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How to use Ad Tags in Feathr campaigns

Chris Hillman
  • Updated

What is an ad tag? 

An ad tag is a code snippet that indicates the space where an HTML5 ad will be displayed on a website. The code includes the ad size, design details, basic page information of where the ad is displayed, custom values, and more. The website where the ad will display to your audience reads the ad tag code and displays the ad.  Learn more about the HTML5 standards in this guide from the IAB.

NOTE: Ad tag creatives can be added directly to a campaign, or can be saved for future use in the Feathr banner builder, but ad tag code cannot be generated using Feathr. For that task we recommend tools such as Creatopy and Google Web Designer.

How to upload an ad tag creative in a campaign

Follow the steps below once you reach the “Creatives” step of the campaign wizard to upload and edit your ad tag code to display and track your campaign creatives. 

Have your ad tag code snippet open in a separate window, text or code editor before you start. 

1. Add the Destination URL (required) 

a. In the text bar, paste the destination URL for the campaign. This is the webpage to where ad viewers will be taken when they click an ad. 

b. This destination URL will be applied to all of the creatives in this campaign by default, however; you will have the option to set creative specific destination URLs. 

2. Click “Add Ad tag Creative”. This will open the ad tag creative upload wizard.   

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3. Add your ad tag code snippet 

a. Go to the window or application where your ad tag code is located, copy the entire ad tag code snippet. Be careful that no character like a beginning < or ending > is left off. 

b. Return to Feathr and highlight all of the example code, again being careful to include every character, and paste your ad tag code in the ad tag HTML box. 

 Screen_Recording_2020-05-12_at_10.04_AM.gif

 4. Add Feathr tracking macros to enable impression and click tracking of your creative in the Feathr app.  

a. To enable click tracking, place either @FEATHR_CLICK@ OR @FEATHR_CLICK_ESC@  

  • Click the macro to copy the variable to your clipboard and paste into your ad tag.  
  • If your ad tag was made using Google’s ad tag creator, you should place your click tracking macro between the single quotes in the line that reads data-dcm-click-tracker=’’ so that it reads data-dcm-click-tracker=’@FEATHR_CLICK@’ or data-dcm-click-tracker=’@FEATHR_CLICK_ESC@’. This support documentation from Google provides more information about the ad tag attributes they use.  
  • Every ad tag is different, so you may need to look for a destination URL to replace. It should start “<a href=” followed by a URL. You will highlight the URL and replace it by pasting in the click tracking macro so it looks like: <a href=”@FEATHR_CLICK@” 

 b. To enable impression tracking place @FEATHR_TRACK@ at the end of the code snippet after the closing </ins> tag. 

*Always be careful to not add additional spaces or remove quotation marks or < >   

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5. Set the dimensions of the creative.  

 Screen_Recording_2020-05-12_at_10.37_AM.gif

6. Name the creative to help you read and share reports during and after the campaign’s run.  

 Screen_Recording_2020-05-12_at_10.38_AM.gif

7. Set a creative specific destination URL (Optional). Use only if there is a different URL than the destination you set in the first step that you would like a clicker of this ad to be taken to.  

8. Your creative is enabled by default. If you’d like to upload a creative now, but not use it in the campaign until a later date you can set the ad tag to ‘Disabled’. You will need to manually enable this creative in the future for it to be shown to your targets.  

9. Preview and test your creative 

a. Click the little expand window icon to see a full-size preview of your creative. 

b. Click the image to test your click-through tracking and confirm you placed the macro correctly. A separate tab should open and tell you the tracking was successful. If the click-through in your preview takes you directly to your destination URL, then the click-through is not correct.

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Great job, you’re done! You can move on to the next step of setting up your campaign or add additional image or ad tag creatives.  

Troubleshooting 

I don’t see an image of my creative when I preview!  

  • Compare the ad tag code you pasted into Feathr next to the original code you copied – make sure all quotation marks, <, /, and > are present and accounted for.  
  • Check that the unique placement id in the data-dcm-placement='' line is accurate and functional. The id in this line references the actual image that your ad tag is rendering.

 My click tracking isn’t working!  

  • Check your destination URL from step 1. 
    • Is it complete? It should include http:// or https://  
    • Is it spelled correctly? It should be in all caps.  
  • Check the placement of @FEATHR_CLICK@  
    • Is there a quotation mark before and after?  
    • Make sure there are no spaces between the quotation marks and @FEATHR_CLICK@ 

 

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