How to Bid Your Way to a Successful Facebook Campaign

Bidding can be one of the most challenging aspects of Facebook advertising. However, by making good use of proper testing and tracking methods, it doesn’t have to be. Marin Software’s new white paper provides a breakdown of Facebook’s bidding models and offers advanced tactics to make your campaigns a success.

Advertisers can buy Facebook ads on a CPM, CPC, or “OCPM” model. The majority of advertisers opt for a CPC model, taking advantage of the opportunity to pay only for clicks, rather than impressions. Under this model, Facebook provides a suggested bid range. If your bids are too low, you may not achieve optimal audience reach. If your bids are too high, you’ll likely end up eating away at your ROI. As a best practice, pick a mid-point in the recommended bid range and adjust from there based on performance.

When it comes to bidding, automated solutions put sophisticated advertisers at a significant advantage. Third-party bidding solutions enable marketers to create custom groups of ads based on business goals, then algorithmically leverage data from other ads to calculate optimal bids that maximize performance. Automated solutions also excel for tracking purposes. The ability to weight on- and off-Facebook conversions independently enables you to use more of your budget to drive higher-value clicks.

Top Industry Tips:

• If you’re using a CPC model, pick a mid-point in the recommended bid range and adjust from there based on performance.
• Consider testing the CPM or OCPM models if you are targeting a very niche audience and are facing low competition.
• Avoid tracking solutions that treat all conversion types equally. Instead, opt for one that can distinguish between on- and off-Facebook conversions, and weight them independently.
• Don’t forget to account for “noise” produced by short-term campaigns when optimizing Facebook creative across an entire portfolio.
• When starting with a new ad, analyze your portfolio to find other creative with a similar message and goal, and bid based on the performance of those previous ads. Alternatively, use an automated solution to help streamline this effort.
• To optimize your Facebook campaigns based on a complete picture of performance, deploy an automated bid solution that can integrate multiple conversion types and conversion data from multiple sources.

Final Thoughts: As we wrap up our series on Facebook tips and best practices, here are a few key takeaways to keep in mind. First, don’t be afraid to experiment with new targeting options and ad formats. Second, remember that Facebook advertising is often about measuring long-term engagement rather than short-term sales. And finally, consider Facebook alongside the rest of your online and offline activity for a complete picture of ROI.

For additional best practices, download our full Facebook white paper, “The Marketers’ Guide to Driving ROI from Facebook Advertising”.