Facebook Ads Dictionary

Hello Warriors. Here are some useful terms about Facebook Ads.


Ad Auction
For each ad impression, the Facebook ad auction system selects the best ads to run based on the ads' maximum bids and ad performance. All Facebook Ads compete against each other in this process and the ads determined to be most likely successful will be shown.

If you'd like to make your ad more competitive in the auction, you may want to raise your bid. Facebook will only charge you the bid needed to win the auction, which may be lower that the maximum bid you've set for your ads. However; Facebook does still recommend you enter your true maximum bid. This will increase the likelihood that you do not miss out on clicks or impressions that you otherwise could have received. Facebook also recommends that you use specific targeting methods to ensure you reach the relevant audience that is most likely to interact with your ads.



Ads Manager
From your Ads Manager you can view all of your Facebook Ad campaigns, make changes to your bids and budgets, and pause or restart your ads at any time. You'll also find your Billing Manager containing your payment history and funding sources information, and you can export ad performance reports from the Reports tab.

You can always access your Ads Manager at http://www.facebook.com/ads/manage/.



Advertising Guidelines
Facebook's Advertising Guidelines provide information about what kinds of ad content and practices are allowed on Facebook. I recommend that all advertisers review these guidelines before creating ads.

Facebook also suggest reading through their Ad Policy Frequently Asked Questions for more information.


Avg CPC
Your "Avg. CPC" (Average Cost Per Click) is the amount you're paying on average for each click on your ad. This is calculated as: total clicks on your ad divided by the cost for that ad during the same time period.

You'll see this data even if your ad is bid on a CPM basis, but rest assured that you'll only be charged for clicks received if you've chosen the CPC option.


Avg CPM
Your "Avg. CPM" (average cost per thousand impressions) is the amount you're paying on average for every thousand impressions (views) of your ad. This is calculated as: # of thousands of times your ad is displayed divided by the cost for that ad during the same time period.

You'll see this data even if your ad is bid on a CPC basis, but rest assured that you'll only be charged for impressions if you've chosen the CPM option.



Bid (or Max. Bid)
Your bid is the maximum amount you've indicated you're willing to pay per click (if bid on a CPC basis) or thousand impressions (if bid on a CPM basis) on your Facebook Ads.

This bid helps determine your ad's strength in the ad auction and therefore its likelihood of running on the site. Facebook will only charge you the amount that is required for your ad to win the auction, which may be lower than your maximum bid, so I recommend you enter your true maximum when creating your ads.


Billing Manager
The Billing Manager link can be found in your Ads Manager on the left side of every page. The Billing Manager provides you with a comprehensive summary of charges in the Billing Summary tab. It also let's you designate and manage a primary and secondary source of payment for your ads.


Billing Summary
You can find your Billing Summary under the Billing link in your Ads Manager. The Billing Summary will show you a list of all of your past ad charges. Clicking on each description link will take you to a detailed breakdown of that credit card charge, including the dates that the charge covers, and the specific ads that ran during that period.


Campaign
A campaign describes the grouping of ads you create in your account. All of the ads in a campaign share the same daily budget and schedule but the individual ads have separate bids and targeted markets.

Campaigns are useful because they allow you to group ads according to whatever criteria are useful to you. For example, if you're running ads for two different businesses, you may choose to maintain a separate campaign of ads for each business. You can pull reports on a campaign and see how that group of ads is performing.


Clicks
Clicks are counted each time a user clicks on your ad and is re-directed to your landing page. If you're advertising a Facebook Page or Event a click is also counted when a user "likes" your Page or RSVPs to your Event within the ad.

Facebook has a variety of measures in place to ensure that they only report and charge you for legitimate clicks and not clicks that come from automated programs, that may be repetitive, abusive, etc.



Connections
If you're advertising a Facebook Page, event or app, Connections measures the response your message is driving among people who have seen your ads or Sponsored Stories.

Connections includes the people who liked your Page or Place, RSVPed to your event, installed your app or checked in to your advertised place within 24 hours of viewing or clicking on an ad or Sponsored Story. If your ad links offsite, you won't see Connections data in your Ads Manager.



Conversions
Conversions are the number of times people liked your Page or Place, RSVPed to your event, or installed your app within 28 days of clicking on your ad. This information may be listed in your "Conversions by Impression Time" report, if one of your ads if linking to a Facebook Page, Place, Event, or Application, and has accrued conversions. We don't track conversions for ads linking off Facebook.


CPC (Cost per Click)
CPC stands for Cost Per Click. If your ads are bid on a CPC basis, you will be charged when users click on your ads and visit your website.

As a CPC advertiser you are indicating that what is most important to you is having people click through to your website and controlling the actual cost to drive each individual person to your site.



CPM
CPM stands for Cost Per Thousand Impressions. If your ads are bid on a CPM basis, you will be charged when users view your ads, regardless of whether or not they click on them.

As a CPM advertiser you are indicating that it is more important to you where your ad shows up and what your ad looks like.



CTR
Click-through rate (CTR) is the number of clicks your ad receives divided by the number of times your ad is shown on the site (impressions) in the same time period.

You aren't guaranteed any number of clicks or impressions and will only be charged for those you receive, based on whether you've bid on a CPC (cost per click) or CPM (cost per thousand impressions) basis.



Daily Budget
Your daily budget is the amount you've indicated you're willing to spend on a specific campaign per day. Facebook will never charge you more than your daily budget on a given day.


Daily Spend Limit
The daily spend limit is the maximum amount that Facebook will allow you to spend in one day.

While your daily spend limit may increase as you successfully complete payments, Facebook will never charge you more than the daily budget you set for your campaigns.



Frequency
Frequency tells you how many times each person saw your ads or Sponsored Stories, on averageTo raise your frequency, we recommend increasing your bid and budget. Ads that are less competitive in the auction are less likely to be shown on the site. By raising your bid and budget, you'll be more likely to reach more of your audience more often.
To reduce your frequency, you may need to increase your audience size by relaxing your targeting. Ads with small audiences and high bids and budgets are likely to be shown to the same users many times.


Funding Sources
You can view your currently active credit cards as well as any active ad credits under the Funding Sources tab in your account. To see your funding sources, go to the 'Ads Manager' tab and then the 'Billing' tab. From this tab, click on 'Funding Sources.'


Impressions
Ad impressions, or "Imp." are counted each time an ad is shown to a user, regardless of whether the user clicks or takes any other action on the ad.


Likes & Interest Targeting
Likes & Interests targeting allows you to refine your ad's target audience based on the content they've included in their profiles, as well as the Pages, Groups and other on-site content they've chosen to connect with. This includes sections like Interests, Activities, Favorite Music, Movies and TV Shows.

Users won't be shown your ad because they search for the term you've targeted, or as a result of other site activity.



Outstanding Balance
Your outstanding balance is the total of all invoices that have not yet been billed to your credit card. It does not include any charges for ads that have not yet been invoiced.


Page Manager
From your Page Manager you can view all of the Facebook Pages that you created or admin. You can always access your Page Manager at http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/.



Reports
To create an ad report and export it as an Excel (.xls) or .csv file, please click on Ads Manager. From the 'Ads Manager' tab you can click on the 'Reports tab to export a report that will give you detailed information about your ads' performance. On the Reports page, you'll be able to select the appropriate report type, unit of time, and date range for your report.



Social Clicks
The number of times your ad was clicked with social context (i.e. with information about a viewer's friend(s) who connected with your Page, Event, or App).



Social Click Rate
Social Clicks divided by Social Impressions


Social Impressions
The number of times your ad was shown with social context (i.e. with information about a viewer's friend(s) who connected with your Page, Event, or App).


Social %
The percent of impressions where the ad was shown with social context (i.e. with information about a viewer's friend(s) who connected with your Page, Place, Event, or App).


Social Reach
Social Reach tells you how many people saw your ad or Sponsored Story with the names of their friends who had already liked your Page, RSVPed to your event, or used your app.

Ads shown with friends are twice as effective as ads alone. Sponsored Stories are always shown to people who have already engaged with your business or brand, or their friends, so they automatically include a very powerful social component that makes your message even more relevant and engaging to your audience.



Suggested Bid Range
The suggested bid range shown for your ad represents a range of CPC or CPM bids that are currently winning the auction for the audience you've selected. Bidding below the suggested range will make it unlikely for your ad to receive impressions, so I recommend bidding within or above the suggested range.

The necessary bid for a specific ad may change over time due to changes in the available pool of ads, as well as the ad's performance. You can check your Ads Manager at any time for the most up-to-date bid range for each ad you're currently running.



What Are Sponsored Stories
Sponsored Stories allow you to surface word-of-mouth recommendations about your brand that exist organically in the Facebook News Feed. Sponsored Stories are different from ads, and including them with your Facebook Ad campaign amplifies the actions your target audience takes with your ads.
Stories that can be surfaced include Page posts, Page Likes, app interactions, and Check-ins at your business. For example, if a person's friends like a Page, in addition to seeing that news story in their News Feed, they can now also see the same story on the right-hand column on Facebook.



Suggested Likes & Interests
As you select Likes and Interests to target your ads, Facebook will automatically suggest up to three relevant terms that you might want to try targeting as well.
In order to suggest additional Likes and Interests for your ads, Facebook's system looks for the Interests that are most common among the users you're targeting already.



Targeted Audience
Targeted Audience is the number of people your targeting can reach, like the estimate you see in the self-serve ad creation flow.
Use the Audience graph to see the difference between how many people you're actually reaching, and how many people you could be reaching. Increase your bids and budget to reach more of your targeted audience.



Transaction
All completed payments for advertising services are listed as completed transactions found in your Billing Manager. To see a more detailed view of each completed payment you can click on the transaction ID found under the transaction column.


VAT
VAT stands for value added tax. Please visit this Help Center page for more information about advertisers' VAT obligations with Facebook Ads.


Verification Hold ($1.01)
This $1.01 is simply a temporary authorization to validate your credit card. The charge will be removed from your credit card automatically, typically within 3-5 business days.


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