For many eCommerce merchants, advertising on Facebook is a no-brainer. The social network recently topped two billion monthly active users and has 1.23 billion daily active users, up 18 percent year over year (YOY).
But it’s the platform’s ability to hyper-target these users that makes Facebook advertising particularly powerful. This social giant has an enormous amount of data that it has accumulated from Facebook users and has put this data in the hands of eCommerce marketers.
Though advertising opportunities are ripe on Facebook, it doesn’t hurt to go deeper with some additional facts and figures. If you want to scale your business this year, you may want to pay closer attention to these surprising Facebook advertising facts and metrics.
#1: Mobile Now Makes Up the Majority of Facebook’s Ad Revenue
If you’re trying to reach consumers on mobile devices, you need to be advertising on Facebook. Facebook recently reported that mobile now counts for 85 percent of its ad revenue, accounting for $6.7 billion in ad revenue.
This clearly demonstrates the lucrative opportunities for advertisers and, with the holiday season a few months away, now is best the time to create effective mobile Facebook ads. In fact, Facebook is preparing for holiday shopping by releasing a video for dynamic ads.
Additionally, Facebook has been focusing on enhancing mobile ads by introducing powerful new Canvas features. Exciting things are happening with mobile Facebook ads, and there are plenty of ways for advertisers to capitalize on these new features.
#2: Facebook Retargeting Significantly Lowers Cost-Per-Click and Cost-Per-Action
You probably knew that retargeting ads are extremely effective at driving clicks and conversions, but did you know that they can also keep your ad expenditure low? With Facebook’s rising cost-per-clicks (CPCs) and cost-per-actions (CPAs), more marketers are doing whatever they can to keep their ad expenditure down.
A survey by AdRoll found that Facebook retargeting lowers the cost per click (CPC) by 26% and cost per action (CPA) by 33%. This, in addition to impressive click-through rates, has caused many eCommerce marketers to focus on improving their Facebook retargeting ads.
If you need help with Facebook retargeting, you can integrate AdRoll with your existing marketing automation platform to boost your marketing efforts on Facebook. AdRoll is great for this because it has features that are designed specifically for Facebook retargeting.
#3: Brands That Use Emoji’s Have Higher Click-Through Rates
The consensus on using emoji’s in Facebook ads has been a bit of a mixed bag in the past, but research shows that successfully including them in your ads can make consumers more likely to buy.
One experiment by Aggregate demonstrated how using emoji’s in the headlines of Facebook ads generated a 241 percent increase in CTRs. You can easily perform this experiment yourself with an A/B split
test. Keep both ad variations the same, except insert emoji’s into the headline of one of your ads.
If you decide to use emoji’s in your ads, be sure to make them relevant. Adding an American flag to your Fourth of July ad makes perfect sense. Adding it to a regular, everyday advert does not.
#4: Native Facebook Videos Are More Likely to Reach Audiences
According to SocialBaker, photos may be promoted more than videos on Facebook, but they are certainly not the most effective. Native Facebook videos are an extremely effective way for brands to reach audiences and experience a 135 percent increase in organic traffic when they are posted instead of a photo.
Facebook advertisers would be wise to begin learning how to create compelling video ads with Video Views as their primary metric. Facebook has been testing live video ads lately, so expect to see a new live video ad featuring coming soon as well.
Videos may not be the right choice for every business, but there is no denying their power. In the example above, Aspen Ideas Festival uses a relevant video to start a conversation about technology and the changing perception of the media. They are also posting compelling content to increase ticket sales and revenue for their summer events.
By focusing your ad budget on increasing video views, you can optimize your campaigns and potentially see a higher ROI.
#5: The Best Day of the Week to Run a Paid Ad Is Monday
There are peak times at which your target audience is on Facebook. Do you know when they are? You should be aware of these peak times, considering how this could be the key to maximizing your campaign’s performance.
If your goal is to increase your revenue, you may want to consider running your Facebook ads on Monday. This is the day that seems to generate the most sales, according to multiple sources including Time Magazine.
Of course, the best times and days to post on Facebook will vary, depending on the type of business you have and your industry vertical. But, for most online retailers, Monday seems to be the best time for online retailers to run their Facebook ads.
Why Monday? We’re not exactly sure, but it could be that people are turning to retail therapy to get rid of the Monday blues.
In any case, you should check out Facebook Insights to see when your target audience is most likely to be on Facebook and then set your ads to run during these peak times. You can do this by going into Ad Manager, where it will give you the option to run ads at any time or run them on a set schedule.
#6: Social Proof in Facebook Ads Can Lower Cost-Per-Acquisition
Social proof is a powerful technique for eCommerce marketers. Why not work it into your Facebook advertisements to drive more sales?
An experiment by Kissmetrics found that, on average, Facebook ads with user-generated content had a 50 percent lower cost-per-acquisition (CPA) than those without this valuable resource. Additionally, these brands reported a 300 percent higher click-through rate and 50 percent lower cost-per-click.
Social proof doesn’t necessarily need to be in the form of customer testimonials and reviews. They can also come from comments, likes, and shares on your ad. Strive to get more positive engagement from your ad, and you will be rewarded in higher revenue and lower ad costs.
Conclusion
Whether you are already advertising on Facebook or just getting started, it doesn’t hurt to know some key facts and figures. By now, everyone knows that images boost conversions rates and that ad placement matters. We hope at least a few of these facts and metrics surprised you and will now help your future Facebook ad campaigns.
About the Author: Erika is the Chief Marketing Officer at Springbot where she leads all brand, product, marketing campaigns and communications.