Creating Campaigns in Microsoft adCenter (Bing)
Most marketers launch their first search campaigns on Google Adwords and move on to other networks only after building a considerable presence there. This is the correct approach: Google’s market share is nearly two thirds. For marketers prioritizing ad spend, it’s clearly the right place to start. However, 30 percent of the search market can’t be ignored.
In the past, the remainder of the search market was largely split between two platforms: Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter (Bing). That changed last year with the launch of the Yahoo!-Microsoft SearchAlliance. Today, ads on both networks are served from Microsoft adCenter. In at least one respect, this is good news for search marketers: the structure and technical details of an adCenter account are extremely similar to those of Google AdWords. If you’re managing online advertising in the native network interfaces, there are not very many differences between Adwords and adCenter campaigns. If you’re managing all of your search (and Facebook) marketing in the Clickable Pro Tool, there are almost no differences at all.
Because we’ve already reviewed best practices for creating Google Adwords campaigns, [LINK] this tutorial will focus on key differences between Google and Microsoft campaigns.
Setting Campaign Budgets
In Google AdWords, campaign budgets are daily. That option is available in Microsoft adCenter as well, but you are also required to set a monthly budget. Most advertisers set their daily budgets in Google by dividing a monthly budget by 30. You can make yours higher, though your budget may be exhausted and the ads may stop displaying before the end of the month.
Targeting by Gender and Age Group
Microsoft collects basic demographic information from users of Windows Live. If a user is signed in to Windows Live while using Bing, some of that information is available to marketers as targeting options.
Gender Targeting
You can choose to target Male users, Female users, or both. To disable ads off for a given gender, set the bid percentage to “0”. Additionally, you can adjust your bids by ten percent intervals depending on the searcher’s gender.
Age Targeting
There are five ranges available for Age Targeting in Microsoft adCenter:
- 18-24
- 25-34
- 35-49
- 50-64
- 65+
As with Gender Targeting, you can either disable ads for a given age range by setting your bid percentage to “0”, or adjust them by 10 percent intervals.
Day Parting” in Microsoft adCenter
Unlike Google Adwords, you cannot set different bids or bid percentages at 30-minute intervals in Microsoft adCenter. Instead, you can manage six specific time intervals:
- 3 A.M. to 7 A.M. (early morning)
- 7 A.M. to 11 A.M. (morning)
- 11 A.M. to 2 P.M. (midday)
- 2 P.M. to 6 P.M. (afternoon)
- 6 P.M. to 11 P.M. (evening)
- 11 P.M. to 3 A.M. (late night)
As with Age and Gender Targeting, you can disable ads during certain intervals for a given time range by setting your bid percentage to “0”, or adjust them by 10 percent intervals:
Setting Ad Group Start and End Dates
The final difference between Google Adwords and Microsoft adCenter concerns optional start and end dates. In Google, start and end dates are set at the campaign level. In Microsoft, they are set at the ad group level.