Create Facebook ads
CPC or CPM
Whether you choose to pay CPC (cost per click) or CPM (cost per thousand
impressions, or views), the cost of Facebook Marketplace ads and Sponsored
Stories is set by your maximum bid and the competition for the same (or
overlapping) audiences. Generally, you can buy clicks for $0.50–1.50 each, with
the average around $0.80. But the cost can vary greatly depending on how
lucrative the market is and how voracious the advertisers are. Seasonality plays a
role, too: both CPC and CPM prices climb during the holiday season.
CPC bidding generally seems to drive more tangible responses for the dollar
(likes, clicks, downloads, and so on). CPM generally drives more overall
impressions. So, factor your goals into your bidding strategy—and as mentioned
below, for key campaigns you should A/B test the two different bid methods, to
see for yourself which one performs best.
Create Facebook Ads
That Work
Whatever the ad format, here are seven tactics to ensure that your Facebook ads
get results:
1. Never run a Facebook ad campaign without A/B testing. Facebook
offers strong, intuitive, ad-testing capabilities. Try several different ads.
headlines, images, offers, and calls to action. You will be stunned by the
performance variations between versions. Even veteran marketers are often
surprised by which version wins.
2. Take advantage of audience targeting. Test identical ads on different
target audiences. For instance, try targeting your brand’s fans versus
friends of fans versus friends of rival brands (with your fans excluded).
Brand loyalists and variously qualified prospects will all demonstrate
different cost-per-action. And employ highly personalized ads for specific
audiences: try geo-targeted regions, gender splits, or zeroing in on a
hypertargeted audience like students at a particular college or employees of
a particular business. Facebook’s signature strength is the wealth of data it
collects on its fans’ demographics, likes, and interests. Use it to your benefit
as a marketer.
3. Test identical ads and audiences using the two different bidding
methods. Facebook advertisers can opt to pay CPC or CPM. In my
experience, CPM ads offer the best performance when the campaign goal is
“likes,” leads, or RSVPs. But I have heard anecdotal evidence to the
contrary, supporting CPM as a more efficient choice for some advertisers.
CPM may be the better model if you care more about brand exposure
(impressions) than response (clicks). You won’t know until you test.
4. Make the most of your image. That 100 × 72 pixels canvas is your Sistine
Chapel ceiling. Grab attention with emotional, high-contrast, high-
saturation images. Faces work well. It’s been shown that smiling, attractive
women appeal to users of both genders. Test your logo (especially if it is
widely recognized). And try using text as an image, especially with a strong
call to action.
5. Issue a strong call to action. A very effective Facebook ad campaign tactic
is to dangle the prospect of money-saving coupons, free samples, prize
giveaways, or other goodies in exchange for the “like.” Coffee-mate
encourages Facebookers to “ ’Like’ us to save $1 now,” while Nespresso
offers a chance to win a coffee machine. HubSpot offers a free e-book,
while Audible.com pitches two free audiobooks. Some advertisers push
emotional buttons to elicit a “like”: “Click ’like’ if you love your kids!”
exhorts CafeMom.com. “Click ’like’ if you love to ski,” reads an ad for a
ski resort. Ken Burke, founder and chairman of the MarketLive e-
commerce platform, calls this the “’Click Like If’ Formula”—and it works.
6. Change it up. Facebook audiences get bored easily. Change your ad
images every week or even every few days for important campaigns.
Refresh the headlines and ad copy, too.
7. Smaller can be better. Often, low reach results in higher engagement rate
—because Facebook users who see your ad everywhere start to tune it out.
Those who see it only occasionally during a Facebook session may be more
responsive, not knowing when or if they will see it again. If your daily ad
budgets are lower, your targeting more precise, and you use CPC bidding,
you may achieve better results for less money.
Note Facebook’s signature strength is the wealth of data it collects on its fans’
demographics, likes, and interests. Use it to your advantage as a marketer.
Between the powerful targeting options, frictionless social actions, and huge
network reach, Facebook advertising can work for marketers of any size, in any
industry. In Facebook ad campaigns I’ve run, we have consistently been able to
turn 70% or more of clicks into “likes.” Similarly high percentages opt into
becoming e-mail subscribers—and thereby become qualified leads costing
around $0.50–1.00 apiece. Enough of these leads become paying customers to
make the Facebook platform a credible rival to other online ad platforms—and
on Facebook, that formula can scale massively.
While the platform has yet to challenge Google, Yahoo, or Bing search ads on a
strict direct-response ROI basis, Facebook ads are a compelling option every
online marketer should be testing and optimizing.
Local Businesses: Facebook Offers
Facebook Offers is a feature initially available to “a small number of local
businesses” but now in wide release. At first available free to select accounts,
Facebook Offers are now a paid promotion, costing a minimum of $5 per offer.
Facebook Offers also require an additional promotional commitment through
Sponsored Stories.
With Facebook Offers, eligible bricks-and-mortar shops can create a 90-
character headline, like “Buy one pair of socks, get another pair free,” then enter
other criteria to support special deals to be shared in the newsfeeds of their
followers.
The offer details and link will appear below a friend’s profile picture, with a
headline like “Angie White and 5 others claimed an offer at Macy’s.”
To see if you’re eligible, log into your Facebook admin account.
brand page. If you are eligible to make an offer, the sharing tool at the top of
your page’s timeline will show “Offer, Event +” in addition to other post types
like Status, Photo/Video, etc.
To claim the offer, all your fans need to do is click “Get Offer” from the story
anywhere they see it on Facebook. As an added bonus, the action is shared with
their friends. Facebook will send your fan an email, which the fan will either
print or display on his mobile phone when he visits your business to redeem the
discount.
Here’s how to post your offer:
1. Type a 90-character headline describing your offer and making a strong call
to action.
2. Upload a photo that will stand out in thumbnail size.
3. Choose how many offers you will honor—either a set maximum number, or
“unlimited.”
4. Set an expiration date for your offer.
5. Add terms and conditions.
6. Click Preview to see what your offer will look like, then click Post.
You’ll also be prompted to create a Sponsored Story ad to support your offer.
When you have finished the set-up process and launched your ad, you’ll see a
running tally of how many times your offer has been “claimed.”
Note “Claiming” an offer on Facebook provides the user access to a coupon
code and creates a story in the news feed. But it doesn’t mean the user has
actually bought anything yet. You’ll get lots of claims, but perhaps only half will
visit your website, and fewer still will complete a purchase.
Facebook Sponsored Search Results
Search Results is another piece of Facebook real estate that recently went up for
sale. Now, you can pay to promote any Facebook page, app, or other entity,
within the “type-ahead” results on Facebook search.
But if you’re picturing keyword-targeted ads modeled on Google AdWords,
think again.
Instead of paying to appear in response to particular search queries, with
Facebook Sponsored Results you’re paying for more visibility and control.
the type-ahead results as they would normally be generated. Plus, you can bid
for any Facebook entity—including those of your competitors. My own
explorations on the site revealed some clever strategies:
Searched for “Obama” and a Sponsored Result for Mitt Romney appeared
Searched for “Nike” and a Sponsored Result of EA’s John Madden NFL
Football game app was displayed
Searched for “Fidelity” and Scottrade appeared
According to Facebook, “Your ad will appear when the targeted entity appears in
the search results.” The ad appears under a “Sponsored” banner. You can write
up to 70 characters of ad copy, and you can also customize your landing
destination somewhat, such as specifying a particular tab on your page.
Sponsored Results ads can employ all the audience targeting and bid
management available to Facebook Marketplace and Sponsored Stories ads.
Pricing is CPC or CPM.
How do you create a Sponsored Results ad?
Currently, you cannot create Sponsored Results ads in the Ads Manager
interface. You must use either Power Editor or the Ads API. Using the API data
feed, you pass an ad type field of 31 to identify an ad as a Sponsored Result.
Here are the steps for using Power Editor:
1. Create your campaign and your ad
2. Select the Facebook entity you want to promote. It can be an app, page,
place, group, event, or other
3. Select “Facebook Ads”
4. Select “Sponsored Result” as the story type
5. Enter a message of up to 70 characters
6. Add your audience targeting and pricing strategy
7. Upload and activate your ad.
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