Advocacy Campaign Report
Week of November 7, 2022
Thank you for your interest in this pro-DRS advocacy campaign. This is the third weekly report for the 2022 Q4 advocacy campaign.
Some helpful keywords and terms to frame this information are below:
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Impressions: ad views; number of times the ads were seen. Does not reflect unique number of people who saw the ads.
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CPM: Cost Per 1,000 Impressions - a primary advertising cost metric.
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CPC: Cost Per Click.
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CTR: Click-Through Rate - the rate at which people saw the ads and subsequently clicked on them.
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KPIs: Key Performance Indicators - these include the terms listed above and are basic gauges for measuring campaign progress.
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WoW: Week over Week - refers to changes in performance metrics from one week to the next.
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All currency is listed in U.S. dollars.
Executive Summary
Overall positive trends continued from week two into week three of the campaign. Meta and Twitter drove a total of 1,421 site visits, a 38% increase week over week, and at a consistently lower total average cost per site visit of $1.16 (26% decrease, WoW):
Week over week, total impressions delivered rose by more than 6%, and average CPM decreased by 4%. However, link clicks increased by nearly 18% from week two, and by more than 132% of what was seen in week one.
Overall, site traffic for week three continued the increase from week two, with the paid ads driving the most of any traffic category (direct, organic search, referral, etc.). Likewise, return visitors to the site have continued to increase, especially from the paid ads.
Unique visitors to the site rose by 11%, and total sessions rose by 19%. Although, the average time on site saw no change in either direction.
As mentioned in previous reports, these are all key positive indicators that affirm the campaign targeting is appropriate, and that the site altogether provides value for visitors.
Meta Performance
(Facebook and Instagram)
Meta continues picking up steam in driving more site visitors week over week, increasing by 78% from week two. Total weekly spending stayed the same, but cost per site visit dropped by nearly 44%, from $14.17 to $7.96 in week three:
Total impressions served saw another dramatic decrease, dropping by nearly 43%. However, total clicks increased by over 28%, closer to what was seen in week one. With the decrease in impressions and increase in clicks, this caused the CTR to rise by almost 124%, from 0.59% to 1.32%. This is a terrific trend to observe, in light of the initial estimates for the Meta campaign to deliver an average CTR of 0.73%.
Continuing what was seen in weeks one and two, week three saw more site visits from people who have been identified as those interested in gaming or game-related topics, totaling 38 of the 41 total for the week. French users delivered the majority of link clicks, at nearly 84% of the week’s total.
The Grandma’s Recipe ad surprisingly provided the overwhelming majority of site visits from Meta, totaling 34 of the 41 for the week and delivering a 5.19% CTR (see ad previews here). The people who clicked on this ad the most were women ages 45+, though the highest CTR came from men ages 35-44.
Twitter Performance
Twitter also continued to deliver more site visits week over week, with a more than 36% increase, for a total of 1,380. Cost per site visit continues to decrease, by 25% to $0.96 per visit in week three:
Weekly spending, impressions served, and CTR saw nominal increases (2%-12%), while CPM saw a modest decrease (9%). Total link clicks increased by more than 17%. Altogether, the Twitter ads are far outperforming the initial estimates from the start of the campaign.
As noted in the previous weekly report, the Twitter ads were opened up to more countries in week two. Going into week three, the campaign continues to see the most site traffic driven from people in these countries, all located in Europe. Sweden and France were again the top two countries delivering the most site visits, driving a combined total of 57% of all site visits for the week.
Over 75% of all week three visitors from the Twitter ads were over age 35, while more than half of the total visitors for the week were over the age of 50.
Whisper and Ringo were the two ads driving the most traffic from Twitter, followed by the carousel ad featuring Couch Man, Seedling, and Grandma’s Recipe (see ad previews here).
Site Activity
Total site traffic from unique visitors continues to climb, with the paid ads continuing to deliver the most visits in week three, followed again by direct traffic. Notably, Wednesday, November 9 saw the greatest overall spike in traffic. This was defined largely by an increase in people visiting the site directly, as well as driven by organic social content, primarily from Facebook and Twitter:
The traffic spike coincides with the announcements surrounding the collapse of the crypto exchange company FTX. It is suspected that, due to the fallout from the mismanagement of FTX’s customer funds, people gained a renewed interest in learning more about securing their investments. Therefore, the news of this event was likely the primary factor driving visitors to DRSGME.org that day and in subsequent days.
Following the trend from week two, the seven-day running total number of unique return visitors driven by the ads continues to increase:
The top broker guides seeing the most traffic in week three, were again Fidelity and IBKR. However, the guide for Webull (broker headquartered in New York) saw visitors spike by 200% week over week, and the guide for ING (broker headquartered in the Netherlands) saw visitors spike by 300%:
The majority of these visits were on Wednesday, November 9, which is the day the site experienced an increase in overall traffic for the week.
Conclusion and Next Steps
The ad campaign continues to increase site traffic, in combination with outreach efforts and visibility from other traffic sources. There have also been comments from Reddit users who have shared that they were led to the site, and relevant subReddits from exposure to the ads.
Unique return visitors continues to increase over time, a sign that the content is appropriate for the audience being reached by the ads. In conjunction with the ads, this is also likely bolstered by external events in the market, such as the FTX collapse.
Something worth keeping in mind, is any site performance data gathered for analysis only reflects people who allow cookies upon visiting the site. There are various statistics surrounding the percentage of internet users who accept site cookies, varying wildly from to 1% to 64%, depending on location, demographic makeup, cookie type, and consent policy. Based on averages for the countries where the ads are being served, true site traffic could be understated by anywhere from two to five-fold or more, so the current trends for site activity since the campaign launch are encouraging overall.