case study
Social Impact Traffic Ad Campaign Drives 68% to Landing Page
Llama Lead Gen and the Ad Council partnered with Feeding America to launch the “Ending Hunger” ad campaign across Facebook and Instagram (Meta Ads). This case study illustrates the impact of digital marketing for social good through targeted traffic ad campaigns. Our approach showcases the power of Facebook and Instagram advertising to meet and exceed campaign objectives, emphasizing the role of PPC marketing in driving meaningful engagement and support for social causes.
The campaign targeted those within the African American and Hispanic communities who are interested in community issues and activism. The campaign aimed to drive traffic to the Feeding America landing page, where they can learn more about the issue and how to contribute to the cause. The campaign wrapped with 7.8M impressions, 1.4M video views, and 125K clicks to the website. Of those who clicked through on the campaign ads, 68% (or 85K) of those resulted in a landing page view.
Introduction
Feeding America is the largest charity working to end hunger in the United States. Partnering with over 200 food banks, food pantries, and local food programs throughout the country to bring food to people facing hunger. Feeding America advocates for policies that will create long-term solutions to hunger.
While people work hard to provide for themselves and their families, approximately 49 million people—or one in six people and one in five children in the U.S.—still rely on food assistance from charities like Feeding America in 2022. Food insecurity exists in every community and is influenced by drivers, including poverty, unemployment, and household assets. A long history of structural oppression has caused many communities of color to face disparities in those drivers and, in turn, food insecurity itself at a higher rate.
It is hard for anyone to thrive on an empty stomach; being fed can open up endless possibilities. That is the main message of the “Ending Hunger” campaign from Feeding America. Partnering with the Ad Council and Llama Lead Gen, Feeding America launched an ad campaign across Facebook and Instagram (Meta Ads). The campaign aimed to reach an audience marked by a conscientious neighbor mentality to increase advocacy of the “Ending Hunger” message.
The campaign mainly targeted A25-54 in the African American and Hispanic communities and those interested in community issues and activism. Creative assets in this campaign were videos at various lengths with both English and Spanish language assets available. The campaign's primary objective was to drive traffic to the landing page for the user to gain a deeper understanding of the food insecurity issue and see where they can fit in as a part of the solution.
Driving Awareness and Action through Social Impact Marketing
Our strategy centered on social impact marketing, employing traffic ad campaigns to effectively reach and engage diverse audiences. By harnessing the dynamic platforms of Facebook and Instagram, we amplified the message of Feeding America, driving substantial traffic to their landing page and encouraging active participation in hunger prevention efforts.
Traffic Ads for Nonprofits: Maximizing Impact with Every Click
Specializing in PPC for nonprofits, Llama Lead Gen optimized each aspect of the traffic ad campaign to ensure the highest possible return on investment. This focus on efficiency and impact underscores the potential of PPC marketing to significantly benefit nonprofit organizations, especially when combined with the extensive reach and targeting capabilities of Facebook and Instagram advertising.
The Marketing Challenge
Feeding America and the Ad Council came to Llama Lead Gen to refine their media strategy around a traffic ad campaign aimed at “Ending Hunger.” They needed to devise the right audience approach regarding targeting criteria and ensure proper setup of their creative/audience split for the English/Spanish speaking audience.
Intentional optimizations were needed from the Llama Lead Gen team to maintain an even reach between the two audience groups. Given the KPI of PPC traffic, our team needed to identify the most qualified audience that would resonate enough with our video ads to take the additional step to leave the page they were on (Facebook or Instagram) to engage with the Feeding America landing page.
They looked to partner with Llama Lead Gen to solidify their approach to reach the right audience and ensure proper media weight against each segment. With the past success of campaigns between Ad Council and Llama Lead Gen, we were able to leverage this existing trust and relationship to collaborate on a marketing plan.
Our Social Impact Marketing Strategy
Llama Lead Gen chose Facebook and Instagram (Meta Ads) as the main platforms for this campaign to maximize clicks to the landing page from our video messaging using traffic ads.
Across Facebook and Instagram, we targeted A25-54 with an interest in social issues and those who are community-minded. In addition to the socially conscious mindset, we also targeted those who were interested in brands/companies associated with Feeding America to leverage any synergy that existed there. The audiences were segmented by English and Spanish speakers as corresponding video assets were available.
The campaign had a mix of 6s, 15s, 30s, and 60s videos. While the prospecting audiences received a mix of all creative versions, the longer-form videos were reserved only for the retargeting audiences. Due to the volume of the audience sizes, the English videos received a heavier weight of overall media budget over the Spanish language videos.
We monitored the campaign performances and optimized weekly budgets, moving budgets based on audience performance. Different video lengths and languages were leveraged to allow platform optimization flexibility. The videos emphasized the difference being fed can make, showcasing different scenarios in which communities can thrive once a baseline issue like food insecurity is no longer a concern. Llama Lead Gen worked with the Ad Council to ensure that the ad copy aligned with the nuance of each video.
Solution & Implementation
After we fully understood the strategy and goals of this campaign, we started by collaborating with the Ad Council and Feeding America to align on finalizing ad copy for the ads and ensuring that the target audiences we selected resonate. The Llama Lead Gen team took full ownership of the execution of the campaign set up within the Meta Ads platform.
The campaign was launched after careful QA to ensure that our campaigns, audiences, and ads were set up properly. Our team monitored the performance daily and adjusted the budget accordingly based on what ads and audiences were performing well. Shifting dollars into more efficient audiences and ads.
Overall, the campaign paced well throughout the flight with the General Market videos receiving a larger portion of the budget over the Spanish language assets.
Performance & Data
The campaign had a primary objective of driving traffic to the Feeding America landing page. The campaign leveraged a mix of Spanish and English video assets as one of the key audience mixes was the African American and Hispanic community. The campaign honed in on A25-54 with a socially conscious mindset. Throughout the campaign, we could drive a total of 7.8M impressions, 1.4M video views, and 125K clicks to the website at a CPC of $0.80.
By splitting up our audiences between the General Market and the Hispanic market, we ensured that both our English and Spanish assets received a sufficient reach of the messaging. We saw that 68% of all landing page clicks came from our English ads, while the Spanish-speaking audience made up 32% of overall website traffic. Additionally, we noted that the Spanish-speaking audience had higher engagement with the video messaging, with a video completion rate that is 2X higher than the General Market audience.
When looking at the flow of users through a multi-step process of leaving the Facebook and Instagram platforms to the website, we converted 85K of the 125K clicks into direct traffic to Feeding America’s landing page (that’s 68% of all clicks!). This is a strong indication that we were able to seek out qualified users and that the landing page content was useful and engaging.
7,814,812
Impressions
1,454,640
Video Views
7,186
Engagement
125,004
Clicks
84,815
Engaged Sessions (68%)
Llama Lead Gen's pace of being able to start a project is impressive. They are able to jump in and reach out to our team and get the information they need in order to get things moving quickly!
Felicia Carmichael
Director of Media, Social and Emerging @ Ad Council
Moving Forward
It is hard for anyone to thrive on an empty stomach; being fed can open up endless possibilities. Feeding America came to the Ad Council and Llama Lead Gen with a traffic ad campaign to advocate for “Ending Hunger” for millions of Americans who face food insecurity. The campaign aimed to reach an audience marked by a conscientious neighbor mentality to increase advocacy of Feeding America’s cause.
By targeting users across both Facebook and Instagram (Meta Ads), platforms with a significant reach, we were able to successfully execute the traffic-driving campaign by getting 125K clicks on the ad at a CPC of $0.80, with 68% of those users ultimately making it to Feeding America’s landing page. Additionally, the campaign received over 7.8M impressions, 7K engagements, and 1.4M video views of our message.
There were many learnings throughout the campaign. We noted that the Spanish-speaking audience engaged with our ads at a higher rate than the General Market audience. However, the General Market audience had a higher scale making up about 68% of all clicks to the website. From a creative perspective, we saw early on that the shorter-form videos (6s, 15s) underperformed against our traffic goal in this campaign. We hypothesized that the shorter form video does not allow enough time for the user to fully digest the message to click through before it ends.
Therefore from a creative perspective, we recommended that we continue to include the longer-form videos in our mix as it allowed our audience to engage further with the campaign messaging. Additionally, given the high engagement we see amongst the Spanish-speaking audience, we recommended that there should be more creative content developed that features cultural nuances from this community.
A Model for Future Inclusive Marketing Campaigns
This case study serves as a blueprint for future inclusive marketing campaigns, demonstrating how strategic digital marketing for social good can engage diverse communities and drive collective action towards a common goal. The success of this campaign on Facebook and Instagram highlights the effectiveness of combining social impact marketing with precise PPC marketing tactics to achieve significant results in nonprofit advocacy and engagement.
The Ad Council and Feeding America’s satisfaction with the campaign's performance stand as a testament to its remarkable success and the effectiveness of our strategic approach. The results underscore our collective impact and highlight the campaign's impressive reach and profound engagement within the target demographic.
Leveraging the power of Facebook and Instagram Ads can significantly amplify your social impact marketing efforts. At Llama Lead Gen, we specialize in crafting traffic ad campaigns and PPC strategies that meet your objectives and drive meaningful engagement and action. Connect with us to explore how we can maximize your digital marketing campaigns for social good, utilizing the expansive network of Meta platforms to reach and resonate with your target audience.
