Overview, Features, and Unique Aspects of the New VKontakte Advertising Platform
In April 2022, the VK holding company (which includes VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, and partner networks) launched its new advertising cabinet. Since then, the beta version of the service has been upgraded with new features, making VK ads a valuable and convenient platform for various marketing tasks.
Despite the new service, VK developers have not discontinued older advertising services like VK PRO and myTarget, which are still in use. It is currently unknown when these cabinets will be phased out, but due to the improved functionality of VK ads, more and more advertisers are gradually making the switch.
To provide a clear comparison between the new VK service and its predecessors, Quarter Billion Agency experts have created a brief overview of the platform.
VK ads main advantages
The new VK advertising cabinet places a strong emphasis on automating promotion across the VK network and offers faster operations throughout the campaign process. One of the main advantages of VK ads is its extended coverage compared to the older VK PRO, as advertisers can now promote their products or services across all VK holding platforms, including VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, and partner networks.
The VK ads interface features the brand’s signature blue-and-white corporate colors and allows advertisers to efficiently manage promotions, test hypotheses, and optimize budgets across ad groups and individual creatives.
The new service offers two types of advertising cabinets: one for agencies and the other for independent campaign launches by advertisers. The latter allows for the transfer of details, audience settings, mobile applications, advertising accounts, and even active campaigns from myTarget using the “Share segment” function.
The promotion object can be selected from a list of options that includes websites, communities, catalogs, or lead forms. The cabinet’s versatility is expected to increase in the future with more options added.
Additionally, the developers have focused on enhancing campaign effectiveness and providing more detailed targeting options. VK ads now includes several useful additions as a result.
A structure consisting of three levels
The cabinet has been organized into 3 tabs, namely Campaigns, Groups, and Ads, for better user convenience. This three-level structure enables users to manage promotions at all levels, such as budgeting for ad groups or individual creatives.
Additionally, VK ads allows the duplication of any elements from campaign content and saves drafts for future work. However, it is not possible to copy ads from one campaign to another, which can be inconvenient. Nonetheless, compared to the previous VK PRO cabinet, the creative process has become much faster, as creating an ad used to take several hours.
The precise targeting, effective campaign objective setting, and detailed statistics
Previously, successful promotion on VK PRO or myTarget relied heavily on the choice of publication format and testing for different audiences. However, in VK ads, the approach to campaigns has drastically changed. The campaign objective is now given top priority, as it affects overall targeting and optimization mechanisms. This means that the system cannot generate impressions without selecting an objective.
Furthermore, the optimization process has introduced new parameters such as precise geo-targeting by regions in Russia and other countries, geotargeting with a radius up to 500 meters, demographics, user interests, devices, and keyword selection. As a result, promotion statistics have become even more detailed, which is effective for targeting on the Russian market as audience queries and parameters can differ greatly in different regions.
Smart pixel
Developers of the new VK ads have abandoned the use of the old VK PRO pixel, hence the process of installation must be carried out again. The smart pixel serves as an equivalent to the myTarget counter code and is capable of automatically detecting activities on a website. The functionality of this system has been compared to Facebook’s Ads Manager by many advertisers, making it easier to create conversion campaigns.
Automated bidding and payment option selection based on the desired outcome
The optimization of the new advertising cabinet has also impacted campaign budget management. Advertisers can choose one of three parameters: impressions, clicks, or website events (tracked by the pixel). The system then automatically evaluates the most effective options for impressions and allocates resources between ad groups or ads within the group.
The algorithm of the platform gathers data and assesses the likelihood of achieving the desired goal, which helps it to learn how to establish optimal bids. Consequently, more relevant users are exposed to the ads, resulting in an increase in conversions.
An all-encompassing advertisement format for all VK platforms
As previously discussed in our article on VKontakte advertising creative parameters, the main distinction between VK ads and VK PRO is the use of a versatile ad format. This entails an advertiser uploading all image and video options for a campaign, with the system automatically generating potential publication formats for VK platforms.
By using the same requirements for both image and video formats, advertisers can save significant amounts of time when working with creatives. VK PRO provides varying parameters for each ad format, comprising seven primary parameters and two for apps. However, if an advertiser intends to use multiple formats simultaneously, they must spend a considerable amount of time editing the text, given that heading and body text requirements differ across formats, among other things.
On the other hand, the range of creatives available in VK PRO offers certain benefits, particularly the flexible post format with expanded text that generates a steady stream of sales or applications.
In conclusion, it is essential to adjust to the new environment when working with VK advertising and experiment with various promotional settings and options. While there may be fewer formats available, there are several targeting enhancements that can significantly improve the effectiveness of advertising.
What other important aspects are there when working with the new cabinet?
Based on the aforementioned VK Ads functions and additions, several conclusions can be drawn.
Firstly, transferring a large number of campaigns from VK PRO to the new account will be a slow and manual process, unlike the automatic transfer from myTarget. It may be more practical to gradually switch to VK ads by reducing the scope of promotion in VK PRO.
Secondly, targeting priorities should be revised. In the old cabinet, an advertiser had to create multiple ads for different audiences and manually edit them, including budget rates. However, in the new cabinet, the platform algorithm optimizes campaigns automatically. Therefore, the focus when working with VK ads should be on providing detailed campaign data to train the system for the most effective marketing. This approach saves time and produces better results, similar to the promotion of contextual advertising in Yandex.Direct.
Therefore, the focus is on minimizing manual adjustments and maximizing results for each ad.
What else can be done? Experimenting with different format options within a versatile post, using different texts in one campaign, and taking a few days to train the promotion algorithm. Additionally, setting up a pixel for a website and adjusting events can reduce the cost of the target action and allow for a more realistic evaluation of the campaign in the future, based on the price of a high-quality application.
Some advertisers may be hesitant to trust the new optimized VK advertising system, especially those who are accustomed to the features of VK PRO. However, the platform’s website features successful cases of other companies that have used the algorithm effectively, making it at least worth trying. Furthermore, the transition to a new cabinet is inevitable in the near future.
Some Analytics: Why You Should Consider Launching Targeted Ads on VK Networks
Promoting through VK in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States has a significant advantage due to its extensive reach. VKontakte reported that as of the end of 2022, the monthly audience was 76.9 million users, which is a 6.9% increase compared to the previous period, while the daily audience was 49.4 million, representing a 7.1% increase. Among these users, 38.4 million are active users of applications and games within the network.
In terms of geographic distribution, the majority of VK users are based in Russia (82.61%). However, the platform also attracts users from other regions including Belarus (3.16%), Ukraine (2.88%), Kazakhstan (2.24%), and various other parts of the world (8.23%).
Let’s take a look at some figures about another social network on VK, Odnoklassniki. Its monthly audience is 40 million users, with the majority living in major Russian cities such as Moscow, Yekaterinburg, and Krasnodar. In 2022, there was an increase of 73% in the number of users logging in from mobile devices, and the average user age was between 25 and 54 years old. This means that Odnoklassniki, like VKontakte, is a platform with an engaged user base that is receptive to advertising.
It’s worth noting that the network is not limited to Russia. According to January 2023 data from similarweb, Odnoklassniki has visitors from Belarus (4.15%), Ukraine (3.87%), Germany (3.48%), Kazakhstan (2.64%), and other countries (10.20%).
Adding to the discussion, let’s consider the audience of VK partner networks. Mail.ru, for example, had around 51 million monthly users by the end of 2022. Additionally, the Youla service had 18 million visitors by the end of January 2023.
These figures illustrate the potential of targeting within the VK system for successful advertising campaigns in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. With the recent introduction of the new VK advertising cabinet, which utilizes intelligent optimization for impressions and more precise regional targeting, these possibilities are only expanding.
Check out other articles on our blog that explore promotion opportunities on the Russian market. Stay connected with us by subscribing to our blog updates and receive the latest and most valuable information on marketing and advertising every month.