@SMARTSocMed
Latest posts by D. Dixon (see all)
- 10 Lifesaving Steps To Moving Your WordPress Blog To Your New Webhost - February 13, 2013
- 5 Valuable KPIs of Facebook Ads - November 26, 2012
- 3 Ways Facebook Ads Help With Exposure - October 3, 2012
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Assessing marketing results has always been about data and key performance indicators (KPIs). With Facebook Ads, it’s about looking from a more social perspective.
When I wrote my earlier article about getting exposure with Facebook ads, I had no idea it would generate such a response. That was when I decided to really don my marketing analyst cap and take a deeper look at my advertising test campaign.
My primary goal of was to get more eyes on an e-book I had written in February 2012. Users could download a free sample of the book on their e-reader before deciding to buy. On the off-chance that there would be sales, my secondary purpose was to have a trail of data that would give me an idea of who bought the book, on what device, on which days…basically link Facebook ads to sales ROI.
I’m still waiting on the publisher stats for that last part but in looking at some of the key performance indicators (KPIs), I became even more impressed with just how much data I could use. With the inherent social aspects of Facebook ads, the KPI terms took on a slightly different context:
- Frequency – The number of times the same person saw the same ad. A healthy balance happens between over-saturation and being almost invisible to users who barely see your ad. Advertisers can’t really control this KPI outright when they’re creating their ads, which is a blessing, if you think about it.
- Social Reach – Regular reach is the number of people who saw your Facebook ads but with social reach, you’re now talking about the number of people who saw your ads with the names of friends who liked, shared, used your app or page.
- Social CTR – The regular click through rate is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions. The difference with social CTR is that now we see how many of the Facebook ads with social context are shared by the users: Social CTR (%) = Social Clicks / Social Impressions
- Inline Fans – The number of people who clicked on the “Like” button in your advertisement.
- Total Interactions – While this number can come from duplicated actions, when compared to another KPI like Inline Fans, you can use this metric to gauge what percentage of interactions led users to like your page or post.
Over time these and other KPIs can become baseline for future campaigns. But what about the campaign itself? When looking at how your Facebook ads and the KPIs they produce figure into your strategy as a whole, here are a few best practices to remember:
Know what you want the audience to do – This may seem like a no-brainer and that’s why it’s easy to miss. Do you want audiences to click on your link, like your page, use your app…? The most important thing to do here is to tell them by using a call-to-action.
Do A/B testing – This means launching multiple Facebook ads with different text, graphics, vehicles and seeing which one had better responses that fulfill your goals.
Keep an eye on your metrics – There are plenty of metrics that matter such as campaign reach and CTR, Response – is the audience responding better, worse or the same? Make sure you know which ones matter to your campaign and how they’re doing across the board.
When it comes to CPC and CPM, do a little money math – This may seem like it’s overkill because they give you the numbers in the reports but let me share with you a different perspective. If you found out that CPC campaigns cost you more than CPM campaigns, which would you use? The answer seems obvious but the question you should ask is how do I find out? What I’m about to show you is something I found on a very cool site, and it’s definitely worth integrating in your analysis; it helped me to better understand the math of CPC and CPM.
The formula for converting CPC to CPM is:
CPC = (Total Impressions *CPM)/(1000 *Clicks)
Let’s start with the base assumption that 100,000 impressions equals 1000 clicks and the CPM for one of your Facebook ads is $12. Based on that formula you’re looking at a CPC is $1.20.
To convert CPM to CPC, we rework the formula above to show that:
CPM = (CPC*clicks*1000)/Total Impressions
Say we have a CPC campaign going where we’re spending $5 for the same impressions and clicks. Doing the math we see that our CPM cost is $50. Now based on your strategy, the CPC of $1.20 may work better for your budget OR you could be getting more interaction and engagement from spending $5 CPC. While this formula was not originally for Facebook ads, it’s the best one I’ve found that really puts things in perspective, especially your budget.
Taking the time to work with Facebook ads and understand the KPIs involved will help you to figure out how they are working (or not working) for you.
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Twitter: Martin_Cooney
Good info, D.
I know my business partner is more knowledgable about FB Advertising than myself but these tips certainly do widen my current knowledge.
Did you know if you have a mailing list of emails that FB have a new remarketing strategy in matching those addresses to Facebook users, to display remarketing advertising to them alone? That’s pretty cool for CPC, doncha think?
Martin Cooney recently posted..Your Business Idea from Wow to Grow Part 1
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
Martin, I saw that they were really trying to effectively calculate ROI and I got excited. I had researched the bulk email advertising mechanism they had a while back and the feedback from advertisers was not horrible. The messages were sent to people repeatedly so it was considered spam…I’m glad they’re redoing that because it goes to the heart of ROI.
Thanks
D. Dixon recently posted..How Blogs, Twitter and Facebook Really Affect Internet Traffic
Twitter: GeekandJock
Oh I’m sure they were trying to push hard on getting a new advertising initiative pumped into current advertisers … Gotta boost that share price up, doncha know
Though the re marketing concept ties in beautifully with Google’s Remarketing strategy. Seen on more places adds those subtle trust markers.
Martin Cooney recently posted..How To Be Thankful for Your Partner
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
It’s no coincidence that they’re both re marketing. Google and Facebook do not get along…I think out of jealousy on Google’s part. That share price…yeah, hmm. At the end of the day, I think it’s really interesting that FB and MS have come together (along with Yahoo) and are chipping away at Google. I was a part of a discussion about this a week ago on another blog and found out in the last couple of days that another company is using Pinterest to get in on PPC campaigns. Martin, these are interesting times…and I like it!
D. Dixon recently posted..How Reachli Helps You Monetize Your Pinterest Pins
Hi D, very impressive and detail concept that you delivered, worth reading, thanks for sharing such a nice article.
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
Qaisar, I’m glad you found this useful. Thanks!
D. Dixon recently posted..How Blogs, Twitter and Facebook Really Affect Internet Traffic
Useful stuff, thanks. I haven’t looked into Facebook as a marketing platform yet, this info might come in to be quite handy when I do, thanks!
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
Hi Aaron,
I will tell you that it is definitely worth checking out as long as you take the time to get to know it and how it works for you. I’m always learning about it and me so as far as I’m concerned, it’s a slice in a bigger strategy for me.
Thanks
D. Dixon recently posted..How Blogs, Twitter and Facebook Really Affect Internet Traffic
Twitter: googlai
Hi Dixon ! thank you for sharing a issue about social networking site Facebook ads. i have been using facebook ads to promote my site, it is quite different from Google Adwards. i’m satisfy with Facebook ads because getting numbers of likes.
Googma Sansar recently posted..Social Media campaign of Barack Obama in Presidential Election 2012
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
Hi Googma,
I think that is great! I would ask you to look beyond the likes and really dig deeper. Social contexting is becoming a more powerful metric and only when you drill down can you really assess the true value of FB ads (or not as some people would contend)
Thanks
D. Dixon recently posted..How Blogs, Twitter and Facebook Really Affect Internet Traffic
Twitter: googlai
Hi Dixon thank you for your response.
Googma Sansar recently posted..Social Media campaign of Barack Obama in Presidential Election 2012
Twitter: HappyHealthyetc
I have never tried to place Facebook ads to market my website and I heard it does not always pay off, but I after I read your article I think I might give it a shot. Thanks for your valuable information!
Elena recently posted..Best Money Saving Tips in Retirement
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
Hi Elena,
That’s great to hear and I would love to know how it goes for you. I think a lot of the dislike of FB ads comes from expectations. People go into it thinking they’re going to get sales when the reality is they get more exposure that lead to sales. I hear FB is testing an advertising ROI tool so I think now’s a good time to give them a shot.
Thanks
D. Dixon recently posted..How Blogs, Twitter and Facebook Really Affect Internet Traffic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Shoryabist
Hi Dixon,
Very useful information, I m user of Facebook from last 5 years and i found out many ways for using Facebook as marketing platform But still your article widen my way and certainly helped me in many ways.
Thank You
Shorya Bist
From Youthofest
Shorya Bist recently posted..Money or Passion? What is more important to You?
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
I’m glad to hear it Shorya. I think there is still a lot to come as far as FB advertising so I look forward to learning more and sharing more!
D. Dixon recently posted..How Blogs, Twitter and Facebook Really Affect Internet Traffic
Twitter: rancorinfotech
Facebook certainly a great place to attract your targeted audience and improve your conversion ratio. However I never tried advertisement option on Facebook.
Aasma recently posted..Paying Guest in Delhi for Girls
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
Aasma, you are not alone. It’s an option that some prefer because of the low cost. If your budget allows, it could work. Thanks
D. Dixon recently posted..8 Ways To Milk More Internet Traffic From Your Guest Blog Post
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
Hi Soniya, that is great! I am glad you’re able to see the benefits of FB ands and that I was able to give you a little more information. Thanks so much!
D. Dixon recently posted..How Blogs, Twitter and Facebook Really Affect Internet Traffic
Hello D.
Nice information altogether. Honestly telling you even I tried facebook ad but didnt get such a good response. May be I made mistakes there. Got to know a lot from this now.
Nidhi Shrivastava recently posted..Minimalist Web Design: Why less is more
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
Hi Nidhi,
The one thing I’ve learned about marketing is that “one time” is never enough. You have to keep trying and be patient because every one is different. You need to find out how it works for your business and go from there that’s why I place little stock in someone saying that Facebook or Google ads don’t work. So I’m glad you got something from this and hope you really give it a try
thanks!
D. Dixon recently posted..How Reachli Helps You Monetize Your Pinterest Pins
Twitter: OddRandomThots
Thank you D for the in depth article. I’ve been thinking about trying a facebook add, but wasn’t sure how to go about knowing if it was working or if it would be worth the investment. These tools will definitely help me in calculating that.
Now that I know how to do the calculations and exactly what they mean, I believe that’s the missing part of the puzzle I needed to give it a go.
I’ve heard that it’s really hard to get your adds placed in the right spots for facebook adds. I guess it all depends on how much you’re paying or if you have the highest bid for advertising placement. Am I way off on this?
Robert recently posted..Is Your Life Consumed by Social Networking?
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
Hi Robert, apparently I had left a reply to the post instead of a reply to your comment. Sorry about that! It was a long day. So please see the post after this for my response to you. Cheers!
D. Dixon recently posted..How Reachli Helps You Monetize Your Pinterest Pins
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
Hi Robert,
It sounds like you’re thinking about it like Google where your budget decides your position. I wouldn’t call you way off but I don’t see it like that like that. I’ve found that the impressions served for my little project were fine. Of course, your budget does impact how many impressions but the layout is not as broad as Google so you have a better chance of being seen. What I would also encourage you to do is to have a compelling picture and text. A lot of people forget that and I think they are important. If you have a dull pic with text that is just as dull with no call to action, you could have a million impressions a day and not do well. If you have a nice picture, you will draw people’s attention and get the exposure.
The great thing is you can experiment and test different ad types and figure out how it works for you with a limited budget. That’s the key, i think, patience with trial and error.
Good luck and I would love to hear how it goes.
Thanks
D. Dixon recently posted..How Blogs, Twitter and Facebook Really Affect Internet Traffic
Twitter: OddRandomThots
Thank you D, that helps clear things up a bit. I’ve been pondering giving it a shot for quite some time, mainly just to raise my likes for my Facebook page, I’m hoping that will generate traffic to my website. I’ll try to keep you updated.
Thanks again,
Robert
Robert recently posted..Tapeworm Weight Loss Program
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
That sounds great, Robert. I look forward to hearing how it goes!
D. Dixon recently posted..How Reachli Helps You Monetize Your Pinterest Pins
Nice kpi insights. One thing is missing though, which happens to be the only kpi small business owner are REALLY interested in.
bert recently posted..Vooraankondiging MKB Marketing Masterclass
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
Hi Bert,
You’re probably right. There are a lot of KPIs and I plan to expound on others eventually but whether you’re talking about the number of clicks, conversion rate, virality…my point is that business owners need to check out more than one KPI. That way they have the whole story the numbers are trying to tell them. Business is about sales, yes, but what if one day, your sales took a dip but everything else stayed the same. If you don’t have a larger picture, you won’t see the story that led to the dip.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment
D. Dixon recently posted..How Reachli Helps You Monetize Your Pinterest Pins
Very useful information, I m user of Facebook from last 3 years and i found out many ways for using Facebook as marketing platform very impressive concept.
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Twitter: SMARTSocMed
That is great to hear, Tom. It really is a value-added asset that expands your reach in a way that doesn’t bust your budget. Thanks for your comment
D. Dixon recently posted..4 Exciting Ways To Help Your Blog Generate Traffic
Twitter: Techblowup
Facebook ads are really great for advertiser. They can make most out of it. Nice post.
Prakash recently posted..Best Antivirus for Android 2013
Twitter: SMARTSocMed
Agreed and in all honesty, it’s worth it to really get a handle on your metrics which help you become a better advertiser! Thanks for your comment, Prakash
D. Dixon recently posted..Email Marketing & Its Scope
Twitter: surajramnani
I was looking to use facebook ads..This post cleared up quite a few things..thank you
Suraj recently posted..Lost Planet 3 Release delayed
Twitter: mchhimwal
Advertising is always special in some manner, but when advertising is associate with Facebook, it becomes more special.Nice sharing about Facebook ads, Dixon. Thanks for sharing this with us.
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