Facebook has made it really easy to promote a post. As soon as you post something you will see a little button that says “promote” and it couldn’t be easier. This has raised a lot of questions for both personal and company pages about whether or not you should promote. Many marketers who jumped on board from the beginning are finding there is a hidden side to all of this that you might want to consider before hitting that button.
- Promoted posts automatically default to an optimized CPM. This means Facebook targets your ads to those most likely to perform an action such as like or comment on your page. This has lead to a lot of complaints about spam comments because nobody can appeal these complex mathematical algorithms more than a bot.
- It targets fans and friends of fans. It’s with this “friends of fans” feature that many people are finding that they are getting “spammy” comments leading many to believe that there is a flaw in Facebook algorithm because really who amongst us has a bot as friend.
- Sponsored stories are created, Facebook automatically includes sponsored stories as part of a promoted post campaign that targets friends and subscribers of fans who engage with your post. The majority of your budget gets eaten up by non-fans writing spam comments and spam likes and not actually by fans.
While it’s easy to just hit “promote” from your Facebook feed, your best bet for running a successful Facebook ad continues to be using the ad manager where you have complete control of the targeting including fans only, location and CPC. While it might take a couple more minutes to set up, it will lead to a more successful campaign spending your money on who you really want to target.
Ready to accelerate your Facebook marketing results? Join us this December at the Social Media Strategy Summit—the most comprehensive online event on social media marketing. Josh Ochs will share proven advice for Facebook success during his session, the "7 Elements of Highly Effective Facebook Marketing".
