24 Quotes Regarding Facebook's Advertising Effectiveness by Social Media Expert Evan Weber

This is from a interview I did with a company putting together a comprehensive report on Facebook advertising primarily:

Advertisers are continuing to increase their spending on Facebook ads as the platform becomes more effective. They now provide great feedback to advertisers on which demographics responded to their ads, allowing campaigns to be adjusted accordingly. Facebook also is taking an increasing share within the social media mix. Instagram has added to Facebook’s available inventory and will be growing. Social media spending overall continues to increase as more advertisers discover how to make the platforms work for them and as targeting becomes better. Display advertising could take away some social media dollars. Visitor retargeting and advertising for more “likes” are effective forms of advertising on Facebook. YouTube is ahead of Facebook in leveraging videos as ad inventory, but the two platforms cannot really be compared. For now, videos are not revenue drivers for advertisers but are good for branding.

Facebook Ad Spending Trends

•  “I don’t think advertisers are slowing their spending on Facebook.”
• “Budgets fluctuate, but year over year they’re going to keep going up [for Facebook] as the platform becomes more effective.”

• “Facebook now gives us more feedback about the demographics that are responding well to our ads. This way we can make adjustments to optimize a campaign.”

• “It’s still a work in progress, and they’re still improving how the platform works for advertisers.”

• “Advertisers are putting more into it every year, and more advertisers are coming on to the platform. They haven’t hit their peak yet. Facebook still has a ways to go.”

• “Individual client spending varies on the goals and their strategy. Clients will spend more to get more engagement and drive more sales. If they don’t, they’ll put the money into other platforms such as search.”

• “Facebook still dominates [social media advertising] heavily. Google is different because it’s search. Pinterest is getting more e-commerce advertising. Twitter probably just gets a fraction of Facebook’s [revenue]. Twitter is working on it, and we’ll see if they can figure it out.”

• “Facebook is still gaining in the mix. It’s going to make more strides forward and will keep dominating. I expect more dollars to go into Facebook than anywhere else in social media. They brought Instagram into the mix late last year, and that opened up a lot of inventory. Companies are excited about advertising on Instagram.”

• “Instagram is getting and will get more spending. The dollars are coming from social media budgets. It’s additional inventory for Facebook. Facebook has made Instagram part of the campaign by default.”

• “Social media spending is not going to plateau any time soon. It’s going to keep growing. Companies are still figuring out how to make it work. Agencies will help them figure out how much of the budget to put in there and how to make it effective. If they’re able to make it work for them, they’ll put more money into it. If they’re not, it’ll probably stay about the same. I don’t think anybody will pull back, but it will depend on performance.”

• “Facebook inventory is still growing. I think social media is also still happening. It’s probably not even at 50% of where it’s going to go.”

• “Social media spending is coming from traditional advertising budgets for media such as print, radio and TV.”

• “My advice to companies is to spend on search and social media. Every company needs those two channels.”

• “Display advertising is catching up. There’s a trend of dollars going toward that, and theoretically, it could take a little away from social. In the last couple of years, targeting users has improved through display advertising. If companies see effectiveness with display, they’ll put more dollars into it. It could affect spending on social.”

• “Social is steaming ahead, but display advertising is a headwind that is slowing it down a little bit.”

  Ad Pricing and Performance

• “There are probably about 10 different ways to advertise on Facebook. Visitor retargeting is a very effective form of advertising on Facebook. It’s going to continue to grow. Advertising for more likes to the company page is still effective, but maybe not growing as much as in the past. Boosting posts on a page to get engagement is also very effective. Companies that engage in boosting their posts can get a lot of value out of it.”

• “It’s hard to tell if pricing trends on Facebook have changed. Every targeting set is different. They’ve also gotten clever on pricing. There’s an option to set your own price per click or let them give you the most clicks at the best price. That seems to work best but you have to know in advance it’s going to cost not 10￠ per click but 40￠ to 60￠ or more per click. It’s not for small budgets, but it works best. It’s going to cost to get a lot of engagement because they have a good system now to deliver the advertising.”

• “Facebook is smart in how it forces you to advertise. If you want engagement, you have to pay.”

• “ROI is very relative with a lot of factors such as seasonality. For some things, conversion is better at different times of the year.”

• “To make Facebook ads convert well, companies will focus on their conversion rates by running promotions, discounts and special deals to Facebook users in order to get better returns on the campaign. Part of it is also targeting the right people at the right time.”

  New Products and Technologies

• “Video is good for getting the message out and for branding. I don’t see it as much of a revenue driver as other types of ads. It’s an amazing medium for advertising. It’s still in its infancy. In order to leverage it properly, you need to create the videos, and that could be an impediment to some companies. Videos need to be part of the whole social media strategy.”

• “Videos get engagement and views, and they’re a good way to approach a target audience. If they like your video, they’ll like your page.”

• “YouTube has a big advantage over Facebook because the whole platform is about watching videos. They’re ahead of Facebook on leveraging videos as advertising inventory. Comparing them is like comparing apples to oranges because they’re completely different platforms.”

• “I don’t see much advertising on Messenger. I see it as a way to keep people using Facebook’s apps. The more people use the Facebook apps, the more advertising they’ll see.”

My advice to companies is to spend on search and social media. Every company needs those two channels. Video is good for getting the message out and for branding. I don’t see it as much of a revenue driver as other types of ads.

Evan Weber, CEO of Experience Advertising

*Content courtesy of Blueshift Research