Recently, I came across this question on Quora – Do Facebook ads work? Several others had already responded, most with case studies or specific formulas.
I regularly spend a little time on Quora to answer questions people have about online advertising and marketing. My answer differs in that’s it is a little more theoretical. I decided to share that answer on my blog.
Do Facebook ads work?
The short answer is simple, Yes, Facebook ads work.
The longer answer is that it all depends on how you go about doing and optimizing your Facebook advertising.
If you correctly align your marketing objective with a measurable KPI, which aligns with either CPM or CPC pricing, the available ad format (text, image or video on FB), your audience’s state of mind regarding you on Facebook, the device they’ll view your ad on (desktop or mobile), the targeting employed, and the message itself, then, and only then, will your Facebook ads work.
If any one of those parameters is out of alignment (for example using video to drive clicks to your website), then your Facebook ad will not work optimally, perhaps not at all.
This applies to all advertising, on all platforms digital and traditional by the way.
