10 Facts You Didn't Know About Facebook Advertising What works today may not work tomorrow.
By Rocco Baldassarre Edited by Jessica Thomas
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Facebook ads are one of the trendiest online advertising tools because of their wide reach and relatively low cost. However, right when people believe they have figured it out, Facebook is going to surprise them with something they didn't know and that might change their strategic approach.
Let's have a look at 10 facts about Facebook advertising:
1. Facebook bids are extremely sensitive to seasonality.
The whole Facebook algorithm is built on a bidding system that determines a price of an impression based on multiple variable factors. The amount of accounts bidding on a specific target is one of the factors that influences the price the most. The more people bid on a specific target, the more expensive an impression will be. This is why Christmas, Black Friday and other busy days usually have a higher cost per click.
Related: Ask the Expert Advice: If Your Facebook Ads Aren't Working, Ask Yourself These 5 Questions
2. Facebook offers a click to chat ad option.
This is not something new, but it certainly is one of the least used functions on Facebook. Click to chat campaigns can be great for customer service, and they can be set up using the click to website campaign type. Click to chat campaigns work very well with users who have already visited a website because they are familiar with a product or service and might have questions before committing to a purchase.
3. Facebook placements need different ad strategies.
Facebook currently offers an ad platform that encourages you to create ad sets that advertise across multiple devices automatically. However, different devices have different ad requirements and customer behaviors. I recommend you breakdown your campaigns and ad set by device to maximize performance.
4. The amount of text in the image influences delivery.
The more text you have in an image, the lower your delivery will be. Facebook prefers posts with images with little or no text. This will be rewarded with a higher distribution and a lower cost per impression. Facebook is currently classifying the image text ratio as ok, low, medium and high, which are explanatory units of measure.
5. Refreshing ad creatives is extremely important.
Most Facebook campaign types don't give advertisers control over the frequency of ad delivery to the same user. This can easily create some discomfort in potential customers and drive them away from a potential purchase. Facebook advertisers need to change the content and creative of the ads quite often to avoid this issue.
Related: 3 Deadly Sins of Facebook Advertising
6. Audience insights are a great source of targeting methods.
Using audience insights with conversion data can be a great source of information for any campaign. It provides additional ways to target users based on their online behaviors, purchase habits, housing situation, income and much more. Finding additional ways to communicate to targeted users will likely help expand the reach of a campaign and generate better performance.
7. Facebook has a pre-selected similar reach targeting option.
This option allows Facebook to show ads to audiences that are similar to the ones that you have selected and that are likely to generate extra conversions at a lower CPA. This option helps businesses expand their overall reach and visibility. This function works similarly to lookalike targeting, but it differs because it is based on data that comes from Facebook and not from the ad account manager.
8. Facebook allows you to limit the exposure on the audience network.
Many advertisers consider the audience network not a great ad placement because it doesn't generate quality traffic. Facebook understands these concerns and developed two options to solve this issue. The first issue is to exclude specific website categories from displaying ads such as dating and gambling. The second option is to proactively upload a list of websites to exclude. This is going to boost performance by limiting the amount of clicks from placements that will never turn out to be a conversion.
9. Video ads don't generate a great direct response.
If the goal of a company is to generate most of its business through video ads, Facebook is not the way to go. Video ads are great to communicate a message, but they aren't necessarily the best option when it comes to website clicks. Videos are so engaging that the cost per impression needed to generate a click to the site will boost due to people taking other social action on the post, such as commenting and liking it.
Related: The Sad Truth is That Facebook Ads Aren't Magical
10. The same bid won't work forever.
Considering how Facebook bids are sensitive to changes in the marketplace, one strategy will not always be effective. Something that was working perfectly today might become unprofitable in a few days. This means Facebook bids require much more maintenance and constant tune ups.
In conclusion.
Facebook is a great advertising platform, and there are many changing elements in it. It is very important to always be alert and learn more about its recent changes and to take advantage of them before the competition to gain a first mover advantage.
