Graduate Cybersecurity Campaign

7 Day Report

Description

The Office of Marketing and Brand Management at USM is running display ads targeting working adults and current undergraduates in ME, NH, and the Northshore of MA to the Graduate Cybersecurity Certificate Program at USM by driving traffic to https://usm.maine.edu/tech/certificate-graduate-study-cyber-security. It appears that no distinction has been made between the in-state and out-of-state ads in terms of naming conventions. This webpage is a status report on the first days of the live ads.

Findings

Facebook

Run Time: August 12 - November 14, 2019

Code_Audience ReportingPeriod YTD_Impressions Avg_CTR YTD_UPV Avg_BR Av_TOP Cost
ALL YTD 116,181 0.22% 159 88.19% 00:01:35 $249.42

Instagram

Run Time: August 12 - November 14, 2019

Code_Audience ReportingPeriod YTD_Impressions Avg_CTR YTD_UPV Avg_BR Av_TOP Cost
ALL YTD 52,759 0.84 331 98.47% 00:05:25 $780.64

Gmail

Run Time: August 12 - November 14, 2019

Code_Product ReportingPeriod YTD_Impressions Avg_CTR YTD_UPV Avg_BR Avg_CTOR Av_TOP Cost
CGCY YTD 9,746 38.08% 13 91.67% 0.51% 00:00:05 $780.56

LinkedIn

Run Time: August 12 - August 23, 2019

Code_Product ReportingPeriod YTD_Impressions Avg_CTR YTD_UPV Avg_BR Av_TOP Cost
CGCY YTD 13,891 0.53% 62 84.91% 00:00:45 $398.73

Conclusions

  • All of the ads are functioning as expected and driving traffic to the landing page.

  • Thus far, Facebook CTR is low, however only a small portion of the budget has been allocated to this particular vendor.

  • The Gmail CTOR is askew and we will need to watch this closely.

Midterm Report

Description

The Office of Marketing and Brand Management at USM is running display ads targeting working adults and current undergraduates in ME, NH, and the Northshore of MA to the Graduate Cybersecurity Certificate Program at USM by driving traffic to https://usm.maine.edu/tech/certificate-graduate-study-cyber-security. It appears that no distinction has been made between the in-state and out-of-state ads in terms of naming conventions. This webpage is a mid-term status report on the Cybersecurity campaign.

Findings

Facebook

Run Time: August 12 - November 14, 2019

Code_Audience ReportingPeriod YTD_Impressions Avg_CTR YTD_UPV Avg_BR Av_TOP Cost
ALL YTD 202,053 0.27% 350 87.72% 00:02:00 $472.66

Instagram

Run Time: August 12 - November 14, 2019

Code_Audience ReportingPeriod YTD_Impressions Avg_CTR YTD_UPV Avg_BR Av_TOP Cost
ALL YTD 122,443 0.78 737 98.08% 00:04:20 $1575.46

Gmail

Run Time: August 12 - September 10, 2019

Code_Product ReportingPeriod YTD_Impressions Avg_CTR YTD_UPV Avg_BR Avg_CTOR Av_TOP Cost
CGCY YTD 27,892 35.38% 49 85.71% 0.61% 00:01:50 $1,951.6

LinkedIn

Run Time: August 12 - August 23, 2019

Code_Product ReportingPeriod YTD_Impressions Avg_CTR YTD_UPV Avg_BR Avg_ER Av_TOP Cost
CGCY YTD 17,991 0.52% 80 82.81% NA% 00:00:45 $587.32

Conclusions

  • Facebook CTR, 0.23%, is well below our benchmark. However, it is the biggerst driver of traffic to the campaign landing page. Additionally, to date, we have allocated only a small portion of funds to it.

  • Gmail CTR, 38.5%, is very high, however the CTOR, at 0.55%, is very much below the national email marketing benchmark for higher education which is 2.48%. Gmail is also the most expensive advertising vendor for the Cybersecurity campaign. When this department has run Gmail Inbox ads, the CTOR has not always been at the benchmark, but it has never been as low as it is for Cybersecurity. One concern is that prospective cybersecurity students may be suspicious of ads arriving in their personal gmail.

  • LinkedIn, now complete, had a consistently strong CTR, it is also significantly less expensive than Gmail Inbox advertising. Perhaps it is worth considering allocating some of the Gmail dollars to LinkedIn.

  • As of September 10, 2019, Gmail ads have been suspended. The remaining Gmail budget is being allocated to LinkedIn.

  • A correction was made to the Gmail runtime schedule. The ads were only going to run through the end of September, not mid-November The remaining budget of $188.55 will go to LinkedIn.

Final Report

Description

The Office of Marketing and Brand Management at USM will complete its Cybersecurity campaign of display ads targeting a broad audience to consider the program. It drives traffic to https://usm.maine.edu/tech/certificate-graduate-study-cyber-security](https://usm.maine.edu/tech/certificate-graduate-study-cyber-security). A final report is expected late November 2019, until that time, this page is updated with the latest performance.

Findings

Facebook

Run Time: August 12 - November 14, 2019

Code_Audience ReportingPeriod YTD_Impressions Avg_CTR YTD_UPV Avg_BR Av_TOP Cost
ALL YTD 365,303 0.24% 523 89.29% 00:01:55 $785.39

Instagram

Run Time: August 12 - November 14, 2019

Code_Audience ReportingPeriod YTD_Impressions Avg_CTR YTD_UPV Avg_BR Av_TOP Cost
ALL YTD 137,544 0.75 790 98.21% 00:04:20 $1744.67

Gmail

Run Time August 12 - September 10, 2019

Code_Product ReportingPeriod YTD_Impressions Avg_CTR YTD_UPV Avg_BR Avg_CTOR Av_TOP Cost
CGCY YTD 27,892 35.38% 49 85.71% 0.61% 00:01:50 $1,951.6

LinkedIn

Run Time: August 12-23 & September 10-27, 2019

Code_Product ReportingPeriod YTD_Impressions Avg_CTR YTD_UPV Avg_BR Avg_ER Av_TOP Cost
CGCY YTD 17,991 0.52% 80 82.81% NA% 00:00:45 $587.32

Conclusions

  • The digital advertising campaign promoting the Graduate Cybersecurity certificate has complete its run in ME and the north shore of MA.

  • The average CTR for Facebook was well below all benchmarks. Very little of the budget was allocated to this vendor.

  • Instagram ads performed well, averaging CTR above the national benchmark until the tail end of the campaign.

  • LinkedIn Ads performed well. Unfortunately they only ran for a short time.

  • Gmail ads did not perform well and we aborted this platform mid-way through the campaign.

  • Ads did run successfully both in and out of state. For a more detailed view of geo-targeted web traffic, see this report .