Comments on: Target Practice: Graphing Facebook User Segments

By: michael streko

michael streko — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:47:50 +0000

The first day it launched I ran a targeted lead campaign that could generate up to $60.00 per lead. Usually I am used to PPC reaching as high as $12.00 a click – it was a relief to actually get clicks for $.35 – the conversion rate was “ehhh”. I had initially ran this before facebook had the ad system setup, it was called “Flyers Pro” – so for 5 days i had it up i spent $250.00 which turned into 86 leads which actually worked out well across the week, not as well as my clicks and exposures but still well. Since they have implemented the new system I have not been able to recreate this success. Even with a higher PPC bid and a larger budget I watched it as nothing more then a black hole for cash.

For leads that require Email and Zip or 5 Field form, i rotate creative weekly and its been working great.

By: Marty Weintraub

Marty Weintraub — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:28:48 +0000

Absolutely, this client is paying .80 per click on FB max (right now), converting 25% (about 50 leads per day), of which 1% will go on to make a purchase worth 40K over 2 years.

Most clients do not have this luxury no doubt.

By: Tim Nash

Tim Nash — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:15:13 +0000

True, but it depends on what your selling and to whom, I love the ability to target users and in particular to specify very tight demographics but this comes at a price when your paying $15 a click even if your conversion is 100% its not going to help if what your selling is $14.99.

By: Marty Weintraub

Marty Weintraub — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:06:23 +0000

@ Tim: Thanks, going there now. One point, this client is used to paying $10.00 per click with 5% conversion. “Cost” is a relative thing and is sometimes less important than FINDING bodies to market to.

By: Tim Nash

Tim Nash — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:57:12 +0000

We did a couple of posts on the new Facebook ads over at Payment Blogger, interesting as they were after a short while we quickly reached a saturation point where the cost per click was eating to much into the profit margins. Check out some of our Facebook Results, interestingly a similar campaign using Stumbleupon ads on a slightly modified landing page far exceeded that of the facebook ads and was a lot cheaper.

By: michael streko

michael streko — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 15:35:17 +0000

you got it! Change Change Change… That is the secret.

By: Marty Weintraub

Marty Weintraub — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:47:34 +0000

Ah, that sounds like excellent advice. I want to point out to our readers that it was my discussions with Michael that led aimClear to FB. So the game is to watch it carefully and the minute that the impressions lag, pull the ad and change it out. I’ll report back

By: michael streko

michael streko — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:57:05 +0000

Marty,

My point is give this campaign another month, those sales will be gone. If you ad up your daily exposures and clicks more then likely you will burn through your 250k users a bit quick. Just know when to stop or redo the campaign / change creative and so on. I have tested the hell out of FB – once you stop getting clicks your exposures drop rapidly. The best way I have found to cure this is to just make a new add on a different campaign and launch it. This will keep things fresh, it seems to me to be more in tune to fresh ads and new content on ads then long term ads.

fb’s ad platform is a wave, ride it while you can.

By: Marty Weintraub

Marty Weintraub — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:43:12 +0000

Michael,
I am marketing to a pool of about 250K FB users for a career college niche’ product. The conversion of traffic to sales is insane-nearly 10%. It’s impossible to generalize because some products in the 18-24 demo work really well. I can see that many products won’t.

FB is like any channel. Test, test, and test some more. It took us several attempts to figure it out. In our business, it feels just as good to rule channels out. I guess we got lucky on this one. Most importantly, it’s a harbinger of future social ad platforms.

Each social channel will have it’s own uniqure characteristics to evaluate, rule in, or rule out. I’m sure we will not market Tony the Tiger Frosted Flake spoons on LinkedIn. The product we’re selling on FB works really well there right now at 25% of Google’s PPC cost, with higher engagement, and much higher conversion .

By: michael streko

michael streko — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:40:37 +0000

Its touchie with what works on the platform, and also know that its not going to last. I recently blogged about my first love for facebook then the abrupt end it came to when my clicks dropped and then my exposures turned almost non-existent.
IMO 89% of the facebook users are not ones to whip out there wallets and buy something they see an add for. I have had the best of luck working with leads on the platform. But not long leads, email and zip submits work well and some occasional 5 fielders. When the campaign initially launched I was doing great, but it seems as if i had burnt through all of the scope of my users so the campaign came to a halt. Remember; its not the internet, its only facebook. So the traffic is not indefinite.