Understanding Facebook Advertising Metrics

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Last week we covered the various types of Facebook advertising campaigns, including when and why a law firm should each. Now that your campaigns are running, Facebook provides a wealth of analytical data on the ads. Sifting through all of these numbers can be a bit overwhelming; below are the top indicators to focus on when evaluating the success of your Facebook advertising campaigns.

IMPRESSIONS, REACH, AND FREQUENCY

Impressions are the number of times your ad is viewed, while Reach shows the number of people who saw your ad. Because a single Facebook user may see an ad more than once, the impressions will always be higher than the reach. Taken together, these two numbers indicate Frequency, or the average number of times each user sees an ad in the campaign.

The impressions and reach are directly controlled by your budget. Spend more money, and you can reach more people. The important number to keep an eye on, though, is frequency. This number should stay somewhere between 1.0 and 2.5. If your frequency starts heading north of 3.0, then each user is seeing your ad an average of three or more times per day. This may turn some Facebook users off and create a negative brand impact.

CLICKS, COST-PER-CLICKS, AND CLICK-THROUGH-RATE

Clicks on your ad campaigns are divided up into two measurements: ad clicks and link clicks. Ad clicks include any type of interaction with the ad, including post reactions, comments and shares, photo clicks, or liking the advertiser’s Facebook Page. Link clicks measure the number of clicks that led to a separate destination, such as your website or a dedicated landing page. The first measures social interaction with the ad, while the second measures interest in additional information.

The Cost-Per-Click (CPC) for each tells you exactly that: how much on average each click cost. The CPC for link clicks will generally be higher than for ad clicks, as they require a more active interest from the user.

The Click-Through-Rate (CTR) is the percentage of times someone saw your ad and performed a click – either on the ad or the link. This number indicates the percentage of users actually engaging in some manner with the ads as a function of the number of times the ad is delivered to them.

ENGAGEMENT

The easiest way to gauge interest is through engagement. Are Facebook users engaging in some manner with the ads? These metrics include Reactions, Comments, Shares, and Page Likes.

Facebook introduced Reactions in early 2016 as an expanded option to the traditional Facebook like. Now users have the ability to select like, love, haha, wow, sad, or angry emojis in response to a post or ad.

When launching ad campaigns, Comments should be monitored on a daily basis. Users have the ability to publicly comment on any ad in their feed, and the advertiser should address their comments in a timely fashion (no longer than 24 hours during the workweek). This may include responding to a question or deleting inappropriate comments so they do not appear to other users.

Facebook can displays ads in multiple locations; when displayed in the newsfeed of users specifically designated in your targeting parameters, those users can Share the ad in their own personal newsfeeds. This third-tier of viral sharing helps the ad reach all of their friends organically, providing another level of penetration for your campaign.

When running an Awareness Campaign, Page Likes is one of the most important metrics to evaluate. It indicates how many users are opting to follow your Facebook Page. When running a Consideration or Conversion Campaign, Page Likes are a great added bonus. Many users will find the information provided in the ad interesting, and decide to follow your Page to receive future updates.

LEADS AND COST-PER-LEADS

The most important metric when running a conversion campaign is Leads, the quantifiable measurement used to determine your ROI, or return on investment. Measuring how many people actually submit a contact form or undertake another trackable action is paramount to determining the campaign’s success. Facebook also provides the Cost-Per-Lead – the total number of leads as a function of the total amount spent – so you know exactly how much each contact form submission cost. It is important to note this does not include phone call conversions. We highly recommend utilizing a tracking number to more accurately gauge ROI for the campaign as a whole.

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