent flow of leads can help marketers stay on track with their goals and optimize their campaigns. With content syndication, there’s no need to wait months to see the results of a campaign – weekly lead deliveries provide timely and actionable insights.
By receiving leads regularly, marketers can quickly identify what’s working and what’s not, and make adjustments accordingly. This can help them maximize their ROI and ensure they are getting the most out of their marketing budget.
For example, say a marketer is running a content syndication campaign targeting a specific audience. After the first week, they receive a lead delivery report that shows that the majority of their leads are coming from a specific website. Armed with this information, the marketer can direct more resources towards that website and adjust their targeting to further refine their audience. Similarly, after a week’s worth of targeted email promotion, marketers will already see some job titles engage at a higher level and can quickly pivot to target more, similar titles.
Weekly lead deliveries also provide marketers with a steady stream of new leads, which can be crucial in industries where lead volumes can fluctuate. This can help marketers maintain a consistent flow of new opportunities, which can be particularly valuable for companies that rely on a steady pipeline of new business.
Maximizing Lead Conversions with Content Syndication
Content syndication is a powerful tool that can help businesses to combat ad fraud and fake engagement, and maximize their lead conversions. Here are some strategies for optimizing your content syndication campaigns:
- Choose relevant and high-quality content: To ensure that your content resonates with your target audience and delivers value, it’s important to carefully select the pieces that you promote & syndicate. You should also ensure that the content is high-quality, informative, and engaging.
- Select trusted sources: When syndicating your content, it’s essential to choose trusted and high-quality sources. These sources should have a strong reputation and a large reach, ensuring that your content is exposed to a wide audience.
- Optimize your landing pages: Your landing pages are key to converting your leads into sales. To maximize your conversion rates, you should optimize your landing pages by ensuring that they are visually appealing, easy to navigate, and contain clear, compelling calls to action.
- Track your results: To optimize your campaigns and identify areas for improvement, it’s important to carefully track your results. You should use analytics tools to monitor the performance of your content syndication campaigns, and adjust your strategy based on the data. Measuring impressions, opt-ins, and new lead generation are three key success indicators.
By following these strategies, you can maximize your lead conversions and achieve a strong ROI with your content syndication campaigns.
Safeguarding Your Brand’s Reputation
Ad fraud and fake engagement not only drain your marketing budget but also harm your brand’s reputation. Fraudulent activities can damage your brand image, making it challenging to regain trust and credibility with your customers.
Content syndication provides a solution to protect your brand’s reputation. By syndicating content to reputable and trustworthy sources, you can ensure that your brand is associated with high-quality content. This aligns your brand with reputable publishers, driving engagement, and establishing your brand as a thought leader in the industry.
Additionally, content syndication provides full transparency, giving you visibility into where your content is being published and how it is performing. You can ensure that your brand is aligned with publications that align with your brand’s values and messaging.
Using content syndication as a strategy can not only protect your brand’s reputation but also maximize your ROI, provide weekly lead deliveries, secure opt-ins, and improve lead conversions. It is a smart investment that can deliver measurable results, driving brand awareness, and credibility in your industry.
Overall, content syndication offers a comprehensive solution to ad fraud and fake engagement. By utilizing it, brands can protect their investment, maximize their ROI, and safeguard their reputation.
Conclusion
Ad fraud and fake engagement continue to be major challenges for marketers. However, content syndication presents a compelling solution to these issues.
By leveraging content syndication, brands can guarantee a higher ROI, benefit from full transparency, receive weekly lead deliveries, and collect valuable opt-ins and first-party data. Moreover, content syndication provides a safeguard for a brand’s reputation by aligning it with reputable and trustworthy websites.
FAQ
Q: What is ad fraud?
A: Ad fraud refers to fraudulent or deceptive activities that manipulate digital advertising, such as generating fake clicks, impressions, or engagements, with the aim of defrauding advertisers.
Q: What are some types of ad fraud?
A: There are various types of ad fraud, including MFA (Made for Ad), bot traffic or IVT (Invalid Traffic), ad stacking (layering multiple ads on top of each other), and naked ad calls (displaying ads that are not visible to users).
Q: What is the impact of ad fraud and fake engagement?
A: Ad fraud and fake engagement can have a detrimental impact on a brand’s marketing budget and ROI. It results in wasted ad spend, reduced campaign effectiveness, and potential damage to the brand’s reputation.
Q: What is content syndication?
A: Content syndication is a strategy where your content is distributed and published on external platforms or websites to reach a wider audience and generate leads. It helps combat ad fraud and fake engagement by targeting trusted and verified sources.
Q: How does content syndication guarantee ROI?
A: Content syndication ensures guaranteed ROI by syndicating content to reputable sources, resulting in higher-quality leads and increased conversion rates. It enables marketers to reach their target audience more effectively.
