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Everyone says "Facebook is the new Adwords"...umm, yeah, right....

by Nick Brighton
27 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Have you tried to submit an ad to Facebook recently?

I know a few other Warriors have, probably many of you, including myself...with miserable luck.

I don't even mean the ad's performance, I mean actually getting it flippin' approved! It seems even when you follow the guidelines to the T, they still have their finger on the trigger ready to decline you.

For example, I used a picture which was not rude, provocative or showing too much flesh (and really, I mean it), and the ad text described EXACTLY what was on the landing page.

Buy nope, "the picture is not appropriate, and the ad text is not relevant"

Seriously, this was my third attempt, I'm going elsewhere for my traffic now.

It seems that Facebook isn't quite the "hippy minded, come on in" ad platform many of us hoped...in fact, it's more like a Nazi.

I can understand why they have these rules, but they make Adwords look like a free for all walk in the park.

Maybe they realize that the crapper they can get you to make your ad, the more impressions you will pay for to get clicks...and the more money they make as a result...

...do I sound pissed off? Well, sorry, but today I really am.

Nevermind, PLENTY more places to advertise without this BS.
#yeah
  • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
    Tried Facebook to advertise and gave up.

    I think this is why they change their layout ever 5 or so months (at least it seems like it...)....even with 350,000,000+ worldwide users, I've read that they still have difficulty monetizing it....
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  • Profile picture of the author RGallowitz
    I have done extensive facebook advertising.

    Let me put it bluntly - if you are trying to use their PPC engine to market off topic affiliate products, you will fail.

    If you try to marketin something via banners within applications - you might pull of a winner, but you need to negotiate good CPM rates otherwise you might bomb out.

    Lastly, PPC on facebook only works if you advertise something interesting like a free game or something like that.


    Good luck!!
    Gallo
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    • Profile picture of the author butters
      Shouldn't this be in the PPC forum? Me thinks it should.
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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Gram
    We have had some success with Facebook advertising and had no issues with getting an add approved. The most success came from promoting an offer of ours right on Facebook and not directing the user to an outside website.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Atkins
    Facebook advertising is hell. I submitted so many ads... so much that
    I lost count. Only one got approved, and it didn't do well...
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  • Profile picture of the author Venturetothetop
    I actually do pretty well with Facebook advertising. But then my audience for my product fits very well with the profile of user that uses Facebook (light entertainment and contact with friends). Something tells me they are not there to buy things and thus often don't care for being sold too.

    I have fantasic results with ads within apps, as these people are looking for something to pass the time, something I can easily entertain...
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Brighton
    Very interesting...

    Seems like Facebook might have a bias towards "in house" advertising...in other words, if you advertise your app or your fan page, then you get a smiley face and 5 stars...

    ...but if you take traffic away from FB, they poo in your lunchbox.
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    • Profile picture of the author Paul Gram
      Originally Posted by Nick Brighton View Post

      Very interesting...

      Seems like Facebook might have a bias towards "in house" advertising...in other words, if you advertise your app or your fan page, then you get a smiley face and 5 stars...

      ...but if you take traffic away from FB, they poo in your lunchbox.
      I think you might be right about that.
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      • Profile picture of the author Thomas Prendergast
        Will this scenario work in your knowledgeable opinion and experience.

        I own Veretekk a social network, live leads, SEO marketing and email auto responder turnkey system.

        Instead of advertising on Facebook and pointing to the Veretekk web site, I should create a Veretekk Fan page and promote that?

        Does that sound like the proper methodology?

        I write self replicating ebooks and I want to prepare the way for future ebooks like how to advertise on Facebook and get results.

        Thomas Prendergast
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  • Profile picture of the author Christophe Young
    I also had trouble getting ads approved on Facebook. One had already been previously approved and ran for a while. Then I go to renew and it's suddenly not approved.

    I gave up a long time ago. Conversions were not really good anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author CianMcCarthy
    Banned
    On facebook you have to send your traffic to either opt-in pages, cpa offers, or very low priced affiliate offers ($7 MAX)

    But Facebook requires a bit more ''out of the box thinking'' because with Adwords people are single mindedly searching for a solution...all you have to do is give it to them.

    With Facebook you're using interruption marketing
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  • Profile picture of the author Tomwood
    I think Facebook is very different to PPC with adwords because of the mindset of the surfer very few people go to facebook to look for product or services to buy.

    It's like trying to sell stuff at a nightclub your product has to fit in with peoples current mindset glowsticks and flashing lights will sell well but most other stuff will not.
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    • Profile picture of the author harrydog
      Facebook advertising is difficult.
      I concur with other posters that Facebook advertising is interruption marketing. People are not actually looking for a solution and will only click on your ad if it touches a nerve at that particular point in time.
      I had no trouble getting ads approved but found that the click through rates were abysmal.
      I ran a CPA campaign for Free bets with Paddy Power (well known bookmaker in the UK) in the run up and during the Cheltenham festival (biggest 4 day horse racing event in the UK) and made sure my demographic targeting was extremely tight.

      I got lots of lots of clicks but very few actual sales and lost money on the campaign that with adwords would have made money.

      Its true the figures for Facebook on the face of it look great 400,000,000+ users, 39,000,000,000 page views per month, average visit time 30 minutes+ but these are not buyers they are socially networking and not looking for a solution.
      I paid good money for a Ryan Dies course on Facebook advertising but going through the course he never once shows an actual campaign or any actual results. Yet again a so called GURU selling a so called training course on something that they don't actually do themselves. (or prove the results)
      Unless you have a huge budget, looking to do some branding or are really into utilising social media to drive sales I would leave it alone for now.
      This is just my personal experience and if some one has actually made facebook advertising work for them I would love to see the actual results.

      Mark Jackson
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Brighton
    I think the consensus is that contextual advertising is not as effective as PPC, which I can understand the argument, but on the flipside:

    If you put your message right under the nose of the exact person who tends to respond best to that offer or mesasge, then there's got to be some response.

    For example...

    - Advertising cheap flights to a location where someone has just talked about in their profile

    - Anti-wrinkle cream to people of a certain age, interested in cosmetics/looking good/skincare/staying young etc

    And so on.

    Anyway, I guess that's a bit off topic. I'd like to hear from more people who've had success failure with Facebook. I'm certainly not worried about it, as there's so many different traffic sources these days, it's never a problem getting targeted traffic...

    ...just a shame that Facebook isn't probably going to be one of them for direct advertising/response purposes after all.
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  • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
    I've submitted 8 ads to facebook today and gotten quick approval for all of them.
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    • Profile picture of the author Mohammad Afaq
      Originally Posted by MichaelHiles View Post

      I've submitted 8 ads to facebook today and gotten quick approval for all of them.
      Lucky You
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      • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
        Originally Posted by mohammad111 View Post

        Lucky You
        Not really, these are all ads for local business clients promoting to their geographic markets. No "get rich quick" or Clickbank monkeybusiness.
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        • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
          The key to this whole issue, pretty much lies in this quote below from Michael Hiles, after his facebook ads were approved in short time... although, for other scenarios, you may need to think a little about how it applies to you

          Originally Posted by MichaelHiles View Post

          these are all ads for local business clients promoting to their geographic markets. No "get rich quick" or Clickbank monkeybusiness.
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          • Profile picture of the author Nick Brighton
            Originally Posted by MichaelHiles View Post

            Not really, these are all ads for local business clients promoting to their geographic markets. No "get rich quick" or Clickbank monkeybusiness.
            That's a sweeping assumption Michael. Personally, none of the ads I tried to submit had anything to do with "get rich quick" or Clickbank...not even close.

            I'm sure I could probably create an ad that looked about as appealing and interesting and eye catching as a pair of Granny pants, but I don't think I'm ready to pay for all those impressions on an ad that does for CTR what burgers did for Elvis.

            :-)
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            • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
              Originally Posted by Nick Brighton View Post

              That's a sweeping assumption Michael. Personally, none of the ads I tried to submit had anything to do with "get rich quick" or Clickbank...not even close.

              I'm sure I could probably create an ad that looked about as appealing and interesting and eye catching as a pair of Granny pants, but I don't think I'm ready to pay for all those impressions on an ad that does for CTR what burgers did for Elvis.

              :-)
              Not suggesting that YOUR ads were per se. But I've found that most people who have trouble with Facebook in getting their ads approved fell into that category... and the rest weren't familiar with their ad standards.

              My ads hover between .3 and .8 CTR and the CPC averages .35 for geographic targeting of local business.
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              • Profile picture of the author Nick Brighton
                Originally Posted by Thomas Prendergast View Post

                I agree with the search engine mode. I have been doing this for a long time and time and again I keep telling people and still do it myself, that the market is where people find you offering exactly what they are looking for.

                It is only found in searches or maybe Ebay. Not Facebook, not the 1 million email marketing CD, not traffic exchanges not 90% of anything else Guru's try to sell you in their ebooks.
                Sorry, but that's really not true. WHy do you think direct mail works so well? Why do you think magazine ads work so well? Why do you think banner ads on sites have been around since the early days of the internet?

                Despite search being targeted, it's not the only place to market products to people...and just because your market isn't searching, doesn't mean they don't exist and have the same needs, whether in search mode or not.

                For example, I could do a search for a solution to a problem in the next 5 seconds, then without finding a solution on Google, I would go to Facebook to hang out with friends and catch up, then see an ad for the solution right there on my profile.

                Are you telling me that the ad wouldn't appeal to me just because I didn't search for it?


                Originally Posted by MichaelHiles View Post

                Not suggesting that YOUR ads were per se. But I've found that most people who have trouble with Facebook in getting their ads approved fell into that category... and the rest weren't familiar with their ad standards.

                My ads hover between .3 and .8 CTR and the CPC averages .35 for geographic targeting of local business.
                Sure, that's great...I know you weren't targeting me per se, but just wanted to make that distinction anyway. I can see why those types of get rich quick BS programs don't fly on Facebook, or even pass the approval stage.

                But alas, I still don't understand why they won't approve my ads despite strictly playing by their rules. I wonder if they just have a predisposition towards certain markets or offers/ads? Maybe it's based on people's feedback (such as the like/dislike feature you can click on for each ad that shows up)?

                Maybe they record this data and find that certain types of advertising are being rejected by users or something?

                Who knows...it's a real guessing game with Facebook right now - they don't really give you the exact reason, which makes it more of a mystery.
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  • Profile picture of the author JonMills
    Facebook ads are crap

    Most of people go on facebook to either

    A. Pretend they have friends
    B. Pretend there life is interesting and that others are interested in it
    C. To do retarded pokes
    D. To connect with others within the same niche

    So while your ad will get seen by lots of people.. People are too busy in space monkey mode to really give a crap about your ad

    Basically they are not in search mode, like they are when they hit search engines
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    • Profile picture of the author Thomas Prendergast
      Originally Posted by JonMills View Post

      Facebook ads are crap

      Most of people go on facebook to either

      A. Pretend they have friends
      B. Pretend there life is interesting and that others are interested in it
      C. To do retarded pokes
      D. To connect with others within the same niche

      So while your ad will get seen by lots of people.. People are too busy in space monkey mode to really give a crap about your ad

      Basically they are not in search mode, like they are when they hit search engines
      I agree with the search engine mode. I have been doing this for a long time and time and again I keep telling people and still do it myself, that the market is where people find you offering exactly what they are looking for.

      It is only found in searches or maybe Ebay. Not Facebook, not the 1 million email marketing CD, not traffic exchanges not 90% of anything else Guru's try to sell you in their ebooks.

      FYI: My ebooks are free.

      Thomas Prendergast
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  • Profile picture of the author AskScottOBrien
    Facebook PPC Ads work better for me than Google PPC ads and the cost per click is way less. Your ads are only seen on Facebook profiles that are related to the ad. So if you are promoting a diet products... your ad only shows up on profiles that have the keyword diet or similar keywords. It really is directing your ads to a targeted audience.

    You do have to think outside the box though as someone mentioned earlier. People are not going to click on boring ads and if you look at some of those ads... some of them are really clever. I have even been tempted to click on them and see what the heck they are promoting.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ty Neal
    A Friend of mine use facebook ADS and get over 100 leads a day real sweet,
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  • Profile picture of the author zoro
    I've had mixed success with Facebook Ads. The Ads that were instantly approved were pointing to my FaceBook Page. The ads that were instantly disapproved were pointing to an outside clickbank affliate site.

    As far as conversion goes, pretty poor really, lots of clicks, but very few takers or opt-ins.
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  • Profile picture of the author Fallen_Angel
    Never tried facebook ads but a friend of mine is a game developer there as well as marketer of other things and he told me if i ever do use facebook ads to be successful at it make a budget between 1-5thousand a month to get enough click throughs to profit.
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