By now we have all heard about Facebook's advertising platform (many, many times). While I fully agree that the idea of the platform is a game changer, I am skeptical as to whether or not the platform itself is a game changer.
When introduced, Mark Zuckerberg largely spoke about the new platform in high level vagaries (at least for my taste). There were still a lot of questions unanswered and I cannot blame Facebook for this, as it was in fact brand new. Still, I have to be honest about what I have seen so far.
Are Facebook Ads The New Adwords?
Ask a silly question, get a silly answer.
(I don't actually have a silly answer, but it is a silly question)
Self Service Platform
I put my small marketer hat on (it is not the hat that is small, it is the hat that makes me feel like a marketer with limited budget, c'mon, don't be silly) and created a campaign for this blog. I wanted to target people interested in marketing. Based on my extensive work with Adwords I created what I thought would be an effective an ad and started the bidding at $.50.
No Clicks
This went on for a while. I finally arrived at a $2.00 bid and alas, a click! After a few more days of messing around I came back down to a dollar and have received 10 clicks to date for a total cost of $13.91.
I was not too concerned, as my goal was not really to promote my blog, it was to get some insight into how the Facebook platform works, and potentially some insight from the ill defined "Facebook Insights" program.
Facbook Insights?
I love data and was very every excited to see what Facebook had in store for me. Who was it that clicked on my ads? How old are they and where do they live?
With a head full of excitement I clicked on the insights tab. I realize that there is little insight to be gained from 10 clicks, but could this be it? Was this all the insight that I would get?
If anyone out there has experience with the self serve platform, I would love to hear it. I would hate to think that this is all that I am going gain from Facebook ads at the moment.
Give me insight or give me death!
(okay, not death...maybe a small pinch)
Tags: Facebook, Facebook Insights, Adwords