I have a confession to make.... I really, really like Facebook Ads. Whew! I'm glad I got that off of my chest. While it might not be a popular thought, Facebook Ads are a great way to hyper target your desired demographic on the biggest social network out there. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand why people do not like Facebook Ads. If you execute a campaign without the proper insights and strategy, you very well could waste hundreds of dollars. With a little research and practice, a quality Facebook Ad strategy is very achievable, however that will be saved for another blog. I really want to talk about a new finding that should re-energize your enthusiasm for paid advertising on Facebook. Ready or not, here it comes!
Facebook Advertising can positively impact the results of paid search marketing results!
There you have it. You can now start loving Facebook Ads again. This discovery was made by the folks at Kenshoo when they conducted a study of a 2,500 plus store retailer. They took a look at the retailer's results where certain segments of the targeted audience were exposed to just paid search and when they were exposed to paid search AND Facebook Ads. Their findings were very interesting. Here is a breakdown of the four main takeaways:
- Audience segments which were exposed to Facebook Ads and paid search yielded a 30% higher return on ad spend than the search only segments
- The paid search and Facebook Ad segments had a 24% higher average order value
- The click through rates for the paid search and Facebook Ad segments were higher by 7%
- The paid search and Facebook Ad segments had a 4.5% lower cost per acquisition
So what does this all mean? Paid search marketing combined with Facebook Ads create a 1-2 punch that yields higher returns on ad spend, higher average order value, slightly better click through rates and a little lower cost per acquisition. Now we have to ask the magic question. Why? My impression is that if you are correctly targeting an audience both inside and outside of Facebook with paid efforts, they will obviously see your branding more, thus creating the coveted top of mind awareness we all seek. In the end, we are doing ourselves a disservice by not leveraging all of the tools available to us to reach our intended audience and turn them into customers. It seems that if you have fallen out of love with Facebook Ads, its time to kiss and make up because they can really help your paid search efforts.
What do you think about this study? Tell us in the comment section!