Facebook ads provide an unprecedented level of targeting which is unmatched by any other medium. Facebook ads typically target customers that are higher up in the sales funnel. Marketers often place customers in a sales funnel to better understand the likelihood that a customer is going to purchase a product or service today. People on Facebook are socializing, not looking for products and thus less likely to buy now (higher up in the sales funnel) versus a customer in Google, for example, that has typed in a specific query for a product or service (lower in the sales funnel). That doesn’t mean that Facebook customers aren’t going to buy; on the contrary, they just may need more time.  Regardless, you can greatly improve your ad spend. There’s a business adage that says, what gets measure gets managed. So how can you measure your Facebook ads to improve results and increase your return on marketing spend?

Utilize Google URL builder

This pertains to ads you create in Facebook that are driving people to an external URL like your website, not ads that drive traffic to your Facebook page. Google URL builder allows you to clearly distinguish each ad by adding variables for the Source, Medium, Term, Content, and Name. By generating a unique URL for each ad you can dig through your Google Analytics and clearly see what ads are performing better than the others. What ads have the highest engagement? Without Google URL Builder you will see Facebook as a Source in Analytics but you won’t be able to distinguish which ads are the most successful. You can find the Google URL Builder here.

Remarketing

One of the best tools available in the marketers tool chest. You can significantly increase the mileage from your Facebook ads by utilizing Google’s remarketing to serve ads to Facebook visitors after they leave your site. By adding a small amount of code to your Facebook landing page, which you get from Google, you can follow your Facebook ad visitors for up to a year and keep the sales channel open! How great is that? If you have a long sales cycle you will greatly increase the likelihood of closing a sale by employing remarketing.

For example, imagine targeting women that are pregnant with a relaxing prenatal massage. Maybe women early on in their pregnancy may not be interested, but once the 2nd or 3rd trimester hits and they are experiencing all sorts of body pain you can be pretty confident that a prenatal massage would be a welcome relief.

Because Facebook customers are higher up in the sales funnel being able to serve them ads through the Google Display Network long after they have clicked on your ad and reminding them of your brand is incredibly powerful and greatly increases your chances of bringing the customer back to eventually purchase from you.

Call tracking

I am a big advocate of closing the marketing loop and for those websites that are not ecommerce, call tracking helps you understand what you’re paying for leads and your cost per call. There are a number of call tracking companies that provide a range of services which you can find online; however, some of the most effective strategies involve swapping your original phone number with a call tracking number once the visitor lands on your website. All those Facebook visitors will now see a unique phone number that only they will use. It’s a fairly simple process to set this up and your call tracking provider should be able to help you.

The bottom line is that there are many variables that determine which ads will be successful, but using the above three tactics to measure your ad’s success will help you reduce waste, improve your ad spend with Facebook, and increase your ROI.