Facebook Campaign Setup

Facebook’s self managed tool for running online ads has quickly become a hit with buyers and planners at both big and small agencies alike because on the surface, it seems easy to use.  But much like Google search, the tool has a large number of issues to be aware of.

The primary advantage of the platform is the ability to target users based on their own self-described preferences be it their job title or personal interests.  While this is unique to Facebook and a few other sites Linked-in there are already a large number of companies popping up offering technologies which target users based on their published social profiles.  Long term I believe Facebook will need to expand their ad platform outside of Facebook in order to keep from being usurped by other companies.

Being able to hone in on response rates based on very targeted users places a great deal of real time control at the fingertips of media buyers and planers.  By far, if you build your campaigns out correctly and have segmented your targets properly the performance information is well worth the effort.

But there are several rubs.  While the system is easy to use in terms of setting up few targets and ads – any large-scale deployment is actually very clumsy.  The interface is prone to crashing and lacks any sort of bulk upload feature.  Creation of a large number of ads and targets is actually highly inefficient and not in the best interest of the agency from a time perspective.

If you are spending about $25k a month you can work directly with the Facebook team and this will ultimately eliminate a number of issues.  But beware – their team is incredibly stretched and demand for their time is at an all time premium.  Do not be surprised if support is somewhat lack or knowledge of your account person is also somewhat limited.  They have had to ramp up very quickly and they are a long way from matching Google in revenue or agency support.

The real issue with the system is that they are currently integrating a number of ever changing algorithms in much the same way Google has with search.  These algorithms are actually designed to eliminate showing your ads to certain population segments which show the least interest and long term, improve the performance of the campaign – from a CPC perspective.

Keep in mind that as your audience shrinks in size this helps to actually increase the CTR but along with it so does the CPC.  I have noticed a number of campaigns where the pricing can actually double between the beginning of the campaign and the end.

Next, Facebook has actually created thousands of sub segments that are self-optimized out as your campaign continues.  So lets say you are targeting

Biker chicks who are into cooking and Bruce Lee Movies and live in Idaho and there are 500,000 targets – you might end up only reaching 100,000 by the end of the campaign.  Not good for reach and frequency strategies.

To Facebook’s defense, they recommend a CPM campaign if the goal is reach and frequency but with the ever rising cost per click on Facebook, a CPM campaign for an ad which is so small in size does not seem like a good idea.  Since you will still be competing for placement against CPC bids.

The next issue is that while Facebook’s system auto-optimizes against the click, it does not have the ability to optimize against conversions where users are being driven offsite from Facebook.  This is beneficial to Facebook as a publisher since their goal is reduce inventory waste by providing you with the highest CTR – even if it means that the ads are not converting on the back end.  The only defense for the media buyer to control delivery against optimizations is to actually sub segment their own campaign setups as granular as possible – which of course is not very efficient.

In much the same way Google has their built in secret sauce, Facebook is following but with significantly greater mystery.  But with the proper planning and thought, the leanings can really help you with understanding your target audiences on other media buys.

Here are my top suggestions when setting up a campaign.

Start with at least two creative unites but have 2 or 3 more waiting on the sidelines.  You do not want to load up all of your creative for launch since you will want to rotate the creatives out as your audience narrows in size.

The naming conventions are not easy to manage but are incredibly important if you plan to utilize a large number of ads.  Set them up as follows:

Campaign Name Level: Client-Campaign Name (This will help with billing)

Ad Level: Campaign Name-CreativeName-TargetName

The reason to repeat the Campaign Name is that when you are copying ads – all ads show up in the drop down when regardless of the client.  It makes it easier to sort them.  The creative name of course is obvious but then ad the target at the end of the ad.  Another way to do the target part is just call it TGT1 or TGT2 then maintain a spreadsheet with what it actually represents.

Remember that the Ad Name is actually created AFTER you create the ad – not before.  So once you have created an ad hit the review button before you submit and it will allow you to rename the ad from the default name with the above structure.

Do not plan on even distribution across target audiences and I would prepare the client for this in advance.

Do not go to narrow in your targeting.  If your audience is not responding Facebook will stop showing your ad – be prepared for that.

Longer campaigns actually perform better while short campaigns are prone to very high frequency deliver against the same audiences.  Double-digit exposure above 20x is not uncommon for short, high dollar campaigns.  This can result in very quick creative exposure to the same people, an increase in the CPC or even the optimizing out of the ad by Facebook.  Remember – not everyone goes on Facebook every day and the same user tends to consume a very large quantity of pages in a single visit. 

If you plan to drive people to become a Fan of your Fan Page (sorry – I mean Like) you will want to see Like conversions.  This is only possible in the interface if you choose the option in which the page title auto-fills in the name of the Facebook Fan page.  This means you can’t have your own customized title so have a good name for your Facebook Fan page.  (No you can’t change the name of your Fan Page once it is created.)

Remember that the user who is buying the media most also be a system administrator of the Fan Page in order for deeper insights to be available in regards to engagement performance.

If you are driving a person offsite and plan to use Facebook’s new tracking pixel for tracking conversions – plan on it being a little difficult.  The tracking pixel is not always prone to work so you will want to track conversions with your preferred analytics tool.

In general, they do not accept ad tags with the exception of a few high profile placements, which must be purchased direct. 

You can’t set a total budget spend, only a daily budget on a time range.  So you will have to check your daily spend and adjust on a regular basis if you are not reaching your fully daily spend.  Always set an end date no matter what.

If your media team is spending at least $20k a month between all of your accounts you can talk them into setting up your self managed campaigns to be direct billed.

Finally – start of slow with a small dollar budget for the first few campaigns.  Get use to managing them before you go in for a big ramp up.  While the platform is a great deal of fun and highly effective it can be unpredictable.