Optimizing targeted ads on Facebook and Instagram
Before optimizing an advertising campaign at the stage of setting up targeted advertising, you should have developed a strategy, calculated unit economics and set up analytics. Without these three components, it would be incorrect to say what is good and what is bad.
The unit economy should include the following data:
- advertising campaign budget
- CPM (what cost for 1000 impressions will we focus on);
- frequency of impressions (usually up to 2 for a cold audience, up to 12 for a warm audience);
- % conversion from visitor to lead (left contacts);
- % conversion from lead to deal (paid);
- projected cost of attracting 1 lead and 1 client;
- critical CPO (critical cost of attracting 1 Client, more expensive than which advertising will be unprofitable).
Those. in fact, we will initially focus on some specific indicators.
So, you have passed the test period. You have tested your hypotheses and use the most effective ones in your advertising campaign.
How to optimize targeted advertising after that?
1. Checking coverage. If the coverage is small, Facebook shows the minimum forecasts – we increase the target audience.
2. We analyze the number of ad impressions. If you need to increase – you can choose an expedited type of delivery.
3. At the ad level, look at the cost per conversion* in each ad. If the cost is within the norm (the norm is discussed when calculating the unit economy and agreed with the Client), we proceed to the next announcement. If the cost is higher than necessary, we start looking at the number of impressions and CTR (ad click through rate).
*Facebook is crediting itself with more conversions than what will be displayed in Google Analytics (hereinafter referred to as GA). Therefore, we compare the indicators with GA. If there are significant discrepancies, we check how the events on the site work. Also pay attention to how conversions are processed in GA: by the first or by the last source of interaction.
4. Normal CTR – within 1.5-3%, if higher – excellent, if lower – bad. If the CTR is bad, look at the number of impressions. If there are less than 100 of them, you need to give the ad time to spin up impressions. If more than 100 and at the same time a bad CTR, you need to look at the cost of a click and impressions.
If the cost per click and impressions are cheap, at the level of the norm with other ads, you can increase the number of impressions to 200-300 and check its results again, if nothing has changed for the better, then you can turn it off.
If, with 100+ impressions, we have a bad CTR and a very high cost per click and impressions, which is out of the norm for other ads, you can turn it off right now without spending money on additional impressions.
5. If the ad turned out to be ineffective, and the budget allows you to test a new ad, we try different options:
- ad types;
- call to action;
- ad texts (reduce / expand, streamline, change the structure);
- images/videos;
- advantages on which we focus in the description;
- landing page (suddenly there is a better one).
6. Checking the budget
- we raise the budget for advertising campaigns that convert well, but receive less impressions;
- we lower the budget of the RK, which eat up the most money, but give few conversions.
When it comes to managing budgets, you can’t change them too often. Facebook recommends making new changes 24 hours after previous changes. It is recommended that the budget adjustment itself be carried out within 25% of the initial amount. Following these tips will help you not to harm the automatic optimization that is implemented on Facebook.
In order for automatic optimization to reach its maximum, you need to wait until Facebook conducts self-learning on active ads. This happens when the number of targeted actions in 7 days reaches 50 pieces.
7. We look at geography, time of day, day of the week (analysis by conversion). If necessary, we make adjustments to the display schedule.
8. We look at the demographics, check if the results match with the established audience.
9. We look at placements, disable ineffective ones.
Of course, this is not an exhaustive optimization checklist, but you can use it as a guide to optimize your Facebook and Instagram targeted ad campaigns.
Expert in legal marketing. Head of marketing agency MAVR.
Business degree “Master of Business Administration” (MBA).