SocialWire Rebrands To Manifest, Brings Social Data Into Paid-Search Campaigns

A San Francisco-based startup thinks it has found the answer to identifying products that trend high among consumers on Facebook before turning them into paid-search advertising campaigns running on Bing, Google, and Yahoo. The method aims to reduce waste.

SocialWire, which also plans to announce the rebranding of the company name to Manifest, created a multichannel platform that allows brands to identify products that trend high among consumers on social sites. Manifest also will roll out an ads application program interface (API) integration with Pinterest, adding to connections with Facebook and Twitter.

Brands traditionally use search to inform social strategies, but Manifest built a system that uses social data to inform search campaigns. It's about building demand on Facebook and using it to support search campaigns. Brands and retailers will have an option to use the platform in-house.

Today, testing occurs on social sites, but Bob Buch, CEO of Manifest, plans to build a seamless programmatic integration from social to search, where the technology tests and identifies products, predetermines the bids, supports copy creation, and initiates the paid-search campaigns.

The idea to help consumers discover new products they didn't know exist should be seamless, Buch said. "I don't want to bash retargeting by calling it a simple form of product ads, because it's a valid strategy," he said. "It's not about waiting for a consumer to express intent and showing them the product. It's about identifying the products they need before they know they need it."

The technology relies on data from retail Web sites such as Neiman Marcus, Gilt and Choxi, along with data from social sites like shares, likes and comments.

Gilt, a Manifest client running social ads, hopes to test the new technology in the future. Jessica Mann, social media at Gilt, said the platform supports more automation, and insights about best-performing products are made available across product and marketing teams in real-time.

Manifest analyzes about 13.8 million unique product SKUs. The data pulled from a subset of clients that includes a study of eight clients with millions of dollars of ad spend and more than a billion ad impressions during the past three years. Of those, more than 8% of those who click on Manifest's ads make a purchase within 24 hours. More than 12% of those clicking on the ads make a purchase within seven days.

Through analysis, Buch also estimates the click-through rate from the Facebook News Feed at more than 1%, and the Facebook right rail placements at 0.12%.  

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