Mobile Platform as a Service:Create an activity

This topic guides you to create a marketing activity. The whole process is divided into the following four steps:

1. Configure basic information

2. Configure user groups

3. Configure marketing events

4. Configure marketing actions

About marketing activity

MCDP supports two types of marketing activities: interactive marketing activity and active marketing activity. Active marketing supports direct marketing and promotion activities for the targeted groups, i.e. advertisement delivery. Interactive marketing supports targeted marketing and promotion activities triggered only when the user performs a certain behavior or multiple behaviors, and two marketing actions, that is, advertisement delivery and message push, are supported. You can a marketing activity type as needed.

In an activity, MCDP supports two marketing delivery modes, advertisement delivery and message push. You can use materials such as text, images, or GIFs to deliver advertisements; or create a push message, and deliver the advertisements to the target consumers and push the message as soon as the activity takes effect.

Prerequisites

Before creating an activity, make sure you have created the materials, booths, targeted groups, events, and activity units.

Step 1: Configure basic information

1. Log on to the mPaaS console and select the app. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Mobile Content Delivery Platform > Activity management.

2. In the list of activity units, click the name of the target activity unit.

3. Click Add an activity and select the type of activity you want to create, i.e. Active marketing activity or Interactive marketing activity.

4. Configure the basic information of the activity.

   The following table describes the Basic information parameters.

   Parameter	Description
   Activity Name	Required field. The name of an activity. You can enter at most 30 characters. The name of an activity in the same unit must be unique.
   Activity type	The type of the current activity. Active marketing supports direct marketing and promotion activities for targeted groups. Interactive marketing supports marketing and promotion activities for target users triggered when they perform one or more specific behaviors.
   Validity period	Required field. The duration of an activity. You need to select the start time and end time, which can be accurate to seconds. Choose the date and time of the start and end time. The default value is the current time. In the time select box, select the start date and end date first, then click Select time and select the exact time by scrolling the bar. You cannot select a time earlier than the current date.
   Activity cycle	The rule for periodically launching an activity. For example, launch an activity on a specific date. The options are described as follows: Daily: Launch an activity every day within the validity period of the activity. Weekly: Select the days in a week for launching an activity. You can select multiple consecutive or non-consecutive days in a week. For example, if you select Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, the activity will only be launched on every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday within the validity period of the activity. Monthly: Select the date for launching an activity. You can select multiple consecutive or non-consecutive days. For example, if you select 1st, 16th, and 17th, the activity will be launched only on the 1st, 16th, and 17th of each month within the validity period of the activity.
   Conversion indicator	You can select event registered in Mobile Analysis Service (MAS). The occurrence of the event means that the activity conversion target is achieved. If no MAS event is selected, the conversion rate = the number of devices on which the activity is clicked / the number of devices on which the activity is browsed. The conversion indicator of an activity and of the unit to which the activity belongs can be different. The conversion indicator of each activity within a unit differs depending on the activity goal. For example, the goal of activity 1 is the occurrence of logon events, the goal of activity 2 is the occurrence of click events, and the goal of the activity unit is the occurrence of payment events. When viewing activity results, you can view conversion rate statistics of each activity and the activity unit based on the goals. Before associating an activity with MAS events, you must first create MAS events on the mPaaS Console > Mobile Analysis Service > Custom analysis > Custom configuration page (see Configure events for instructions). Then you need to connect the MAS component to the client (see Access Android or Access iOS for instructions) and customize tracking points (see Tracking points on Android Client or Tracking points on iOS Client for instructions).
   Activity description	The description of an activity. You can enter at most 100 characters.

5. After you configure basic information, click Next.

Step 2: Configure user groups

On the User groups page, configure the target user group of an activity. MCDP supports two types of groups: Target group and Whitelist group. The following table describes the user group parameters.

The following sections describe how to add a target group and a whitelist group.

Add a target group

1. Select Target group as the type of the group to be added.

2. In the group select box that appears on the page, click +Add.

3. On the Select target groups panel on the right, select the groups that have already been created. You can also click the Create MCDP group button in the upper-right corner add new group. For more information, see Create a group.

   Note

   The list in the panel displays the MAS groups and manually created groups. Through the search box above the list, you can search for the target group by the group source, and group name or group ID.

4. Select the target group from the list. You can select multiple target groups. After you finish selecting the target group, click OK.

   • If you add multiple groups to a group select box, the union of these groups is used as the target group of an activity.

   • When you hover over a selected group in a group select box, the delete icon appears. You can click that icon to delete the selected group.

5. (Optional) Click the + OR button, and follow the preceding procedure to add one group or the union of multiple groups.

   • Each group select box is joined by the OR logic. That means, when multiple group select boxes are added, the union of all selected groups is used.

   • If there are two or more group select boxes, you can click the delete icon in the upper-right corner to delete the corresponding select box.

Add a whitelist group

1. Select Whitelist group as the type of the group to be added.

2. In the group select box that appears on the page, click + Add.

3. On the Select whitelists panel on the right, select the group that has already been created. You can also click the Create MCDP group button in the upper-right corner to add a new group. For more information, see Create a group.

   Note

   Whitelist group can only be a MCDP group.

4. Select the target whitelist from the list. You can select multiple whitelist groups. After you finish, click OK.

   • If you add multiple groups in a group select box, the union of these groups is used as the whitelisted group of an activity.

   • When target group and whitelist group are added at the same time, the union of all these groups is used as the group of an activity.

After you finish configuring groups, click Next to configure a marketing event.

Step 3: Configure marketing events

On the Marketing event page, add a marketing event (preset MAS event) that triggers marketing actions.

Marketing events are required for creating interactive activities only. An interactive activity requires its marketing actions (booth placement or message push) to be triggered when a marketing event occurs for a user group of the activity. Therefore, you must configure a marketing event that triggers marketing actions.

Perform the following steps:

1. In the time duration select box, select a time period. You can only select a time period within the validity period of an activity.

2. Select a MAS event you created in advance from the select box after executed.

3. Select the condition for the MAS event to trigger marketing actions. You can select Greater than, Equal to, or Less than.

4. Select the threshold for the MAS event to trigger marketing actions. That is, the number of times a MAS event occurs.

5. Click + Filter criteria to add a filter condition for the MAS event to trigger marketing actions.

   1. Select the MAS event attribute for filtering from the Attribute drop-down list.

   2. Select the condition to determine whether a filter condition is valid. You can select equal to, not equal to, include or exclude.

   3. Select the value of the filter condition attribute.

      Note

      You can add multiple filter conditions by using OR and AND logical operators. AND At most three filter conditions can be added under an OR or AND logic.

6. Click Next.

Step 4: Configure marketing actions

MCDP provides two types of marketing actions: booth delivery and message push. In active marketing activities, you can use the booth delivery marketing action. In interactive marketing activities, you can use the booth delivery, message push, or both types of marketing actions.

The following describes how to configure the two types of marketing actions. After you finish configuring marketing actions and submit them, a marketing activity is successfully created.

Booth delivery

You can deliver the ads to multiple booths for a single activity. Complete the following operations to add a booth:

1. In the booth select area, click + Add a booth.

2. In the Select a booth panel on the right, select the booth you want to add and click OK.

   Note

   The list in the panel displays booths that are already created. Through the search box above the list, you can search for the target booth by the booth type, booth material type, and booth name/ID. You can instantly create a booth by clicking the Create a booth button. For details, see Create a booth.

3. The edit card of the selected booth is displayed on the page. Click +Add material to add materials (the advertising materials to deliver in the booth for an activity). Up to three sets of advertising materials can be added. The right side of the edit card provides a real-time preview of the booth, which refreshs in real time according to the added materials.

   Note

   When the activity material is an HTML5 material, the configured activity landing page cannot be redirected to.

   You can add multiple materials for a booth. As the material type supported by different types of booths varies, the types of materials that are finally added to the activity also vary. For more information, see About booths.

4. Configure a fatigue control rule. Configure a fatigue control rule for materials displayed in the booth. Click Add a rule to add, multiple rules are supported. A booth contains one or more advertising spaces. And a single advertising space can display an activity material. For an activity that call booth resources, its materials can be displayed alternately in a booth according to fatigue rules.

   The fatigue rule applies to all materials in a certain booth called by the current activity. That is, the two materials in the red box can be repeatedly displayed to the same user twice in a day. After the two materials have been all browsed two times in the booth by the same user, they will no longer be displayed when the booth is exposed to the user again on the same day.

   The following table describes the fatigue rules supported by MCDP.

   Fatigue		Description	Supported booth types
   Display	Always display	A material is always displayed within the validity period of a activity.	All booth types
   	Disappear after certain times in a day	A material is no longer displayed after it was displayed for a certain number of times within a day. The number of display times can be customized.	Splash Bulletin
   	Disappear after certain times	A material is not displayed after it was displayed for a certain number of times. The number of display times can be customized. Once: An advertising material is displayed in a booth when an app redirects to the page where the booth is located.	Splash Pop-up List Banner (multiple frames) Float Bulletin
   Click	Disappear after certain times	The material is not displayed after it was clicked for a certain number of times. The number of clicks can be customized.	Splash Pop-up List Banner (multiple frames) Float Bulletin
   	Disappear after certain times in a day	The material is not displayed after it was clicked for a certain number of times within a day. If the second day is still within the validity period of a activity, this material can still be displayed. The number of clicks can be customized.	Pop-up List Banner (multiple frames) Float Bulletin
   	Disappear after redirection	A material disappears and is not displayed after a user clicks it and is redirected to a specified Android, iOS, or HTML5 page of the booth.	Pop-up List Banner (multiple frames) Float Bulletin
   Close	Disappear after certain times	A material is not displayed after it was closed for a certain number of times. The number of closing times can be customized.	Pop-up Bulletin Banner (single frame)
   	Disappear after certain times in a day	A material is not displayed after it was closed for a certain number of times within a day. If the second day is still within the validity period of a activity, this material can still be displayed. The number of closing times can be customized.	Pop-up Bulletin Banner (single frame)
   	Disappear immediately	A material disappears immediately and is not displayed after it was closed.	Pop-up Bulletin Banner (single frame)
   Note: The Display - Always display rule cannot be used with other rules. Otherwise, the rule will become invalid. If you add a Click - Disappear after certain times or Click - Disappear after certain times in a day rule, the number of clicks on a material is still be recorded even if no URL is configured for redirection of the material.

5. Configure Booth display priority.

   • Allocation rules of advertising space resources in the same booth. The following are the rules described according to priority:

     • Activity priority: Depends on the booth display priority, which is the priority of booth usage for the activity configured manually through the console. That is, activities with higher priority are displayed first.

     • Activity online time: When activities with the same priority compete for the same booth, the sorting logic is the activity freshness. That is, the latest online activities are displayed first.

     • Additional rules: The activities on the last day of their validity are displayed first. When multiple activities have the same priority under the preceding two rules, the activity materials on the last day of their validity are displayed first. Activities that meet this condition do not need to follow the “activity online time” rule.

   • Descriptions about the display of activity materials:

     • When the number of advertising spaces in the booth is greater than or equal to the number of materials to be displayed in the booth, all materials are sorted and displayed by combining activity priority, activity freshness, and material freshness.

     • When the number of advertising spaces in the booth is less than the number of materials to be displayed in the booth, all materials are sorted by combining activity priority, activity freshness, and material freshness. And the first N materials of which the number is equal to the number of advertising spaces in the current booth are sorted and displaced.

     For example, at present, there is a booth containing a three-frame banner advertising space, which is called by Activity A, Activity B, Activity C, and Activity D at the same time, and these activities need to show the advertisement to the same user. Each activity has two materials for display. The priority of Activity A and Activity B is set to high, the priority of Activity C is set to medium, and the priority of Activity D is set to low. That is, the four materials of Activities A and B currently have priority to be displayed. Also, Activity A goes online earlier than Activity B, and Activity A goes offline one day earlier than Activity B. Then, when Activity A is online and not on the last day of its validity, the three-frame advertising space will be allocated to Material 2 and Material 1 of Activity B, and Material 2 of Activity A in turn. When Activity A is on the last day of its validity, the three-frame advertising space will be allocated to Material 2 and Material 1 of Activity A, and Material 2 of Activity B in turn.

     In this example, the fatigue rule hasn’t taken into account. Combined with the fatigue rule that is observed for each material, the materials of Activity C and Activity D also have the opportunity to be exposed to the same user, which means that the current booth can be used more effectively.

6. (Optional) Click the + Add Booth button again and refer to the preceding steps to add a new booth. Then, you can upload one or more sets of advertising ideas.

Message push

Only interactive marketing activities support the message push function, and only one message push can be added for an interactive marketing activity.

Complete the following operations to add a message push:

1. In the Push message area, click the + Add push button. Then, an edit card of Information Push Content will pop up on the page.

2. Click the + Add material button to add materials pushed by the activity. Up to three sets of push materials can be added. A message preview is provided on the right side of the Push content card, which refreshs in real time according to the added materials. In a message push, you can add multiple materials. For details on the configuration information for each material, see the following table.

   Parameter	Description
   Push title	The title of the message. A maximum of 30 characters is allowed.
   Push text	The content of the message. A maximum of 100 characters is allowed.
   Redirection URL	The redirected link associated with the material. When a user clicks the push text on the client, the user will be immediately redirected to the page that the URL links to. Redirections to online pages and app pages are supported. For different types of pages, you need to configure different information: Online page: Enter the URL of the target page. App page: Enter the schema of the target page and perform relevant configurations on the client. For more information, see Access to the client (Access to Android devices, Access to iOS devices, Access to HTML5).

3. Configure Message validity period and No push time period. The following table shows the parameter descriptions.

   Parameter	Description
   Message validity period	Configure the validity of message push, with a minimum of three minutes and a maximum of 72 hours. If the device is offline or the user logs off, the message push will fail. Within the message validity, after the device goes online or the user logs on again, the system will push the message again to ensure the delivery rate.
   Push Mode	The default mode is Push Now and cannot be modified. After the activity takes effect and goes online, once the marketing event triggered by the user hits the activity, the system will immediately push the material (message) of the activity.
   No push time period	Configure the time period that a push does not work. During the set period, no matter whether the current activity is hit or not, the system will not push the material to avoid disturbing the user.

4. After you confirm that the information is correct, click Submit.