Latest Statistics on Facebook Ads For Digital Marketing Campaigns

Popular social networking website Facebook has a long way to go before it attains a utopian vision of social advertising. According to a new report from Webtrends, a leading digital marketing research agency, Facebook's paid promotions feature performed only half as well as network-driven banner ads in 2010. This study also discovered that advertisements on Facebook delivered a smaller average click-through rate in 2010, compared to the previous year, even though prices had risen.

While conducting this research, Webtrends analysed more than 11,000 Facebook ads to create a set of digital marketing standards. According to Webtrends, the average click through rate on Facebook has reduced. It was only around 0.051 percent in 2010, a few percentage points down from the 0.063 percent displayed in 2009. This means that for two consecutive years, Facebook has displayed a lower banner click-through than the industry standard of 0.1 percent. The cost-per-click in these years was $0.27 (2009) and $0.49 (2010).

The research study of Webtrends also dwelled into the demographics of users who clicked on ads, compared to those that didn't. It discovered that older users and people without a college education were more likely to click on digital marketing advertisements. However, if a particular ad had been 'Liked' by a friend, users were more likely to click on the ad, regardless of their level of education.

When it came to region-wise demographics, the Webtrends study learnt that people from Hawaii generated the least amount of clicks compared to users from other states. The states where users clicked the most often were North Dakota and Wyoming, with numbers that were double and triple the average. Other than these three states, the geographical location of a user did not prove to be much of a factor when it came to deciding click-through rates.

Additionally, Webtrends learned that the click-throughs for a particular digital marketing advertisement reduce by approximately half, after the ad runs for two days. If an ad receives clicks that are below a specified level, Facebook stops displaying the ad. However, if a digital marketing professional utilizes the 'friend-of-fan' targeting option, the advertisement could last around two to three times longer.

While click-through ratios have always been a useful way to measure the success of a digital marketing strategy, advertisers are generally more concerned about increasing sales and building their brand. In January 2011, Facebook introduced 'Sponsored Stories' ads, which enable digital marketing professionals to use messages from their 'likes' community for paid promotions. These ads display a user's profile photo, which act like a handy user testimonial. Such advertising formats on Facebook help marketers influence the behaviour of people according to their friend's choices. This enables them to meet other business goals, such as increased customer referrals and brand building.

Qudos Digital is a leading digital marketing agency and can be contacted on 020 8891 2077 or info@qudosdigital.co.uk.

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