Facebook Advertising Metrics – The 3 Most Important Metrics
Let’s be honest…
… advertising on Facebook can be tricky.
You’ve got to choose the right ad objective based on your goals.
Then you’ve got to dial in your target audience to make sure your ads are being placed in front of the right people.
And what about your daily ad budget???
With so many different variables, choices, and objectives…
… at times it can feel like you’re throwing your hard earned advertising dollars out the window.
So how are you going to know if your ads are crushing it… or if they’re duds?
By using Facebook advertising metrics.
The problem is… it can be difficult to know where to start with so many Facebook metrics at your disposal.
The good news is, we’re about to reveal the 3 most important Facebook advertising metrics for you to pay attention to…
… so you can do everything in your power to improve the effectiveness of your Facebook ads.
Using Facebook Analytics
We’re going to dive into the most important Facebook advertising metrics in a bit…
… but before we do, you can access the analytics for each…
- Account
- Campaign
- Ad set
- and individual ad
… through the ads manager.
Facebook stores a large amount of Facebook advertising metrics on every ad.
Therefore, you might find it difficult to parse through all these metrics until you grow more accustomed to the platform.
When creating a new ad campaign, you will also be given the opportunity to select a marketing objective.
This objective will affect the specific analytics Facebook displays most prominently for ads that are part of that campaign.
As a result, it’s fairly easy to see how well a given ad is contributing to your goals.
The Value of Facebook Advertising Metrics
You can access seemingly hundreds of data points for every ad you post on Facebook, but that doesn’t mean all of those numbers are equally valuable.
For example, page likes are easily visible to both you and your users, but aren’t necessarily a helpful number if your campaign is focused on generating website traffic.
In order to be valuable to you and your business, an analytic needs to provide actionable information and help you make the right decisions.
Setting goals for each ad and A/B testing ads against each other will ensure that your ad campaigns are always improving and achieving the goals that matter to your business.
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Beginning To Leverage Analytics
As you become more comfortable with the process of using analytics to inform your advertising approach…
… you’ll slowly determine which facebook advertising metrics are most important to you and your unique marketing strategy.
That said, there are a few basic Facebook metrics that provide nearly universal value and can act as a starting point for marketers new to Facebook analytics.
Frequency
The first of our Facebook ad metrics that matter is Frequency.
While it may not be the flashiest number Facebook offers…
… frequency offers valuable insight into the number of times your ads appear to readers.
For example, a frequency of “5” means your average audience member has seen your ad five times.
If your frequency is too high or too low, you can make adjustments to ensure you’re paying for the most valuable impressions possible.
Marketing research indicates that consumers are more likely to make a purchase if they’ve seen multiple ads from the same brand.
If your frequency is “1” or “2”, then it’s likely your target audience isn’t seeing your ad enough to become a conversion.
On the other hand, a frequency that’s too high (above 5) may indicate you’re spending too much money on the same people.
An optimal frequency is most likely around 3 or 4.
One way to decrease an ad’s frequency is to select “Daily Unique Reach” under optimization.
This will ensure that the ad is delivered to each user no more than once daily.
Click-through Rate
The second ad metric we use to check Facebook ad performance is Click-Through Rate (CTR).
Click-through rate represents the percentage of impressions that result in a click-through to your website or page.
Facebook’s site-wide average click-through rate is roughly 0.90%, and while this number may vary by industry…
… it’s a good starting point for evaluating your Facebook ad effectiveness.
Furthermore, a high click-through rate generally means that you’re paying a low cost-per-click, which means your advertising budget is going a long way to convert leads.
The click-through rate often represents the quality and relevance of an ad, so you can try to improve your percentage by either targeting new users or improving the ad.
Relevance Score
The third Facebook ad metric we use to analyze Facebook ad performance is Relevance score.
Unlike the two Facebook advertising metrics above…
… it can be difficult to understand exactly what goes into the calculation of an ad’s relevance score.
What we do know is that relevance is among the most important analytics because it has the potential to significantly change the effectiveness of an ad.
Relevance score is measured on a 1-to-10 scale.
A low number indicates that your audience doesn’t find your content relevant, and vice versa.
As an ad’s relevance score decreases, you’ll have to pay more to continue to display it.
If you’re able to achieve a high number, especially 8 or above, your ad will be shown to even more Facebook users.
It’s easy for relevance scores to decrease once you begin targeting a wider audience…
… so it’s important to strike a balance between increasing outreach and maximizing relevance.
Continually test each ad’s relevance score against the others and consider replacing individual ads that aren’t performing well.
Vanity Metrics
In contrast to the three vital analytics covered above, the term “vanity metrics” refers to a set of statistics that look good but may not be having much of an impact on your bottom line.
Experienced Facebook marketers understand that these surface numbers are generally nothing more than distractions.
The classic example of a vanity metric is page likes, a prominently visible metric which even your fans can see.
While it’s nice to have a popular Facebook page…
… likes don’t mean anything if those users aren’t interested in your content or aren’t clicking through on your ads.
Other facebook advertising metrics which may be less valuable than they seem include…
- Shares
- Page views
- and Post likes
Although these indicate engagement on some level, they don’t provide the same kind of actionable information or tell you where your money is going.
Final Thoughts on Facebook Advertising Metrics
As you know by now, Facebook advertising is among the most effective tools for building your brand and business online…
… and for the acquisition of new leads, customers, and sales.
Now that you’ve read this article you know the 3 most important Facebook ad metrics to pay attention to.
They are…
- Frequency
- Click-through Rate
- Relevancy score
In addition to the obvious statistics like page followers or post likes, you can see a much richer set of data points indicating exactly how your ads are doing.
Understanding which metrics are most relevant to your success and how they can impact decision-making is crucial to developing a strong marketing strategy.
Although there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to using these statistics…
… some are more important than others and can easily be leveraged to further improve your ad campaign.
If you still feel you don’t have a complete grasp on how to fully leverage the Facebook advertising metrics to make sure your ads are 100% optimized…
Check out our inner-circle coaching program here so you can get the help and mentorship you need with your Facebook ads.
Questions? Comments?
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