The Truth About Facebook Ads
By Timothy Tibbettson 06/15/2023 |
While Google and YouTube consistently dominate the top two most popular websites, Facebook often sits in the third position with 2.3 billion users and 1.5 billion active users who log at least once a day. And, the numbers continue to grow. These numbers attract advertisers, and it works. In this article, we discuss who is buying these ads and how they work to get your attention.
To understand how well Facebook ads word, watch an episode of Shark Tank. There's rarely a pitch made where Facebook ads aren't mentioned. You'll also notice the Sharks never ask, or go into details about how the company pitching runs their Facebook ads. The reason for this is they all know the answer and would prefer you didn't.
You can expect to see a Sponsored ad every three posts until you get past those three ads. Desktop and PC users will see an additional one to three ads on the right. Refresh Facebook, and you start all over with similar ads.
The secret to successful Facebook ads is targeted marketing. When you set up an ad, you can target people who might be interested in your product. Whether you post something on Facebook or search for it on the web, Facebook knows. For example, Facebook knows we look at a lot of automotive content, especially Jeeps. Because of this, we see ads for Jeep shirts, parts, auto cleaning products, and more. House shopping? Click on Facebook links, or even mention in a post that you're house hunting and you can expect to see targets real estate ads. It's that simple and works the same as cookies work in your web browser.
Targeted ads also allow advertisers to show ads based on what your friends like. A recently sponsored ad we saw was for Volkswagon because one of our friends likes Volkswagon. It's not a bad bet. That person has mentioned the car company numerous times raising the possibility that we'll click and like because our friend did.
Another way these ads work so well is how they are placed between posts. Most of our news feeds are people sharing photos or links and Facebook ads just fit in your news feed seamlessly.
Take Walmart for example. 35 million people LIKE Walmart? Stop it. We browsed their page, and there are no deals, just marketing. We especially love how they post photos of their happy employees. Everyone knows Walmart is a great place to work. /sarcasm off.
There are many ways to decide who sees your ads. You can target age, demographics, interests and much more. When I got my real estate license, I was able to add 1,000 followers very quickly making it appear that I was a popular Realtor, when in reality, I was brand new. Another website we used to tinker with we added 10,000 followers, in the same way, giving the illusion that we had followers and were established much quicker than it would have taken to get 10,000 followers organically.
One big concern is companies using targeted advertising to sell poor quality products at a premium to make up for the Facebook ad costs. While browsing, we keep seeing ads for Topcoat F11. This product promises to make your ride shiny, and you won't' need to wash your car or motorcycle for weeks.
The reality is that F11 is a $50-$80 bottle of watered down silicone. Ask anyone in a body shop how much they like to see silicone used on a car. There's only one place we like to see silicone, but it costs a lot more.
Facebook advertisers know you might research their product and they also know when their ads push sales to other websites including Amazon. We always suggest you do your research before buying anything you see in a sponsored ad.
Oh, and please whitelist MajorGeeks. If you can look at those silly ads all day long, you can throw us a bone too!
Rant mode off. We'd love to hear from you in the comments below.
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To understand how well Facebook ads word, watch an episode of Shark Tank. There's rarely a pitch made where Facebook ads aren't mentioned. You'll also notice the Sharks never ask, or go into details about how the company pitching runs their Facebook ads. The reason for this is they all know the answer and would prefer you didn't.
You can expect to see a Sponsored ad every three posts until you get past those three ads. Desktop and PC users will see an additional one to three ads on the right. Refresh Facebook, and you start all over with similar ads.
The secret to successful Facebook ads is targeted marketing. When you set up an ad, you can target people who might be interested in your product. Whether you post something on Facebook or search for it on the web, Facebook knows. For example, Facebook knows we look at a lot of automotive content, especially Jeeps. Because of this, we see ads for Jeep shirts, parts, auto cleaning products, and more. House shopping? Click on Facebook links, or even mention in a post that you're house hunting and you can expect to see targets real estate ads. It's that simple and works the same as cookies work in your web browser.
Targeted ads also allow advertisers to show ads based on what your friends like. A recently sponsored ad we saw was for Volkswagon because one of our friends likes Volkswagon. It's not a bad bet. That person has mentioned the car company numerous times raising the possibility that we'll click and like because our friend did.
Another way these ads work so well is how they are placed between posts. Most of our news feeds are people sharing photos or links and Facebook ads just fit in your news feed seamlessly.
Take Walmart for example. 35 million people LIKE Walmart? Stop it. We browsed their page, and there are no deals, just marketing. We especially love how they post photos of their happy employees. Everyone knows Walmart is a great place to work. /sarcasm off.
There are many ways to decide who sees your ads. You can target age, demographics, interests and much more. When I got my real estate license, I was able to add 1,000 followers very quickly making it appear that I was a popular Realtor, when in reality, I was brand new. Another website we used to tinker with we added 10,000 followers, in the same way, giving the illusion that we had followers and were established much quicker than it would have taken to get 10,000 followers organically.
One big concern is companies using targeted advertising to sell poor quality products at a premium to make up for the Facebook ad costs. While browsing, we keep seeing ads for Topcoat F11. This product promises to make your ride shiny, and you won't' need to wash your car or motorcycle for weeks.
The reality is that F11 is a $50-$80 bottle of watered down silicone. Ask anyone in a body shop how much they like to see silicone used on a car. There's only one place we like to see silicone, but it costs a lot more.
Facebook advertisers know you might research their product and they also know when their ads push sales to other websites including Amazon. We always suggest you do your research before buying anything you see in a sponsored ad.
Oh, and please whitelist MajorGeeks. If you can look at those silly ads all day long, you can throw us a bone too!
Rant mode off. We'd love to hear from you in the comments below.
comments powered by Disqus
