An Update to my Facebook Ads Adventure
A few weeks ago, I wrote an article detailing my experience trying Facebook Ads to build our Facebook fan base. If you didn't read that article, the synopsis is I got crushed. I targeted a very specific and relevant niche and decided to try a CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) ad. I ended up with a click through rate near 0.02 and paying around a dollar per new friend. That isn't very friendly! Figuring out the value of targeted Facebook friends can be tricky, but I know our magic number isn't one dollar.
I thought because I did my research and had targeted such a narrow audience, that CPM would be the more cost effective method of using Facebook ads. On paper, it should have been. In reality, it wasn't.
After a week break, I decided to give it one more try. I would leave my targeted niche the same, my ad the same, everything the same except switch from CPM to CPC (cost per click). After a few hours, I could see I had made the right decision.
Facebook Ads CPC campaign 1 results
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Facebook Ads CPC campaign 2 results
$51.51 spent for 300 clicks and 233 'likes.' That's $0.22 per 'like,' which is one fifth the cost of the 'likes' I got through CPM. For those of you keeping score at home, my click thru rate was more than TEN TIMES higher with CPC vs. CPM. These were based on several days' worth of results. Same ads, same targeting - the only change was CPM vs. CPC.
This is a really, really gray area for Facebook Ads. I expected to see lots of articles on this phenomenom but I didn't. It could be a coincidence, or it could be some logic in the Facebook ad system to place CPC ads higher the CPM ads. I'm not saying that Facebook Ads does this or any other form of shenanigans, I'm just sharing my results to say that - if you're going to experiment with Facebook Ads - you should definitely do a small CPC vs. CPM test to see what works better for you.
Everything I said in my last article and video about Facebook ad targeting and ad design still holds true, I would just ad in one more small test to measure CPC vs. CPM.
If an indie author emailed me today and asked for advice in testing a Facebook Ads campaign I would tell them this.
Read my two posts on the subject and watch my video
Get a Facebook Ads Coupon (if your eligible) so you can do $50 worth of testing for $8
Dedicate your first $10-$15 credit to finding the right targeted niche. Pick two or three small niches and run a $5 daily budget with each of them to see which one performs better.
Once you've got your niche, the next $10 should go to settle the CPC versus CPM debate for your niche.
After these steps you will have: starting getting new connections, figured out what your optimum niche and pricing type is and still have $25-$30 left in credits to spend to bring in new connections. If you're eligible to set up an Facebook Ads account and get a coupon, then that's a pretty good return on an $8 investment.
If you have any specific questions feel free to post them here or email me via our contact us.
