Facebook is Proving Skeptical Advertisers Wrong, One by One
Even though advertising continues to migrate from traditional print media and onto digital platforms, many advertisers are still hesitant to make the jump to Facebook ads. To make matters worse, a recent IAB estimate found that fraud and theft cost online advertisers around $8 billion a year. However, when the global digital ad market is worth an estimated $170 billion, brands better be going after their slice of the pie.
Back in Facebook’s Jan. 27 earnings call, Facebook said that it was seeing more advertisers shift away from old online metrics such as clicks and adopt the new generation of measurement tools such as conversions to digital sales. This is a major win because it differentiates Facebook from its competitors. Further, COO Sheryl Sandberg stated that it would be Facebook’s priority to show that they can provide a solid return on investment for businesses.
Well, they did it! Facebook’s ad revenue grew at a faster rate for the fourth quarter of 2015 – up 57% at $5.6 billion. However, there’s still a lot of work to do. Facebook’s CFO, Dave Wehner said that their improved targeting and measurement is driving growth from advertisers at all levels including direct-response advertisers, brand marketers, large corporations and small businesses.
Now Facebook has adopted measurement tools such as conversion lift, which lets advertisers compare the perfromance of various ad options to see what works best. Facebook pixel also allows advertisers see what people do after viewing one of their ads…will they make a purchase?
“Our results show that the investments we’ve made over the past few years are paying off, and we see a lot of exciting opportunities ahead,” Sandberg said.
Obviously, Facebook will have to continue to innovate to stay ahead of their competitor, Alphabet (But it’s just a third the pace of Facebook’s growth at this stage). However, the executives have a clear understanding that in order to prove those advertisers still hanging out in print, they are going to have to show them the $$$. You got it, Facebook – win over those skeptical advertisers!
