Advanced observations about PPC ads on Facebook

[MichaelHiles]

Okay, I'm running a lot of campaigns for "offline clients" on Facebook. I'm talking about huge budget campaigns as high as 6 figures.

I've noticed something interesting about FB's ads, and wanted to compare my observations with other warriors that are also experienced with PPC on FB.

I see an interesting phenomenon that points to a kind of "batching", where looks like our ads will run in cycle for a while, and then views drop off to literally zero. Not 1 or 15, but none.We bump our bids to even twice as high as the highest suggested bid to simply see what effect this has on visibility, and for a period of a couple hours at a time, the stats literally show zero impressions.

Statistically, even in low traffic periods, to drop to literally zero for a period of time isn't feasible. Sure, maybe drop to even single digits an hour... but not to zero. I can verify the ads aren't displaying because we have accounts established for each of the "demographic profiles" for each campaign to be able to see the ad displaying on the account page. During the blackout period, there's also no rotation on the individual account page.

Then, it's like a rocket ship launch where impressions kick in and we do 1,000 a minute in almost real time. As fast as I can refresh the browser, the number just keeps going.

I've tried to get answers from FB, but they're not real forthcoming with any details about the inner bowel workings of their math - which is not surprising as ad algorithms are proprietary stuff that make a website tick.

I suspect that there's batch "pools" of ads that get cycled, and your bid affects your position against the other ads in that same batch. Then, they activate and cycle the batches with your demographic filtering with other ads in that particular batch.

Anyone got any ideas on this?

[Killer Joe]

Michael,

That almost sounds like they're not reporting stats in real time.

Same here for the WF. Yesterday I saw a post that had 23 views with 22 responses and I thought "Hmmm, that's a pretty good response to view ratio."

Then a minute later it was 22 responses and 249 views.

Then I thought, "Wow, that 22nd response must have been a doozie..."

KJ

[MichaelHiles]

Originally Posted by Killer Joe

Michael,

That almost sounds like they're not reporting stats in real time.

Same here for the WF. Yesterday I saw a post that had 23 views with 22 responses and I thought "Hmmm, that's a pretty good response to view ratio."

Then a minute later it was 22 responses and 249 views.

Then I thought, "Wow, that 22nd response must have been a doozie..."

KJ

That's what I was thinking too... but then when it kicks in, I can refresh and literally see a change in impressions as it climbs in real time.

[askloz]

I hate facebook ads, they drive me up the freak'n wall, all i get are stupid dating sites that come up, you'd think that they would target the ads to what you're into via your profile...

[euhlir]

Yeah I've stopped all attempts on Facebook. You either can't get an ad accepted or it shows sporadically like you said. I think their's a problem with it's internal workings, and it stinks they have ad reviewers who disagree on what should be accepted.

[MichaelHiles]

Originally Posted by askloz

I hate facebook ads, they drive me up the freak'n wall, all i get are stupid dating sites that come up, you'd think that they would target the ads to what you're into via your profile...

Loz, "they" have the ability to filter down to the keyword on your profile. Geographic radius, age, sex, location, schooling, relationship status...

It's far more targeted than Google.

But an advertiser doesn't have to choose that level of filtering at all.

Originally Posted by euhlir

Yeah I've stopped all attempts on Facebook. You either can't get an ad accepted or it shows sporadically like you said. I think their's a problem with it's internal workings, and it stinks they have ad reviewers who disagree on what should be accepted.

I have never once gotten a rejection on an ad across many sectors. Then again, I am doing campaigns for existing bricks and mortar businesses and not selling IM-related stuff.

We're talking about a high volume too.

The sporadic display isn't really a "problem" per se because I always hit my max daily thresholds on clicks and can verify them independently with Google Analytics and server stat analysis. I'm getting the performance, but just trying to better understand their application.

[askloz]

Originally Posted by MichaelHiles

Loz, "they" have the ability to filter down to the keyword on your profile. Geographic radius, age, sex, location, schooling, relationship status...

It's far more targeted than Google.

I disagree.

Every time I select "irrelevant" it ignores my request and keeps annoying my request to stop showing those ads.

For the past year it's been this way ever since I've been with facebook.

[MichaelHiles]

Originally Posted by askloz

I disagree.

Every time I select "irrelevant" it ignores my request and keeps annoying my request to stop showing those ads.

For the past year it's been this way ever since I've been with facebook.

That's something different.

There's no assurance that because you select irrelevant on a request that it will automatically stop showing that specific ad. If your demographic profile matches the filtering chosen by the advertiser, then facebook is going to show the ad. For whatever reason, you match the profile that particular advertiser has established for their campaign... probably that you're male and in their geographic target.

There might be some weighting factor that happens when you select irrelevant, but I have yet to see it affect an ad.

[MichaelHiles]

Anyone?

Bueller?

Bueller?

[askloz]

nope, cos everyone knows facebook ads are a waste of time.

[goclarkanderson]

Yeap. Facebook ads are irritating.