I wanted to learn more about the new Facebook ads integration with Facebook Pages, so I threw together a quick ad for the Butler Bloggers and ran it over the weekend. I can easily tell you two things. 1) A lot of kids were on Facebook for Super Bowl Sunday, and 2) It was a well spent $1.06.
First, lets get some background. The ad was set for 2 days, with a daily budget max of $10.00. The ad was targeted to 17-18 year old students in Indiana (approximately 44,600 students), and was a general “check out the Bloggers” ad with a link to their Facebook Page. As you can see below, I set a Cost Per Click for $.30, which I raised on Sunday from $.24 on Saturday.

So here’s what happened. Total impressions in 2 days: 18,669. Total clicks: 6. Average cost per click: $.18. Total ‘fans’ out of clicks: 1. Conversion rate: 16.7%. Total spent on new ‘fan’: $1.09.
So let’s imagine for a second that I did Pay per View instead of Pay Per Click. (Note: PPC rates are lower, averaging $.13-.17 instead of $.19-.25 for PPV. For this case, we’ll use $.19 since I was slightly above average with my $.30 bid.)
Total impressions in 2 days: 18,669. Total clicks: 6. Average cost per click: $.59 ($3.55 / 6) Total ‘fans’ out of clicks: 1. Conversion rate: 16.7%. Total spent on new ‘fan’: $3.55
A slight difference. I also wonder if a PPV bid gets the same amount of views as a PPC ad, although if I were Facebook I’dbe placing those PPV ads much more frequently because you make $$ every time they are loaded.
My final analysis: DON’T pay for Pay per View unless you are HIGHLY targeting an audience (16-year old high school males who go to XYZ High School and play basketball, etc. etc.)
(EDIT: Colin Fast pointed out that PPV are per 1,000 impressions, which made a huge difference on my numbers. Thanks Colin!)


7 Comments until now
Nice example that is applicable to Higher Education. Paid advertising is still something we haven’t played with, but I would definitely like too.
When you put up facebook ads, are you paying for them yourself, or does Butler pay for them?
[...] Brad J. Ward wrote an interesting post today on Facebook: Pay Per Click vs. Pay Per ViewHere’s a quick excerptI wanted to learn more about the new Facebook ads integration with Facebook Pages, so I threw together a quick ad for the Butler Bloggers and ran it over the weekend. I can easily tell you two things. 1) A lot of kids were on Facebook … [...]
I have a feeling that he is footing himself for now, hopefully to be reimbursed and then added to his budget because it is worth it.
Great job as always
FJ Gaylor is partially right.
I pay for them myself, but there is no budget in sight for this E-Comm Coordinator. Some day…. some day.
Where’s all the budget going???
Print. Print. Events. Print.
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