October 8, 2021
The Ideal QA Process in Digital Advertising
With over 1.59 billion monthly active Facebook users and more than 4.5 billion likes generated each day, many Facebook Ads targeting categories are likely to contain millions of users who meet your targeting specifications. So how does Facebook narrow down the right targets to show ads within an audience? Objectives.
Objectives, which tell Facebook what action you want users to take when interacting with your ads, are a unique feature: they are one of the only settings determined at the campaign level. Although ad viewers may take other actions outside of the Objective you’re targeting, Facebook uses your selected Objective to inform its algorithm when building audiences and showing ads.
Facebook has continued to increase its Objective choices since creating Objectives, and will probably release more in the future. The current options are discussed below. Here at Metric Theory, we use the top three most frequently since they’re typically the most aligned with client goals, but it’s good to understand each Objective type. You never know when one might be the perfect fit for your campaign goals!
You can’t reach your goals without the right objective. Image via Pexels.
Clicks to Website
Clicks to Website ensures your ads are showing to people who are most likely to click the ad and land on your website. This Objective is most useful when you’re trying to increase web traffic, get your site in front of new eyes, or don’t have a conversion pixel tracking conversions but still want to bring people to your site.
Website Conversions
Website Conversions are your best bet for driving leads or revenue from your advertising efforts. Website Conversions are ads where the ultimate goal is to drive sales or leads. Clearly, every advertiser wants to drive more leads or sales, but the caveat is that your conversion pixel must be tracking accurately. Facebook’s algorithm builds a profile of current converters to determine ad targeting moving forward. If the conversion pixel isn’t tracking, or is erroneously firing, your ad is going to get in front of the wrong people or not show at all.
Page Post Engagement
Page Post Engagement is the best Objective when you’re just looking for interaction. This goal prioritizes showing your ad to people who are most likely to like, comment, or share. They’re also more apt to like your page, or interact with organic page posts.
Page Likes
Similar to Page Post Engagement, but more focused on generating page likes. We recommend using Page Post Engagement over Page Likes, because PPE drives page likes while improving other interaction metrics as well. Page Likes focuses primarily just on individual page likes and does not go as far towards improving other interaction metrics.
App Installs
App Installs are a great way to promote an app to potential downloaders. These ads link directly to the Google Play or Apple App Store (depending on the device type you’re targeting).
App Engagement
This Objective targets users who have already installed your app, and takes them to a specific place within the app. Ads with this Objective can also be shown to people who haven’t installed the app yet, but they’ll have to go through the download process before they’re able to engage within the app.
Offer Claims
Offer Claims show special offers for people to claim. This can be used by either e-commerce or brick and mortar stores. If you have an offline presence, we recommend using precise location targeting so that you’re only showing to people within the vicinity of your store.
Local Awareness
Want to target people who are nearby, but don’t want to provide an offer with the Offer Claim Objective? Use the Local Awareness Objective to reach people who are near your business. These ads let you display several relevant call-to-action buttons, including “Send Message,” “Call Now,” “Get Directions,” and “Learn More.”
Event Responses
Use this Objective when you have a Facebook event that you want to promote – your event will show to people who are most likely to respond.
Video Views
The Video Views Objective sounds ideal for when you want your video to show to people who will watch, but the catch is that, unlike YouTube, Facebook counts a “view” at 3 seconds into the video. If you’re trying to raise brand awareness, I’d recommend using Clicks to Website over Video Views, as clicks bring new visitors to your site and likely represent a higher level of engagement with the brand.
Lead Generation
Facebook’s newest Objective, Lead Generation ads allow people to quickly fill out a form with their personal information. The sign-up flow occurs within Facebook, so a potential client doesn’t even need to leave the site. As Facebook says, “tap, tap, done.”
So what are you waiting for? With so many Objectives, you’re bound to find one that is a good match for your goals. Select an Objective and start testing Facebook ads!
