How to Target Online Casino Ads: Step-by-Step Instructions

In this article, our experts will tell you about one of the ways to customise advertisements for the needs of a certain type of users. Among the solution’s advantages, we would like to note high efficiency, interaction with the target audience, which is converted into regular clients, and convenient end-to-end control.

Features and Benefits of Targeted Advertising

The method appeared 20 years ago. Initially, sales departments distributed leaflets among the members of a loyalty program. Over time, the approach to promotion has changed, and thanks to AI and Big Data technologies, it has reached a fundamentally new level.

Key Advantages of the Solution

The connection of targeted ads is beneficial for the following reasons:

1. High efficiency. Marketing ads are only seen by those users who are interested in web gambling. Special tools make messages personalised, which increases conversion (the percentage of players who not only viewed the ad but also completed the target action).
2. End-to-end control. Specialists monitor the intermediate results of marketing in real-time. They respond to all errors and make changes to already existing campaigns.
3. Different promotion channels. The technique is suitable for the popularisation of websites on popular search engines and social networks. Besides, well-known video hosting (YouTube) and streaming platforms (Tik Tok, Twitch) can be used.
4. Cost optimisation. A sensible approach to the placement of content (only for the target audience) reduces the number of ineffective advertising resources and marketing costs. The released funds can be redirected to strategic business development, such as expansion into new markets.

How to Select Customers

In gaming, the intended interest group consists of men aged 25–45 with a stable above-average salary and a strong affection for gambling. They consider slot machines and card games a fun pastime, not a way to make money.

There are also other categories of users, for example, players aged 18–24 (Generation Z) who enjoy eSports and the placement of bets in slot machines.

It is difficult to determine who belongs to the target audience since there are too many people in the online space. For this purpose, various services and tools are used, the most famous of which are Google Analytics, AdWords, and Bing Ads.

Programs collect and process terabytes of information thanks to various mathematical algorithms, including Big Data.

Basic information for targeting:

From search engines

To filter ads, Google and Yandex use data on the audience’s preferences and statistics of behaviour. This is the history of search queries, visits to various websites, and reactions to published materials (text, graphics, and videos).

Moreover, programs collect such technical information as:

• IP addresses of computers;
• login devices;
• geolocation data;
• types of browsers.

From social networks

Targeting from messengers is focused on the information provided by gamblers at the time of registration.

Gender, age, country of residence, marital status, education, hobbies, subscriptions, and other personal data published by users in their profiles are taken into account.

Types of Targeting for Online Casinos

There are several types of promotion of iGaming projects:

1. Geotargeting. The display of advertising messages is prohibited in some countries due to the ambiguous attitude of local authorities to gambling. To stay within the law, marketers need to constantly monitor legislation changes.
2. Demographic targeting. This is a demonstration of ads for certain categories of users, for example, only for men or women, people with higher education, etc. Age segmentation is vital for the iGaming industry. It is worth remembering that it is prohibited to promote gambling services among persons under 18 years old. In some countries, the age limit has been raised to 21 years.
3. Thematic promotion. In this case, it is focused on the audience united by common interests. These are users who just have fun playing casino games. They have their favourite slots and software vendors. Besides, such users often participate in online missions, tournaments, and seasonal drawings.

Customisation of Advertising for VKontakte

You can create an ad directly on this platform without using any third-party services. To do this, it is necessary to go to the Advertising section, which is located in the main menu.

After that, a business account is activated, from which you can launch targeted campaigns or place one-time materials.

Choice of the Method of Placement

The format of the ad will depend on where the message will be published: in the news feed or on the site of a community.

Publication in the news feed

The following formats will be suitable for the web casino promotion:

• “carousel” (dozens of slides with links to landing pages of the iGaming project);
• universal post (mixed text, audio, and video materials with the addition of animation effects);
• collection of applications (virtual questionnaire for those users who previously showed interest in the product);
• a post with a button for performing a target action (registration or the launch of the game in a demo mode);
• site advertising (after one click, the system redirects gamblers to the online casino).

Placements of advertisements in the form of a unit

Banners with texts and graphics are displayed under the main menu on the left. The option is only available for desktop devices, while iOS and Android versions are at the testing stage.

The size of banners depends on the aim of advertising. The largest blocks (145x145) are provided for websites and smaller banners — for communities and applications.

Other formats

Play formats are suitable for the promotion of a gaming portal or a specific slot machine. These are animated banners with additional buttons: Play, Install, and Launch.

Operators can advertise mobile casino applications. Ads are published in the “Recommended” section in the form of a 256x256 banner with an image of a game or an online venue’s logo.

Selection of Characteristics for the Advertised Object

At this stage, experts:

• choose the topic of the publication (in our case, it is gambling);
• place a link for the displays counter;
• set age limits (taking into account the prohibition of gaming for minors), etc.

Choice of the Audience

VKontakte provides several targeting settings:

• geographical (ads are shown only for players from a certain country or region);
• demographic (advertising demonstrations taking into account education, work experience, and age group);
• technical (targeting depending on the devices, browsers, and operating systems used);
• for retargeting (interaction with registered online casino customers who have stopped visiting the gaming site for some reason).

The business cabinet has tools for the prediction of the results of a popularisation campaign. These are planned indicators for audience coverage, the number of displays of the ads, conversions, and advertising costs. After the launch of the ad, the basic figures are compared with the intermediate results for the initial assessment of the effectiveness of a campaign.

Customisation of the Display Advertising Schedule

For online casinos, the best format is round-the-clock since the gaming portal usually works 24/7, including holidays and weekends. Such a schedule is the most effective one because it contributes to the constant influx of solvent clients.

When working 24/7, operators need to implement feedback channels for those players who would like to contact the support service. If casino visitors cannot reach the call centre (for example, at night), communication should be built through a chatbot with automatic answers to frequently asked questions.

Financial and Other Matters

At this stage, entrepreneurs set:

• payment scheme (for 1 click, 1 thousand advertising displays, or the collection of applications);
• the price of the transition to the site (an individual indicator that can be easily changed in the future).

Further, it is necessary to set up an advertising platform. This is the choice of devices (desktop or mobile gadgets) on which the ad will be shown, setting up the relationship with an affiliate network, and addition of a message to an already existing or new campaign.

At the last stage, the advertisement is moderated, after which it is published on VKontakte.

Customisation of Targeting on Instagram

The social network proposes 2 options for launching a marketing strategy: directly on the platform or through the Facebook Ads Manager.

Working Inside the Instagram Application

Promotion is only available for previously published posts, referred to as “Promotions” in the community.

The core actions on running ads:

1. Editing an already published post and transferring it to the promotions section after clicking on the Promote button.
2. Setting the parameters of internet traffic (for the current profile, a specific web casino, or Direct messages).
3. Selection of the target audience (by interests, education, age, geography, gender, and other information specified in the profile).
4. Activation of the automatic gathering of missing subscribers (the program will automatically send a subscription/view notification to those users whose data matches the TA sample).
5. Selection of display parameters (day, week, or month) and advertising budget (funds are withdrawn from the specified account once a day: for each ad display).
6. Review of the advertising layout, its approval, and publication of the promotion.

Online traffic and statistics (clicks, views, and expenses) can be monitored in an Instagram account. The promotion of publications in stories is set up following the same principle.

Interaction with Facebook Ads Manager

Stages of launching targeted advertising:

1. Selection of the main goal of a campaign. As a rule, this is an increase in internet traffic and conversion for a gaming site. The parameters for optimising the project depend on the correct statement of the objective.
2. Customisation of the target audience. Specialists deactivate ads for minors and set the selection by gender, age, interests, country of residence, education, etc.
3. Choice of a website. It is possible to set up an Instagram-only post or run additional Facebook ads. In the second case, operators need to obtain written permission from the administration to advertise gambling services on Facebook.
4. Setting a budget. First, specialists choose the mode of demonstration of promotions (duration — day, week, month — and frequency: 5–10 times a day or more). Next, entrepreneurs need to specify the payment method — for views, clicks, and transitions. Based on the entered data, the program generates a recommended budget that can be adjusted. Costs are indicated for the entire advertising period and in the context of each day.
5. Creation of an ad. Marketers use text, video, and graphic materials. They are published in the form of a traditional banner (1080x1080) or a “carousel”. Video requirements: MP4, MOV, or GIF formats, and photo requirements — the extension of at least 600 pixels and size no more than 1,080x1,920 (for stories).
6. Statistics configuration. It is necessary to activate the UTM tag in order to track analytics by Yandex.Metrica and Google Analytics in the future.
7. Selection of the target action button. For online casinos, the Install, Play, Run, and Register buttons are usually used.
8. Publication of the announcement. After setting all the parameters, you need to click on the Save and Publish buttons. Moderation of the ad takes 2–3 hours, after which it appears in the news feed.

The Main Things about Targeting in the Gambling Industry

• Among the advantages of such an approach, we can name interaction with the intended interest group, high efficiency, reasonable advertising costs, and end-to-end control at different stages of the marketing campaign.
• You can target online traffic from search engines and social networks. Big Data-based programs collect information about players (gender, country of residence, age), their interests, devices used, etc. The obtained data is converted into detailed statistics, from which the needed punters are selected for targeting.
• To launch advertising on social networks, it is necessary to create an ad layout (text, audio, or video), set up a schedule and metrics for collecting analytics, as well as to select platforms for advertising display, and the size of a budget.

The 2WinPower studio provides such comprehensive marketing services as:

• promotion of an iGaming project using targeting, SEO optimisation, and e-mail newsletters;
• development of an effective customer retention strategy (bonus programs, tournaments, jackpots);
• installation of reliable affiliate networks.

We can also create a gaming site from scratch and rebrand already existing casino solutions.

For all questions, please contact our managers.