In a study published earlier this week, Forrester says that digital marketers should avoid buying Facebook advertising.
To quote:
“Facebook is failing marketers. While lots of marketers spend lot of money on Facebook today, relatively few find success.”
Forrester surveyed several hundred marketing executives and asked them to rate ROI for every single digital marketing strategy.
Facebook came in dead last. Behind Twitter. Behind Google+. Behind oft-mocked retargeting and display advertising.
Forrester even says that Facebook has becom “…reliant upon Web 1.0-style display ads and simplistic targeting.”
Specifically, Forrester slams Facebook for a few things. Here they are:
1) ‘Likes’ and Fans
The assumption most companies have is that everyone who clicks ‘Like’ on a company page will see their posts.
But, that isn’t reality.
Reality is that only 16% of a company’s Fans actually get to see their posts. Facebook demands that companies pay for the the other 84% to see their posts. And, Forrester argues, Facebook has “…done little in the past 18 months to improve your branded page format or the tools marketers use to manage and measure those pages.”
2) They Don’t Use Data
Forrester points out that Facebook has a TON of social data on nearly everyone. And yet fewer than 15% of the ads appearing on Facebook “…leverage [Facebook’s] ever-growing cache of social data.”
This means that the ads you see on Facebook are not as targeted to you as they could be.
Why?
Forrester’s Recommendations
Forrester argues, rather forcefully and stunningly, that marketers should leave Facebook wholesale. To quote:
“Marketers tell us that Facebook ads generate less business value than display ads on other sites. It’s time to make decisions based on fact, not on faith or fascination. You’r just buying display ads! Don’t dedicate a paid ad budget for Facebook. Make it compete with other media buys based on performance, just as you would any other site.”
Well then.
Read the Business Insider article about the Forrester Report.
Read the blog from Forrester. The actual report will cost you $499.
Thank you for sharing this interesting info on advertising on Facebook.
I just want to add that visibility of Facebook page’s posts for fans can be increased by posting directly to Facebook without using third party services. But still this study comes with insights that Facebook advertising probably isn’t the best choice to choose. I will remember that!
The fact that disappoints me is that Facebook ads aren’t so targeted as they should be.