Choosing MyTarget over Facebook Ads: Unique Targeting Features on Russian Social Networks

In March 4, 2022, Facebook social network was blocked in Russia by Roskomnadzor, the Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications. Shortly after, the Prosecutor General’s Office requested the recognition of Meta (the company managing Facebook, Instagram*, and Whatsapp) as an extremist organization, leading to the blockage of Instagram in Russia as well.

For companies targeting audiences in Russia, it is crucial to adapt their advertising strategies accordingly. Switching to domestic advertising systems, such as MyTarget, can be a viable solution. By utilizing platforms like MyTarget, companies can effectively reach their desired audience within Russia and navigate the limitations imposed by the blockage of foreign social networks.

Unique Features of myTarget Advertising Platform

myTarget, an advertising platform developed by Mail.ru, offers distinctive features that allow you to effectively promote your ads across various services, including VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, My World, as well as partner resources. One of the notable advantages of myTarget is the ability to scale up your advertising campaigns and launch them simultaneously on multiple platforms.

Here are the platforms where myTarget ads are displayed:

• VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, and My World social networking sites
• Youla ad website
• Boom music app
• Nativeroll video network
• myTarget partner websites

Before the blocking of Facebook/Instagram*, the VKontakte audience partially overlapped with the Facebook/Instagram* audience. As a result, advertisers had to place their ads on both platforms to reach their target audience effectively. However, following the news about the blockage of Meta platforms, a portion of the audience has already migrated back to VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, resulting in a significant increase in the new audience on these social networking sites.

While the algorithm for running ads on myTarget is not fundamentally different from Facebook Ads, there are some key peculiarities when it comes to customizing advertising campaigns. One of them is the selection of goals, which is divided into two main categories: “Conversions” (offering options for Payment per Action (CPV) and Payment per Impressions (CPM)) and “Awareness” (CPM ONLY). In total, there are 14 different goals available to choose from.

Targeting Options on myTarget

When it comes to targeting your ads on myTarget, you have three primary options to choose from:

1. Gender: You can select the desired gender(s) to tailor your ad campaign accordingly.
2. Age: Targeting by age allows you to focus your ads on specific age groups that align with your target audience.
3. Geography: With myTarget, you have the flexibility to choose your target region for ad placement. You can either select a specific region or pinpoint a location (or multiple locations) on the map, specifying a radius ranging from 500 meters to 10 kilometers.

These targeting options provide you with the necessary tools to refine your audience and ensure that your ads reach the right people based on their gender, age, and geographical location.

Enhanced Audience Segmentation with myTarget

In addition to the primary targeting options, myTarget offers five additional targetings for more precise audience segmentation:

1. Advanced Social Features: This targeting allows you to refine your audience based on various social characteristics such as occupation, income, family status, education, and more. By leveraging these advanced social features, you can tailor your ads to specific demographics that align with your campaign objectives.
2. Interests: With myTarget, you can target users based on their interests, which cover a wide range of topics including Beauty and Personal Care, Car Brands, Cooking, Video Games, and more. The ads will be displayed to users who have shown interest in the chosen topics within the past 1-3 months. By selecting multiple interests, your ads will reach users interested in any of the selected topics, broadening your reach.
3. Context Targeting: Context targeting enables you to display ads based on users’ search queries within the resources integrated into the myTarget ecosystem. This targeting method allows you to reach users who have made relevant search queries within a specified period of at least 12 days.

These additional targetings provided by myTarget empower you to further segment your audience and optimize your ad campaigns for maximum relevance and effectiveness. By leveraging advanced social features, interests, and context targeting, you can refine your targeting strategy and connect with users who are more likely to engage with your ads.

When it comes to targeting ads on myTarget, you have the ability to reach users on social networks who are interested in specific topics, are members of groups, use applications, or engage in gaming activities. This allows you to focus your ads on a relevant and engaged audience within social networks.

Segmentation Tool for Customized Audiences

myTarget provides a segmentation tool called “Segments” that enables you to create customized lists of potential customers. For instance, you can configure your ads to specifically target users who have made previous purchases in your store, downloaded your app, or joined thematic groups on social networks. Audience segments can be generated from various sources, including lists of your existing customers, members of social network groups, and data counters from Top.Mail.Ru. You have the flexibility to combine these sources using different principles such as “OR” (addition), “AND” (intersection), and “NOT” (exclusion).

Moreover, you can configure segments based on specific rules, such as creating audiences that consist of a specific number of users from a larger audience (e.g., “users consisting of N out of M audiences”).

By utilizing these advanced segmentation features, myTarget allows you to refine your ad targeting even further, ensuring that your ads are reaching the most relevant and qualified audiences based on their previous actions and interests.

Advertising Formats on myTarget

myTarget offers a variety of ad formats tailored to suit different advertising campaign goals. Let’s explore the main advertising formats available:

1. Carousel: This format presents a mini-gallery where users can scroll through up to six banners. It allows for showcasing multiple images to provide more information about a product or service.
2. Multiformat: A standard ad format that includes an image, text, and a button. It aims to capture attention and encourage users to click on the provided link. The multiformat is versatile and can be used across all myTarget platforms.
3. Banners: This targeted advertising format consists of graphic creatives with accompanying captions used to promote websites. It can be in the form of an image, video, or HTML5. Clicking on the banner directs users to a page with detailed information about a product, service, or event.
4. Teaser (Text and graphic banner): This small-sized ad format combines an image and a concise description. It is typically displayed to the right or left of the main content on web pages and is only visible in the full version of websites.
5. Supervideo: A multiformat ad that encompasses all the features of myTarget video advertising. It simplifies the process by automatically adapting the ad to different placement formats. This format allows for ad placement across all VK sites and the partner advertising network.
6. Vertical video: Specifically designed for the Odnoklassniki mobile application, this format displays vertical videos on iOS and Android devices, as well as in the desktop version of the social networking site. It can also be featured in the VKontakte application feed.
7. Pre-roll: A brief video clip (up to 30 seconds) played before users view the main video content. Pre-roll ads are visible on the desktop and mobile versions of Odnoklassniki and VKontakte social networking sites, VK projects, and the myTarget advertising network.
8. Audio Advertising: Introduced at the end of 2016 on VKontakte (VK), Odnoklassniki, and My World sites, audio advertising allows for playing ads before audio content on desktop and mobile devices, including the Boom application.

These diverse ad formats offered by myTarget cater to various advertising objectives, enabling advertisers to effectively engage their target audience across different platforms and mediums.

Payment Models

myTarget offers four payment models to choose from:

1. CPC (Cost Per Click): Advertisers pay for each click their ad receives. This model is suitable for campaigns focused on driving website traffic or generating clicks to specific landing pages.
2. CPM (Cost per Mille): Advertisers pay for every thousand impressions of their ad. This model is useful when the goal is to increase brand visibility and reach a broad audience.
3. CPV (Cost per View): Advertisers pay for each view of their video ad. This model is commonly used for video campaigns where the main objective is to maximize views and engagement.
4. CPI (Cost per Installation): This model is applicable when advertisers aim to drive app installations. To utilize this model, at least four installations within two days under the CPM or CPC model are required.

Statistics and Reports

The myTarget ad account provides a “Statistics” section that allows advertisers to monitor the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns. Reports can be downloaded in a convenient Excel format for further analysis and data exploration.

The process of analyzing ad efficiency is similar to other advertising systems:

1. Gather cost and basic metrics data.
2. Calculate the conversion rate (CR) from the ad to the application.
3. Determine the Cost Per Lead (CPL) for the advertising campaign.
4. Evaluate the conversion to purchase and calculate the average Cost Per Order (CPO).
5. Measure the return on investment (ROI) within the context of the advertising campaign.

Important Considerations Before Launch

In addition to configuring the advertising campaign and defining targeting parameters, there are other essential components to ensure its success:

1. Install a counter or mobile tracker to accurately measure campaign performance.
2. Label UTM tags to track the effectiveness of different marketing channels.
3. Prepare creative assets and compelling ad text to engage the target audience.
4. Continuously monitor the performance of advertising campaigns and optimize them as needed.
5. Be willing to abandon hypotheses and target audiences that do not yield desired results, focusing on those that show promising outcomes.

By keeping these factors in mind, advertisers can maximize the effectiveness of their myTarget advertising campaigns and achieve their desired objectives.

For setting up and launching an advertising campaign targeting the Russian-speaking audience, QB Agency experts are here to assist you. Whether you’re in the initial configuration stage or have already launched your ad but are unsatisfied with its performance, our team can help optimize your current marketing activities.

Our experts specialize in reaching the Russian-speaking audience and can provide valuable insights and strategies to enhance your campaign’s effectiveness. By leveraging their expertise, you can maximize your ad’s impact, increase engagement, and achieve your desired results.

Don’t hesitate to reach out to our QB Agency experts for comprehensive support in configuring, launching, and optimizing your advertising campaign. We’re dedicated to helping you achieve success in effectively reaching the Russian-speaking audience.