Is Facebook Secretly Jacking Up Ad Rates?
Remember when Facebook was a good, free way to get traffic and customers?
Well, those days are long gone. But that’s actually a good thing for your business.
In the last year, Facebook’s made some major changes to how it determines which posts show up on users’ newsfeeds. This has led some brands to see a 94% drop in their organic reach – almost overnight.
Yikes.
For savvy digital marketers, however, these changes were good since they separated the “me toos” from the professionals.
(It also revealed the absolute worthlessness of “Likes,” which too often get mistaken for real customers. Not the same thing at all.)
This week, some digital marketers accused Facebook of jacking up its rates:
“I used to be able to reach 1000 of our fans for only $20! As of this morning, the estimated audience at that price is less than 200 people! What’s going on?!”
Those marketers are right: Facebook did adjust its billing (but, IMO, for the better).
Facebook Admits It (But This Benefits Your Small Business)
In an official statement, Facebook explained it made a change to how they billed advertisements.
In a HUGE change to its ad policy, Facebook is no longer charging for ads served, only ads actually seen.
Naturally, this change would result in higher rates for Facebook advertisers.
But I’m actually excited at what this means for those using the platform.
They’ve made massive improvements to their ad targeting platform this year, and this new development makes it that much more powerful.
Now, instead of paying for ads that weren’t even seen by your audience, you only pay for ads that reached your target.
For example:
- Before: Pay for 1,000 views, get a 1.5% click rate, but not sure of whether those 1,000 people were actually reached (possibly making your data bad)
- Now: Pay for 1,000 views, get a 1.5% click rate, know that 1000 people saw your ad and 15 people clicked through
This means running tests will be more effective, too, since you can rule out ads that were technically served by not seen in your analysis.
Of course, Facebook advertising only works if you’ve got the right sales funnel. If you send Facebook traffic to your homepage, you’re gonna have a bad time.
I write about how to build a Facebook advertising machine that turns your traffic into customers. (It takes a lot more than just advertising on Facebook.)
Find it in the upcoming launch issue of the TL;DR Digital Marketing Report. Not a subscriber yet? There’s still time.
