Today, many of the top websites and networked applications run on cloud computing services, a trend that only accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clouds provide flexible computing resources to handle fluctuating user traffic so that an app always has capacity for its users without paying for resources they aren’t using.
With several big and small players providing cloud services, standing out in the field requires getting the attention of the people who build in the cloud: developers. To get that top-of-mind awareness, six leading cloud service providers used Stack Overflow Advertising solutions to make sure when a developer sought out cloud services, their names were fresh on developers’ minds.
This blind case study will discuss the challenges that these companies faced and how they used our advertising products to overcome them. These companies offer a variety of products, from advanced processors and optimized cloud management to secure networking and robust cloud services, but their problem—and solution—were the same.
Challenges
For these cloud providers, gaining top-of-mind awareness with developers of what is often a diverse portfolio of products posed a challenge in a market crowded with offerings. Cloud providers, whether it’s the hardware that powers the servers or a full suite of hosted services, need to communicate their message in a cohesive way. And that message needs to encourage developers to take independent action, whether that’s to research their offerings further, explore informational content, or sign up for free trials or webinars.
This challenge is compounded by the rapid pace of innovation in this area. New technologies like GenAI and serverless are being added to cloud providers’ offerings, and they need to educate the market on their value. As new innovations arrive, they need to keep pace with their education and outreach efforts.
On top of that, cloud businesses are global; everyone with a connection to the internet can use them. However the awareness of those services and their value isn’t evenly distributed across all global regions, so they need to reach worldwide audiences with strategies tailored for each region.
Display advertising
To get the attention of developers, cloud providers went to the place where developers spend their time: Stack Overflow. These customers were able to drive traffic to targeted landing pages, technical documentation, or events from the go-to site for developer questions. By using always-on campaigns, their message remained visible and consistent without being intrusive.
Not all developers are cloud developers, so to maximize their reach with the right viewers, customers targeted specific tags on Stack Overflow and Stack Exchange sites. Our dedicated account management team helped them create personas to target. From there, they built tag groups that brought their messages to the desired personas in the context of relevant question-and-answer pages. The most common tags were cloud and DevOps-focused, like aws, azure, docker, kubernetes, though AI-related tags have increased in popularity over time.
These campaigns traditionally get better engagement rates. They exceeded the Stack Overflow CTR benchmark of 0.05% over a few million impressions. Continuously gathering data on what interests developers lets our customers improve future campaigns based on these historical insights. Those customers using their own tracking mechanisms reported an increase in landing page traffic and better site engagement at an improved cost per engagement.
Visibility and thought leadership with sponsored content
For those companies that took a multi-channel approach with us, they sponsored content on our editorial channels—newsletter, podcast, and blog—to demonstrate their technical expertise and boost recognition. These channels publish developer-centric articles, podcasts, and information without a promotional angle, so they allow companies to engage developers without scaring away this notoriously marketing-averse group.
In the Overflow newsletter, customers placed native text ads that promoted their eBooks, events, or services alongside a roundup of the best editorial content, Q&A pages across the Stack Exchange sites, and links to useful external articles. The newsletter reaches 2.8 million members of the Stack Exchange community who have opted in to receive it every week with an average of 23% of those emails being opened. CTR on those in-line ads averages 0.34%, beating most display ad options.
On the Stack Overflow podcast, customers could either place a 15-second ad within the podcast (read by the hosts) or sponsor an entire episode and choose the guests and topics. Standard podcasts feature a guest, who talks about a developer-centric topic, and a single ad, and are downloaded by 7,000 to 10,000 people twice per week. Sponsored podcasts let those cloud companies feature their experts as guests, engaging in a lively and technical conversation that felt natural while highlighting their message and expertise.
Bring your message to developers
For cloud computing providers looking to bring their message to developers, the most effective use of their advertising dollars is to go to those developers directly—that’s Stack Overflow. We have one of the largest developer communities on the internet and have become an indispensable part of almost every developer’s workflow.
In our 2024 Developer Survey, we found that 61% of all respondents spend more than 30 minutes a day searching for answers or solutions to problems. When they have questions, they come to Stack Overflow. If you want to be part of their answer, you need to come to Stack Overflow as well.