Understanding Impressions in Digital Marketing
The first thing we will review in this discussion is the definition of impression in digital marketing . Impression shows how much content is displayed, such as ads on websites or social media. This content can be in the form of banner ads on websites or what you often see on social media.
Simply put, an impression is the number of times a piece of content is viewed by an audience . This is also why impressions are often referred to as ad views. However, the context of impressions is more about the appearance of the ad.
This means that an ad still counts as an impression when it appears or airs on a platform. Whether the audience realizes it or not, as long as the ad appears, its impression counts .
Likewise, when the ad is seen by the same audience many times, the number of impressions also increases. For example, if you see the same ad 5 times, then the impressions of the ad also increase by 5.
In essence, impressions are the number of times a content or email list ad is seen by the audience and appears on various platforms. So, why should a digital marketer know the impressions of the campaign they are running? Find the answer in the next section, okay!
Why Track Impressions?
After knowing what impressions are in digital marketing , next we will review their roles and uses. Impressions are important to know so that you know how much an ad content is displayed. Although not the only aspect, impressions can be a reference for reviewing whether the campaign is effective or not.
Impressions can be used to measure ad performance based on several things. Such as the number of ads displayed on social media and websites , how many ads are displayed from CTA ( Call-to-Action ), and ad impressions from third parties.
In addition, impressions can also be a metric for various calculation methods for digital campaigns. Such as calculating CPM or Cost-per-Mile and CTR or Click-through-Rate.
With this calculation method, you can see whether the marketing campaign that has been carried out has been effective or not. Of course, the calculation method used depends again on the goals and campaigns that you create as a whole.
Types of Impression
After understanding the concept of impression and its difference with reach, next you need to know what types of impressions there are. Broadly speaking, impressions have two types, namely as follows.
1. Served Impression
The first type is served impression, which is impression data taken from the server. Because it comes from the server, the impression data you can get is automatically pulled. This will make it easier for you to get the impression data you need.
But even though it is easy to get and process, this type of impression has a weakness. The data you get may be less accurate because the data is automatically collected through the server. In other words, there is a possibility that the data does not show the amount of content or ads that are actually viewed.
In practice, there are several things that can make an ad invisible to the audience. So even though the ad is displayed or appears, the audience does not really see it.
2. Viewable Impression
The second type is viewable impression, which is the opposite of served impression. In viewable impression, you can find out impression data more accurately and most likely it is seen by the audience.
This type of impression data collection also takes into account things that might prevent your audience from seeing your content or ads. Such as adblocking apps installed, plugins that prevent ads from appearing, small screen resolutions, use of multiple devices, and so on.
How to Calculate Impressions
To calculate impressions , you need to know the number of times a piece of content is shown to a user. How impressions are calculated can vary depending on the platform or marketing channel used.
