In today’s digital world, social media is available to anyone who owns a phone. Smartphones make life incredibly simple, with numerous apps available for our everyday needs.
Right from booking a cab, which picks you up at your doorstep, to indulging in quality retail therapy, all you need is a smartphone and some good Wi-Fi to get your life figured out.
With so many potential customers available on a single platform, running your business through Facebook is a guaranteed way to take your company to new heights.
Why it’s a great idea
The best aspect of running your business ads on Facebook is that you know what a potential customer wants to see, considering you have purchased a product online. Creating a Facebook page for your business to increase traffic to your website is the easy part. But, what next?
Facebook marketing keeps changing and currently, nothing on Facebook is organic. Running Facebook ads is the only way you can hope to see some action. Even after running ads, there are certain important metrics that you need to keep track of to check the progress and calculate the return on investment for your business.
Conversion rate
When a potential customer visits your website and performs an action that you intended for them to complete, that act is recorded as a conversion.
For example, if you are hosting a seminar and want your customers to attend it by registering for it online, then the action of filling out the online form is recorded as a conversion. This conversion can be anything depending on your business — buying a product or applying for an online course.
Conversion rate is the number of conversions divided by the number of clicks received on your link for a particular duration. For example, if you have received 10 conversions out of 100 clicks on your link, then your conversion rate is (10 ÷ 100) × 100 = 10 per cent.
The higher your conversion rate, the better your business is doing, as more customers are ‘converting’ to your business.
Cost per click
If generating traffic to your website is the main objective of your Facebook ad, then cost per click or CPC is the best metric to measure. CPC is calculated by dividing the amount you spend on the ad by the number of clicks you receive through it.
For example, if you have spent ₹500 on a Facebook ad and have received 100 clicks, then your CPC is 500 ÷ 100 = ₹5. Your motive is to get as many clicks as possible for the least amount of money spent. Hence, the lower the CPC, the higher amount of traffic being directed to your website. This is only possible by knowing whom to target and targeting them right.
Frequency
Have you been annoyed with repetitive ads on your feed? The frequency with which you display your ad is a very important factor to keep in mind while running the same on Facebook.
This number basically tells you the total number of times an ad has been served to an average user. If you notice a decrease in your conversion rate and an increase in your CPC, it is probably time to reduce the frequency of your ads.
There are a few other alternatives you could consider to get back on track. For instance, you could redesign the ad to maintain your customers’ interest; or you could space out your ads and focus on quality instead of quantity. Another way is to choose ‘daily unique reach’ to ensure that your ads are shown only once per day to unique users.
Post engagement
A post engagement refers to the degree to which your post has kept the users engaged. It comprises the number of comments, likes and shares your post has received. It also counts the number of responses received for an upcoming event. A good engagement is what makes a post go viral.
One way to get good post engagement is by connecting with your audience. You need to post something they can relate to, through humour or common interests like fashion or food. It’s all about thinking like the consumer and displaying what they are most likely to search for.
Click through rate
Click through rate (CTR) shows how well your ad has been received by indicating the percentage of people who have clicked on your ad. It is calculated as the number of clicks divided by the number of times your ad has been seen (also known as impressions). For example, if you have received 50 clicks for 1,000 impressions, the CTR will be (50 ÷ 1,000) × 100 = 5 per cent.
A high CTR is an indication that the quality of your ad is good, as it is intriguing enough to make a user click on it. You can maintain a high CTR by using appealing visuals and interesting content to get a potential customer’s attention.
A Facebook ad is one of the most powerful lead generation tools out there and it is important to make sure you monitor them. The metrics mentioned above will help you understand the performance of your ad a little better.
Are you using Facebook for your business? What are the metrics you measure? Let us know in the comments below.