Despite Facebook's popularity as a network, its use as an advertising platform is still largely misunderstood. There are a number of myths about its effectiveness and usability that need to be dispelled if advertisers are to wake up to the opportunities it presents.
You can't measure ad success on Facebook
Facebook ads tend to be undervalued, prompting advertisers to pull budget. But if your ad placement is not being measured correctly, how can you know if Facebook is working for you?
Fortunately, there are plenty of tools you can use, including tracking conversion on your site via a Facebook pixel that will let you see which of your converters clicked or viewed ads on Facebook. Another useful tool is Atlas, a third-party ad server, recently purchased by Facebook from Microsoft, that is certified to track impressions and clicks on Facebook's paid media.
By focusing on marketing attribution in this way, marketers can precisely measure the performance of their Facebook campaigns both individually and in a cross-channel context.
However, you should avoid using a last-click methodology. By looking at each interaction or touchpoint with consumers, you may discover a pattern where consumers, having seen your Facebook advert, go on to purchase via a direct visit to the website. If you used last-click, you'd wrongly make the assumption that your Facebook advert didn't work.
All Facebook users are created equal
You will often hear "Facebook works great" or "Facebook didn't work for us". This response greatly simplifies the impact and potential of a marketing medium that has aggregated over one billion people.
Bear in mind that Facebook users will utilise the platform in different ways. For example, some like complaining or promoting their brand interactions on Facebook, while others are simply voyeurs who are influenced by their friends, but don't influence in return. If you don't understand this, your marketing activity on Facebook is doomed to fail.
It is also worth bearing in mind that some users may interact with an ad on Facebook and then leave the network to conduct research into what they have seen, before using a search engine to find the marketer's website to make a purchase. By using last click, the search engine would receive the credit for conversion, yet the reason for the conversion began on Facebook.
Views don't matter – only clicks
It has been clearly shown that increased ad frequency on Facebook leads to a greater propensity to convert. In other words, views matter. However, this should not be to a point where the audience is over-saturated with ads, which can have the opposite effect.
It's important to understand the frequency levels that are acceptable on this platform. Too little, and brands will miss opportunities to present an ad that's likely to draw attention and get a click. Too high and people will tune out, requiring fresh creative to drive engagement.
Facebook adverts are only effective if they reach consumers immediately
It's important to treat Facebook as part of a longer-term marketing strategy, because its value lies in its incremental impact over time.
One way of exploring how Facebook could work for you as part of a longer-term strategy would be to buy test placements, design-controlled experiments to determine which variables (size, placement, creative message, impression frequency) impact user behavior, and utilise these insights to build a more effective advertising strategy.
It's no secret that Facebook plans to continue to roll out new tools and opportunities. Marketers need to be well informed about the tools and techniques that will allow them to best reach these highly engaged users. By understanding what messages and ad units impact ROI, and how to allocate the right budget to this channel, you can harness and measure social media effectively.
Adit Abhyankar is executive director at Visual IQ
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