Facebook has been a dominant force in the social networking space. Facebook is used personally, by brands, on mobile, on desktop, for websites, for promotions, and the list goes on and on. From a brand perspective, advertisers come to Facebook with business goals, like website clicks, sign-ups, increase traffic for events, but in order to justify their efforts, they need to know the effectiveness of their ads.
If you’ve ever set up an ad either on Facebook Ad Manager or Power Editor, you have likely seen the goals that are currently offered:
- Send people to your website
- Increase conversions on your website
- Promote your page
- Get installs for your app
- Raise event attendance
- Get video views
These are just a few of the options available if you’re advertising on Facebook. Over the past few years updates have been made to help advertisers target their ads more effectively, increase the number of business goal options, and even an easier way to track ads for quicker reporting. Recently Facebook has announced that “cost per click” measurements were changing to give advertisers a more accurate count of what really matters to them.
The Old Cost Per Click Measurement
Prior to this recent update, “cost per click” included not just clicks on the link, but also included likes, comments, shares, clicks on photos, and clicks on links. This obviously was skew the numbers reported for any particular ad.
This update means that advertisers will see a better return on their spend, since only the actual business goal is going to be tracked. This separation of link clicks and engagement clicks means that Facebook will allocate your spend more effectively, ensuring a better outcome. While CPC may increase, the result will be better for all involved.
In the meantime, as this change rolls out across all users, advertisers may see changes in their CPC numbers, but also their CTR numbers, because CTR percentages will no longer include the other types of clicks on a post outside of the intended business goal.
