Eli the Computer Guy

Archive for the ‘Facebook’ Category

When I first started using Facebook Ads I was highly impressed.  My cost Cost per Click was between .60-.70, and the visitors that EverymanIT.com brought in from Facebook were high quality.  I couldn’t have been happier.

But then the CPC cost slowly started to rise.  My CPM cost is down to .19, but the once cheap CPC of .60-.70 now averages around $1.50 and some days tops $2.50.  Not only that but my steady stream of new registrations to my site has become a mere trickle.

I have changed my Ads and changed my keyword targeting.  This always creates a boost for a day, or two but then the results start to wane again.

I am left to wonder if Facebook Ads is a good advertising venue for the long haul.  Maybe it is only effective for short burst marketing and then the targeted audience losses interest..?

I still think Facebook Ads can be very effective, but I will have to rethink the strategy that I use with them.

I have a new way to definitively tell what phase of life a person is in.  Just ask them one question,”Do you want your parents to be on Facebook?”

It’s a funny thing. As a tech person I follow all the gossip about the hot and not things in the tech world.  Until recently every time any one I knew spoke of their parents getting a Facebook profile everyone would grimace, and fearfully worry about their parents seeing something unseemly.  They would talk about how horrific the idea of their parents “friending” them.

But now as I’ve settled down and Facebook has become more main stream I am finding the exact opposite reaction from my cohort.  We now all desperately want our parents on Facebook.  The reason is is that we aren’t doing any thing unseemly (Or at least we’re smart enough not to post it on Facebook), and that it’s much easier to keep family members up to date if they can simply take a look at your wall.

If the whole family is on Facebook you don’t have to worry about worried parents because you got busy and forgot to return their call. (I’m bad at that). If they’re worried they can just check your wall and see what you posted.  So at least they’ll think you’re inconsiderate, but not dead.

So to determine what phase of life you are in just ask yourself how you view Facebook.  If the answer is:

• You don’t want your family to know it exists.  It means you’re young.
• If you don’t really care. It means you’ve settled down.
• If you desperately want your parents to use it.  It means you’re officially middle aged.
• If you don’t know what the hell everyone is talking about, and you spend time creating drafts of “status updates” to make sure you do it right.  Then you’re old.

There’s a whole lot of hoopla when it comes to what Web advertisers see about the people that respond to their ads.  Just to dispel a myth the fact is most Web advertisers don’t care much about you as a person.  They care very much about you as a demographic.  There’s no profit in knowing what one person will do, but there are millions on the line to understand what masses of people will do.

Below is a snippet of what I receive from Facebook about the people that respond to my ads.  Please note that this is very useful information, but it’s not exactly something that says much about any one person.

Today I was bored and decided to send some random friend requests in Facebook like I do every few days.  I went to the “Computer” group page and clicked on a few names.  I have done this numerous times before and normally send off 10-20 requests.  This time after approx. 5 requests a message box popped up stating that Facebook felt that I was violating one of their fair use policies and that if I did not stop my account would be suspended.

Although I was surprised to see this it does seem to show that Facebook is taking a more proactive stance on combating spammers.  I have seen numerous complaints in the past that people had their accounts suspended with absolutely no notice as to why it was happening.  This type of warning message is a great way to alert users as to potential violations before they cross the line.

I recently created a Fan Page on Facebook for my new company Everyman IT.  One of the things I find very interesting about Fan pages is the “Insight” reporting feature.

You just click on the “View Insights” on the Page Admin page, and you are presented with some interesting information.

You can see what percentage of your Fans are male or female, what age your Fans skew towards, and where your Fans are located.   It can even show you “media” consumption.  This tells you what pictures or videos posted on your Fans page your Fans are looking at.

Although you need to keep in mind that the demographics of your Fan page, and your business’s demographics may be substantially different this may be a great tool to determine where you target your advertising dollars.

You may notice my biggest demographic for Everyman IT (A Computer Training Site) is Females between the ages of 25-34 (Females on the whole account for 13% more interest then Males).  This may be a fluke with how Facebook social networking works, or it could be a tremendous market insight. (No offense, but in a male dominated field you would not expect women to take the most interest in the subject.)