BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Jan 19, 2016) - Brand Networks, the leading provider of cross-platform, relevance-driven native social advertising and content marketing software, today announced a partnership with Crown Resorts, a leading entertainment group serving 29 million visitors annually. With Brand Networks, Crown leveraged user-generated content, quickly turning visitor photos posted on Instagram into compelling Facebook ads that showcase first-hand accounts of Crown's premium resort experience. As a result, Crown saw an increase in reach, garnering 40% more impressions on the company's Facebook ads at a 21% lower cost-per thousand impressions (CPM). The company's Facebook ads also experienced improved engagement, with a 25% increase in Post Likes at a 61% lower cost-per Like. Crown also witnessed an increased rate of follower growth on Instagram as a result of the cross-channel advertising strategy.
Brands have been flocking to Instagram since the platform, which has over 400 million users around the world, opened its advertising API to marketers this past summer. Crown is taking a unique approach to leveraging the platform, using it as a source to mine compelling user-generated content for use in Facebook ad campaigns. Partnering with Stackla, a content aggregation tool that helps brands discover and market with earned media, Brand Networks and Crown surfaced the best user-generated Instagram photos, gained permission to use those photos and instantly turned them into paid Facebook photo advertisements.
Leveraging Brand Networks' Open Signals technology in association with Stackla's social media aggregation platform, Crown Resorts was able to effectively drive down their cost-per engagement (CPE) by up to 40% on Facebook. As an added bonus, the user-generated content increased the Relevance Score of their ad units, resulting in cheaper CPMs and increased positive sentiment for the brand.
"The earned media that brands see on Instagram is largely underutilized," said Jamie Tedford, founder and CEO of Brand Networks. "Instagram users from all over the world are sharing photos of their experiences and hashtagging relevant brands without being prompted, which creates a gold mine for brands who can figure out how to take that content and use it as compelling marketing collateral. For a company like Crown it's a no brainer. The beautiful scenery at Crown Resorts, which dot some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, naturally prompts visitors to share photos on Instagram. Now, Crown can use those user-generated photos to promote their top resort locations on Facebook."
"Our new social advertising strategy, powered by technology from Brand Networks and Stackla, ensures our best earned media is instantly promoted into ads that are timely, highly relevant to our audiences, and extremely authentic," said Christopher Coyne, CMO, Crown Resorts.
"It's a particularly exciting time in the world of social media marketing, as new platforms like Instagram provide opportunities for brands and agencies to interact authentically with their audiences," said Peter Cassidy, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Stackla. "Working with Brand Networks, we were able to help Crown leverage great user-generated content and better integrate Instagram into their social marketing strategy as a whole."
Brand Networks is one of the few companies in the world formally recognized as an early Instagram Marketing Partner, Facebook Marketing Partner, Pinterest Marketing Developer Partner, LinkedIn Sponsored Updates and Custom Apps partner, and Twitter Ads API Developer. The Brand Networks platform powers more than $500 million in social advertising spend for more than 650 of the world's best known brands and agencies, such as Interpublic Group, WPP, American Express, AT&T, ABInBev, Discover, Yahoo! and Unilever.
About Brand Networks
Founded in 2006, Brand Networks delivers relevance-driven native social advertising and content marketing to 650 enterprise customers, including half of the Fortune 100 and 17 of AdAge's 25 Most Advertised Brands. The Brand Networks Platform is the world's first cross-platform social marketing software with a relevance engine at its core, designed to help marketers achieve the highest possible levels of effectiveness and efficiency across paid, earned and owned channels, at every stage of the social marketing process. Brand Networks is headquartered in Boston with offices in San Francisco, New York City, Rochester, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Sydney, and Mexico City. For more information, please visit bn.co.
