Brand Networks lets AI run social ads in its new platform

For over a decade, Brand Networks has offered a platform that provided its own tools for advertising on the major social networks.

Today, the company is introducing Iris, a new platform that employs artificial intelligence to assist marketers’ campaigns, utilizing the existing ad-buying tools on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn.

The strategy, the Boston-based firm says, went from “let’s build the best Facebook and Snapchat tools in one platform” to “let’s build tech that takes advantage of the free tools” now available on the platforms while using AI to improve performance.

CEO Dave Fall told me that the native tools on the social networks “evolved and became quite good.” Now, he says, the new platform utilizes those existing tools, so the marketer declares the goals and the total spend, and the platform does “everything else.”

That “everything else” includes campaign flighting, performance assessment, budget management, bid management and optimization within each social network, as well as recommendations on how to optimize advertising return across all the networks.

Brand Networks estimates that its new platform is saving an average of eight hours per week per user by, for instance, reducing the need to understand the differences between the ad tools on the social platforms.

Marketers do not need to manually shift budgets from poorly performing campaigns to stronger ones in a social network, Brand Networks says, or to adjust bids to meet spending targets. Additionally, a single campaign can have up to five different goals, such as video views as well as website clicks. Here’s a screen shot showing the AI layer at work:

Fall said that users of the new platform, including Brand Networks’ own internal users, as well as some unnamed clients, have generated up to 30 to 40 times more engagements than before, up to 40 to 50 times more site clicks from social ads and anywhere from 30 to 80 percent lower costs per impression.

He noted that the platform’s AI-powered optimization tech was introduced into the platform over the last three years, but today marks the launch of a user interface that takes advantage of the changes.

About The Author

Barry Levine

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.