Following the recent algorithm changes to Facebook’s News Feed, which has diminished the traffic of organic posts on the social media platform from media outlets and brands, one publisher is taking matters into its own hands.
News UK’s commercial division, the Bridge has launched Social Amp, a social content tool that allows brands to design campaigns and targeted posts across the UK publisher’s portfolio titles, including The Times and The Sun to ultimately drive traffic to their products pages.
The platform works by letting advertisers upload creative assets they would normally post to Facebook, as well as Twitter and Instagram; once in the tool’s dashboard the content will be replicated and resized to fit the top ad slot on The Times and The Sun’s desktop and mobile sites.
Content will appear on the webpages as it would on the brands’ Facebook page when posting a sponsored post – driving traffic to their social media channels without extending to Facebook.
“For too long brands have been watching their organic social reach decline, diminishing the strong audience bases they have fought hard to build,” Ben Walmsley, digital director at the Bridge told Press Gazette.
“Social Amp is a much-needed solution for brands who want to amplify and endorse their social feeds in quality environments, with strong reader affinity.”
In addition, advertisers using the tool can choose to have their campaigns for social repurposed as endorsed posts on News UK’s Twitter and Instagram feeds for additional reach.
“With all the concerns around brand safety, the hoaxes and fake news that brands expose themselves to when they pick a user-generated content platform, this can be a solution to that where they can amplify and endorse their posts in brand-safe environments,” said Rebecca Reeve-Kendall, social partnerships lead at News UK.