Has FB advertising gotten better?

22 replies
I'm an online retailer of stuff the typical FB user actually does like. I spent an obscene amount of time trying to get FB ads to work for my store but in the end I had to give up. Have FB ads gotten any better in the last 6-9 months? If so I'll give it another try.
#advertising
  • Profile picture of the author Ryan Thomas
    It's all in how you use the ads. There haven't been any groundbreaking changes in the last 6-9 months, so unless YOU have gotten better, don't bother giving it another try. Either FB ads aren't suitable for you business or you haven't found the right angle.
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    • Profile picture of the author warriorforumrocks
      In a broad sense, which are the possible angles to play? I've been focused on conversions (orders placed) on my site because that's the only way I can calculate an ROI.
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      • Profile picture of the author Evolved
        Originally Posted by warriorforumrocks View Post

        In a broad sense, which are the possible angles to play? I've been focused on conversions (orders placed) on my site because that's the only way I can calculate an ROI.
        It's all about testing and optimizing. Most people just stop running ads once they loose a bit of money. With a bit extra time and testing, you can eventually start seeing a positive ROI and then you keep optimizing and tweaking your campaigns and scale them up.

        As far as "angles" go. It's not just about how you track your conversions. In the marketing world, you need to think outside the box and target people from angles that others are not. This gives you the edge. There are countless ways to target the same audience. Instead of just making an ad that covers your whole niche...instead take a precise angle and make your ad "speak" to that smaller targeted audience.
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        • Profile picture of the author Brian Arthur
          Hi Guys

          I'm hoping someone can give me a bit of advise on Facebook marketing.

          Firstly I'm a newbie to Facebook marketing and would like to know if there are any third parties out there, that are any good at providing software or plug-ins so as to help me monitor Ad campaigns effectively so I can determine which campaigns are better than others?
          Or is it better to just have the different Ads go to different landing pages and try working it out that way.

          some advise would be greatly appreciated - Thanking you guys in advance.
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  • Profile picture of the author james85x
    I've spend around $100 for FB adds, and they were very effective for getting likes for my fan page, however you NEED to know exactly what you are doing, who you are targeting and so on. Else you ll lose money in a short time,- J
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  • Profile picture of the author datingworld
    No it didnt change in the last 6-9 months, its still the same as it was.
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  • Profile picture of the author Moneymaker2012
    Facebook ads are worked fine for me, although I haven't use them for few months but they converts good on most campaigns, depends on what niche are you running ads, mostly Dating, Gaming offers convert good through fb ads.
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    • Profile picture of the author JaredRhodenizer
      Depends on how you use them. If you send people straight to a sales page they are going to suck. I've been running them to get email opt-ins. Currently paying about $.40-$.50 per opt-in now.
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      • Profile picture of the author warriorforumrocks
        I've had many years of experience with Google Adwords but I couldn't seem to make FB ads work. I tried every type of FB ad and used the power editor extensively. Sending people to my site always lead to a very low conversion rate, surely due to the fact that these people aren't searching for my stuff like they are on Adwords, and sending people to my FB page is frustrating because there's no way to track ROI.

        I like being able to calculate a precise ROI and then bid accordingly so I know I'm seeing a positive return. Do I need to change this mindset for FB ads?
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        • Profile picture of the author Adam Short
          FB ads work well for me when driving traffic to an optin page.

          The interface has changed recently. Prior to the recent changes, certain tasks (newsfeed ads, advanced targeting) could only be performed by downloading the Power Editor for Chrome which in my opinion was not easy to use and understand.

          The interface is much more user friendly now which makes it easier to understand what you are doing and a lot of the features that required the Power Editor can now be performed directly in the main admin area.

          As some others mentioned here, FB ads can be effective but you have to know your goals from the onset and know your target audience. The closer you can hone in on your target audience, the more profits you will gain from FB ads.
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          • Profile picture of the author Paul Dilley
            Facebook Ads can be a wonderful tool for getting traffic. What I suggest is to use the ads to build an email list. Once you have your email list you can control the time you communicate with them and make promotions. Of course you should provide valuable information to your list subscribers before you think of starting to sell. This way you can promote to them multiple times instead of one shot.

            The best way I think to approach Facebook Ads is to make a post on your page with a short video in it and a link to a squeeze page. Then promote this post in the ads. This will get you a lot of subscribers to your email list with a very reasonable cost.
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        • Profile picture of the author Ryan Thomas
          Originally Posted by warriorforumrocks View Post

          I've had many years of experience with Google Adwords but I couldn't seem to make FB ads work. I tried every type of FB ad and used the power editor extensively. Sending people to my site always lead to a very low conversion rate, surely due to the fact that these people aren't searching for my stuff like they are on Adwords, and sending people to my FB page is frustrating because there's no way to track ROI.

          I like being able to calculate a precise ROI and then bid accordingly so I know I'm seeing a positive return. Do I need to change this mindset for FB ads?
          Yes. FB users usually aren't in buying mode...and even if they are, chances are they don't want to buy what you're selling at the moment they see your ad. There are definitely people selling stuff directly off of FB, but it is probably not the best way for most products. Maybe combined with retargeting you might have more success with it.
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  • Profile picture of the author DavidLowes
    Originally Posted by warriorforumrocks View Post

    I'm an online retailer of stuff the typical FB user actually does like. I spent an obscene amount of time trying to get FB ads to work for my store but in the end I had to give up. Have FB ads gotten any better in the last 6-9 months? If so I'll give it another try.
    Hi,

    In order to assess what type of ad is best suitable it is necessary to determine what outcome you would like from the ad, what is your goal? This will determine the type of campaign you would go with.

    Broadly speaking, Facebook advertising is phenomenal. You can certainly give it another try, however if you haven't had experience with ad testing and the various forms of Facebook ads that might be best suitable for your business, then you might find the time vs result ratio again doesn't go in your favour, however an expense vs return ratio might.

    Do you want people to like your page (where I'm assuming you will be creating engagement)? Do you want people to click on your website? Or do you just want people to buy your products? A CPA offer might be most suitable where you can draw people to your product page and track their behaviour once there (which also gives you a good idea on what's working and what's not on your website).

    My advice would be to consult a SMM first to work out your options and if it's worth spending a little bit more to get potentially much more back.

    Cheers
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  • Profile picture of the author hostdare
    Facebook Advertising is relatively new and people are still learning to use it effectively the cost for advertising is relatively cheap. As competition increases prices on Facebook will increase like Basically people who are on Facebook are not really in buying mode, they are in browsing mode and so it really depends on your offers. Traffic is ultra targeted, even more so than google but i can't see it as a buyers platform.
    I'd love people to prove me wrong and show me an offer that makes decent cash on Facebook.
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  • Profile picture of the author dhananjayapoudel
    There have been some changes to Facebook ads. Like for instance you can now use website conversion ad from the Facebook ad interface. Earlier this was available only via power editor. Website conversion is a better than other ways of advertising as it will help promote specific action on your website (checkouts, add to carts, leads etc). Besides this the new update allows you to upload multiple images in your ad.

    Overall each category of Facebook ads has its own benefit. It depends on what you want to achieve with your Facebook ads. Here are some things to keep in mind while advertising in Facebook:
    1. Sort out your objective of the ad. (Why are you placing the ad?)
    2. Be focused on the goal of the ad. (What do you want out of the ad?)
    3. Be creative enough to attract visitors to your ad.
    4. Use attractive images.
    5. Make sure you have the right landing page.
    6. Use proper targeting correct category of ad.
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  • Profile picture of the author adystanley
    If your ad attracts the users, you will get good results. That's all.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chrisb720
    I use Facebook ads alot for my social media clients and they can be very benficial as long as you run your campaigns correctly. With Facebook ads you need to know who your target audience is and ensure that you target these people specifically. The good thing is you can specifically target people who have shown an interest in certain things. This allows you to find people who have shown an interest in your competitors and choose these to see you ad.
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  • Profile picture of the author CellineWood
    I don't think it's that effective anyways.
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  • Profile picture of the author THK
    If you try direct sales approach, you might be disappointed. Remember, FB is not a search engine like G. You have to approach differently and it will work for you.

    Why not check some other successful pages in your niche and see how they are approaching it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brenda Trott
    Facebook and other social networking sites are designed much like a networking group. If you walked around at every networking meeting asking people to buy from you - you won't make very many connections. If you get to know people, help them out, and build a relationship, you will eventually get business. Your roi on Facebook will have much to do with how well you build a relationship with people.
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    • Profile picture of the author submitinme
      Facebook ads definitely work. But it doesn't work effectively in all niches. A person in Facebook is not always in the buying mode. So if you're selling a product or products that aren't too costly, people will definitely buy. There are a lot of things you can do with Facebook ads.
      You can target precise interests, broad categories, target a specific country, a specific county, a specific city and you can target even by ZIP codes (effective for local business). You can target specific age groups and gender.
      Regarding the ad types, there are a lot as well. You can show your ad only in news feed, only in side bar, both, only in desktop, only in mobile devices and more.
      And again there is CPM, oCPM, CPC that decides how you pay. Each technique works differently for different pages.
      There are a lot of things to know and experiment before you can taste success in Facebook ads.
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  • Profile picture of the author warriorforumrocks
    Maybe combined with retargeting you might have more success with it.
    This got me thinking. I know retargeting can be accomplished with people who have visited your own website, but Is there any way to retarget to people who have visited your FB page?
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