Q. What details are required to create an account?
Ans. Creating an account with us is very simple. We just need your name, a valid email address and a password.
Q. Do I need to provide credit card information for creating an account?
Ans. No, your credit card details are not required at the time of signing up.
Q. What is the difference between Ads main titles & alternative title?
Ans. There are a few differences between ads main title and alternative title, such as:
- Main title is mandatory, whereas Alternative title is optional.
- Main title is utmost 45 characters long, whereas Alternative title is between 45-60 characters.
- Main title is recommendable for Mobile Ads, whereas Alternative title is recommendable for desktop.
Q. What kinds of conversion tracking are supported?
Ans. We support website and app installs tracking. The implementation process for both the platforms is different.
Q. How does the tracking pixel work?
Ans. When a user clicks on a native ad, served through Colombia, we drop a cookie on the user’s browser and store the same on the server side, so that even when a user clears the cookie data we can attribute them. This data also helps Colombia to attribute across platforms, i.e. a user clicked on App and filled the registration detail later over the web, we will be able to attribute to that conversion.
After the pixel is installed, it will only fire on the actions that match our cookie data. This means that Colombia tracks from the initial Colombia click to the conversion, as long as the conversion happens within our 28 days click-through and 2 days view-through cookie window.
Q. What attribution model is used by Colombia to track conversion?
Ans. Colombia follows the industry standard click attribution model of a 28-day click through and a 2-day view through conversions.
Q. What are the benefits of conversion tracking using the tracking pixel?
Ans. Conversion tracking allows you to measure the efficiency of your marketing efforts. It lets you track an action a user takes after viewing your native ad served through Colombia. You can track everything from registrations, newsletter sign-ups and transactions etc.
Measurement: By implementing a Colombia tracking pixel and adding it to the pages of your website where conversions happen, like the registration etc, you'll see who converts as a result of your Colombia native ads. You can measure the number of conversions your native ads have generated to calculate your return on ad spends. This will help you understand what is content is performing and you can fine tune your optimization strategy accordingly.
Ad Optimization: The Colombia tracking pixel is capable of optimizing on audiences who are most likely to convert. More the conversions collected, better the performance will be. In the absence of conversion for certain period, the campaign will be optimized on CTRs.
Q. How do I promote more installs for my app install campaign?
Ans. You can choose your campaign objective as App install/Engagement and optimize your ad on installs.
Q. What is an Expected CPI?
Ans. If you want to optimize your ad on installs on Colombia, you would be required to provide an Expected CPI (Cost Per Install) value for your line item. Expected CPI is the approximate value of an install for you, weighed or calculated against the value of a click.
Example: If the click bid price is INR 10 and you expect 1 install per 20 clicks, then the Expected CPI would be INR 10*20 i.e. INR 200. This value cannot be 0.
Q. I would like to do an Install based campaign but don’t want to partner with any of the 3rd party MMP as the cost to partner is high. Can the system yet optimize on installs?
Ans. At present, we can’t optimize the campaigns without a third-party MMP. Tracking can only be done through the listed partner trackers i.e. Apsalar, AppsFlyer, Tune, HasOffers (MAT) and Branch.io.
If your partner tracker is not available in the given list, you can use your own ‘Custom’ tracking URL.
Q. Can I promote a particular section of my app?
Ans. Yes. Through deep-linking, you can promote a particular section of your app to those who have already downloaded or installed your app.
Q. How will I generate a Partner Tracking URL? How to use the same?
Ans. A Partner Tracking URL for your app install ad can be generated by providing the Times Goal ID (eID) on the 3rd party tracker partner’s portal. You would then put that URL on Colombia’s conversion tracking section.
Q. What targeting options are available on the CAN (Colombia Audience Network)?
Ans. Your campaigns can be targeted on the basis of Geography up to city level and Platforms such as mobile web, web, iOS app, Android App and FB instant articles.
Q. Is it possible to target individual websites to advertise on?
Ans. Currently we do not support this feature.
Q. What currencies are accepted?
Ans. We accept INR and USD.
Q. Can I get a publisher wise report?
Ans. Currently, our system do not support this feature. You will be able to see the publisher wise report very soon.
Q. My campaign isn’t meeting its daily spends? What could be the problem?
Ans. If the campaign is not meeting its daily spends either the creatives are not performing or campaign bid/ CPC is set on a lower side.
Q. What are the different types of ads I can create on Colombia?
Ans. Our four different campaign objectives allow you to create different types of ads.
- General Promotions: This objective allows to create single image ad and carousel ad.
- Promote Content: This objective allows you to create ads using new or existing single image, carousel and RSS feed.
- App Installs/Engagement: This objective allows you to create mobile ads.
- Target Interest Categories: This objective allows you to create all the ads that you can create using the Promote Content objective. In this objective, you can target your ads to specific audiences.
Q. Where can I see the performance of the targeted audiences for my campaign?
Ans. You can see the performance of the target audiences within the audience report that is available on the dashboard and under the report section. There is a drop-down menu in the audience report from where you can select all audience or targeted audience and see the performance. From here, you can also download a detailed targeted audience-wise report.
Q. Can I check when my creative has been last updated and by whom?
Ans. You can check who has made the changes in the creative and when the changes were made from the Manage Content section. For this, go to left panel, click Campaigns > Manage Item, select a creative category like Content, identify the creative from the list, go to Actions column, and click View History. You can see date of last update, action taken, changes made, and who made the changes.
Q. Can I change the landing page URL of an existing content?
Ans. Yes. You can change or edit the landing page URL or link of an existing content. For this, go to the left panel, click Campaigns > Manage Item, select any creative category and identify the particular creative from the list, go to Actions column, and click Edit. On the General tab, you can edit the Content Link.
Note: You cannot keep the Content Link field blank and it should be entered in the recommended URL structure as www.timesofindia.com.
Q. Can I edit the landing page URL for RSS feeds?
Ans. No. You cannot change or edit the landing page URL or link for RSS feeds. Content link edit option is available only for the individual items.
Q. How Image Cropping is important for my campaign?
Ans. Image Cropping increases your ad’s potential to reach a higher number of audience.
Q. What is the billing frequency?
Ans. At present, invoice for both postpaid and prepaid account is generated at the end of every month and is available after 7th day of the following month.
Q. Can I see my billable conversions?
Ans. Yes, you can see all the billable conversions as well as the non-billable conversions in every available report except the audience report.
Q. What is the difference between billable and non-billable conversions?
Ans. Your billable conversion will only be for those pages or actions where you have passed your profit parameters in the conversion pixels. Apart from this, all other conversion will remain non-billable.
Q. How soon my ad goes live?
Ans. Your ad will go live within 24 working hours post approval from our internal operations team.
Q. What does it mean if my campaign is not deployed?
Ans. After you create an ad, our ad-ops team reviews it to make sure it meets our Advertising Guidelines. Your ad will not run until it has been reviewed and approved. The time span required to approve an ad is usually within 24 hours, although it may take longer in some cases wherein, any of the condition is not met. Another reason could be pending payment. A campaign is also not deployed in case payment status is pending.
Q. What if my campaign is not approved?
Ans. Our Ad-ops and editorial teams will suggest changes incase content/campaign is not approved.
Q. Is it possible to change targeting once a campaign goes live?
Ans. Yes. Ads can be geo-targeted on country, state and city level during campaign creation or anytime after.
Q. How to find out that how many lineItems are active in a campaign?
Ans. You can find this out from My Campaigns section. In My Campaigns section, you can see which lineitems are active/deployed by checking their status in the Status column. Apart from deployed, you can also see the lineItems that are paused, not deployed, completed, and rejected.
Q. Do you offer multiple user-access?
Ans. Yes, as of now there is no such restriction. Multiple user access is allowed simultaneously. However, it is recommended that every user has a separate account.
Q. What are the supported browsers?
Ans. Our website runs best on Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Safari.
Q. Can I also create video campaigns?
Ans. No, currently we do not provide this feature.
Q. Can I use RSS Feed to create a campaign?
Ans. Yes, Promote Content campaign and Target Interest Categories campaign allow you to create a campaign using the new RSS Feed as well as existing RSS Feed.
Q. Do you provide expert help for improving the campaign performance?
Ans. Yes, you just need to contact our customer support team.
Q. Do you also have mobile app and desktop app?
Ans. No, but our site is mobile responsive.
Q. Can I buy directly and through self serve at the same time? What’s the difference?
Ans. Yes, You can buy directly as well as through self serve at the same time. Difference between direct and self serve is:
- Direct services are managed by our internal operations team and are postpaid services with 30% advance payment.
- In self serve platform, clients can create and manage their campaign on their own. Self service is mostly prepaid. However, agencies can opt for postpaid plans.
Q. What happens when a campaign has a single creative and the user delete that creative?
Ans. A campaign need to have a certain amount of budget and an approved creative. If it does not have both of them then it will stop delivering.
Q. Is my data & personal information safe?
Ans. In case of Self Help accounts, your data and personal information would be visible to anyone with whom you share your login credentials. Colombia never shares your personal information with third parties.
In case of managed accounts, you only get a reporting access. Our Ad-ops team performs all the other operations; hence have access to your information.