Digicoma

Perhaps my blog died for MONTHS. #awkward

I just pulled up my blog to see when the last time I posted was, and it was May. Ummmm yeah, it's September. I've been very busy, apparently. On a personal note, we moved (bought a new house, sold the other one)...and we're now living in a new city/state. Not that that's an excuse to not blog, but I suppose I feel this blog has a specific purpose, less about me and more about ppc. So perhaps it's time that I muddied the water a bit and mixed the two. After all, I am just a person...that happens to love digital marketing, social media and ppc. Therefore, I am going to try and fill in the gaps with personal garbage. Now that I've done that...

I think I'm going to talk about Facebook Newsfeed ads. I have a love/hate relationship with those new bugers. If you haven't tried them yet, I'd encourage you to put on a suit of armor (if your get your feelings hurt easily) and give it a try!

I can't recall when FB NF ads came to the real world, but my guess is that it was spring/summer 2013. We decided to give them a try during a summer promotion. My thought was that I wanted to have some of my ads displaying in people's newsfeeds. You know, like all the other cool ads I see on my iPhone 5. (PS - I ordered the 5s and it arrives tomorrow!!)

Ahem, back to NF ads, what I've seen so far with these ads is that they get much fewer impressions but an AWESOME CTR, specifically when you compare them to the right column ads. So, that is really cool, right? People see your ad and actually click on it and check out stuff on your landing page. I even saw a few conversions - which, considering we were asking them to fill out a rather extensive application, I was impressed with.

That said, now it's time for Debbie Downer to weigh in...and this is what you'll need your suit of armor for - the comments. Yes, people can comment on those bad boys. I guess I didn't really think that part all the way through. As many of us know, the newsfeed ads reach beyond your current fb fan base. Therefore, people that DON'T like your page see the ad - and also get the opportunity to tell you what they think. As some of the people that I work with would say, it's like putting an ad in front of someone and handing them a microphone and saying "what do you think of this?" Most digital advertising doesn't allow for people to comment or interact with you, so just be ready for that. You'll probably want your social media manager involved to help you monitor those ads and the comments. We saw questions about "how do I get this" to "here is my phone number, will you call me?"  Yes, I can't make this up. That all happened.

I don't have the strength to share with you some of the comments we saw that were negative. That comes from anyone that has had a negative experience with your brand and has chosen to take their business elsewhere...and then they see your ad and it brings up all those old feelings. Similar to seeing your ex at the bar - doesn't matter if you just broke up or if it's been 3 years, you still have those feelings.

I'd say, there is a value in using newsfeed ads in your digital marketing strategy, and they have a higher success/click rate than the traditional right column Facebook ads. Just be ready for the social aspect if you give them a try. They are not "set it and forget it" type ads.