Pre-Launch Facebook Ad Campaign to Run

Friday Live – Episode 26: Pre-Launch Ad Campaign to Run

On Friday Live Episode 26, Intelivideo featured:

• a news update around piracy and how to keep your videos safe,
• an in-depth overview of how to execute a pre-launch ad campaign and
• a question of the week from an Intelivideo client.

Piracy and Best Practices Around It

Matt Given kicked off this week’s episode discussing a surprising infographic he discovered about piracy. It’s a topic continually becoming more important for all internet users. The topic of piracy is particularly pertinent to users looking to run a Subscription Video On Demand offering, as video happens to be one of the top assets pirated online.

If you are trying to build a business with valuable premium content and don’t want people accessing it for free, security should be top of mind!

After reviewing several stats from the infographic, Matt covered the top three best practices that Intelivideo is currently employing to maintain client video safety and security. These practices include…

1. Encryption: Video that is traveling ‘across the internet’ is encrypted so that it cannot be viewed if intercepted.
2. Signing: When a subscriber wants to access a video they’ve paid for, they call on the Intelivideo system, which then creates a unique signature for them. This signature only lasts a certain period of time, eventually expiring.
3. Authentication & Authorization: Intelivideo authenticates that every user is who they say they are and then grants that authorization as such.

Pre-Launch Ad Campaign with Facebook for Subscription Video Businesses

Following Matt’s discussion of video security, Ashley jumps into an overview of the benefits of running a pre-launch Facebook ad campaign and the steps involved for conducting one yourself.

A pre-launch campaign is an excellent marketing strategy for businesses in the early stages of starting a Video On Demand service. It’s a great way to generate interest, garner awareness and get people excited about the launch of your new offering!

Ashley referenced a specific example of a pre-launch ad campaign she ran through Facebook for a client. In summary, the campaign consisted of three steps…

1. Gathering Assets: To run this particular campaign (through Facebook), you need to have a video ad, copy, somewhere to send users who click on your ad (Ex: landing page), and an email campaign service.
2. Running a Paid Facebook Ad: In this specific instance, the business ran two ads on Facebook, one linking to a contact form that they could fill out (in Facebook!), and the other linking to a landing page that also included a contact form.
3. Emailing Leads: Users that completed the contact form–either on Facebook or through the landing page–automatically began receiving a sequence of emails, designed to nurture them and turn them into subscribers when the offering launched.

Examples of all of these items above are in Episode 26, which can be found here.

Running a strong pre-launch campaign can be a fantastic means for building up your audience. The goal is to move them along in the evaluation process so that they’re ready to buy when you launch. You’re creating leads for yourself.

Question of the Week

Ashley’s coverage of pre-launch ad campaigns is a great segway into our question of the week: “How long before launch should I start marketing my subscription video service?”

As a general rule of thumb, Ashley and Matt recommend 6-8 weeks for pre-launch marketing activities. This allows optimal time to generate audience awareness and rake in some leads. It’s important to provide yourself enough time during pre-launch to create some buzz and explain to people what they’re going to receive when your subscription goes live.

Watch Friday Live Episode 26 On Demand here.

Tune in next Friday at 11:00 a.m. MST for another edition of Friday Live with Intelivideo’s Matt Given and Ashley Podoll! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at @Intelivideo. Look for the hashtags #FridayLive and #IVLive for questions/comments from the show. Also feel free to submit questions, comments and compliments to us any time via email at fridaylive@intelivideo.com.