Comments on: Facebook Ads Don't Work. Here's Proof

By: Garden Deco

Garden Deco — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 09:59:26 +0000

I can confirm. I have a bounce rate of 82 from visitors via FB, and 58,9 bounce rate from visitors via natural searches. Thanks for this article. It is confirming my ideas.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 14:15:00 +0000

Markus,

Your assumptions about Facebook advertising seem rather weak. You’re comparing one product and trying to convey the message that it’s a waste a time for all. Not sure how long you’ve been in the industry, but you seem to lack the understanding that all advertisers and their products are not created equal.

Also, I personally use the Google Display Network and Facebook to extend a campaign reach, when my search campaigns are tapped out. For larger campaigns, this is a great way to capture more conversions and visits, with minimal investment.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 13:40:10 +0000

@Darren

I completely agree with you. Facebook is a direct competito of the Google Display Network, not the search network. Comparing Facebook advertising to the Google Search Network is like comparing apples and oranges.

I’m kind of surprised that someone who claims to be a search marketer doesn’t get the huge fundamental difference.

By: Jonathan Browne

Jonathan Browne — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 04:05:58 +0000

The real value in facebook ads is clearly that each person who likes your facebook page that you’ve tied your ad to is now a part of what amounts to an email list that people check obsessively. People are on facebook all day and if they’ve liked your page they are subscribed to you.

You can then email all those people. So, especially if your selling some higher priced products, you can get ultra targeted leads for incredibly low prices.

Everything has it’s uses at the correct time, it’s all about figuring out where and when the tool is useful.

By: David

David — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 17:26:14 +0000

I also found that facebook adds are not very effective. I havnt tried Google adds yet, but after reading this article I am hopeful.

By: Jay

Jay — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:24:46 +0000

ROI is everything which this article did not address. I used a very simple equation and used a constant of 10 dollars per unit and a 10% conversion rate from the number above for both Facebook and Google. For example 178 Clicks at 10% conversion is 17.8. I rounded to 18 and times that by 10 to get 180.00 dollars for a total of sale. For Google I did 688 time at 10% which is 68.8 and rounded that to 69 which times that by 10 to get total dollars. Using the ROI formula plugged these numbers in and it comes out to 3.6% ROI for Facebook and 5.11% for Google. 2% difference is hardly a failure and definitely not negative. So not sure how the commenter is getting a negative ROI.

By: Nik

Nik — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:39:47 +0000

After spending months of wanting to believe that facebook ads were working, I just can’t work with their model anymore. 2 days worth of google advertising just blew away what I got out of facebook advertising in 1 month!

The difference I’ve found is that when people go to google they are explicitly looking for content within a specific domain. Facebook on the other hand has users online for a myriad of reasons. I’m betting that unless you’re hyper hyper hyper specific about your facebook users, you’re just not going to get that much conversion.

For the time being: Google 1. Facebook 0.

By: Chad Walls - School Tutor

Chad Walls - School Tutor — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:00:12 +0000

Thanks for posting this article. I have experienced similar result in my industry (tutroing services) and wasn’t sure what to think. I tested multiple campaigns on Adwords and Facebook and am glad I track results using analytics. My adwords bounce rate is 30-50% depending on the ad campaign and visitors average 1-2 minutes on my site. With Facebook my bounce rate is above 90% and the average visitor spends about 15 seconds on my site. My CPC with adwords is half the cost of Facebook. I expected adwords to generate more qualified traffic then Facebook. What I can’t understand is why Facebook charges almost twice as much for less qualified traffic. The Google content network has also provided more qualified traffic. My advice is to use Google analytics to track results. If I didn’t use analytics I would have never discovered that adwords works best in my industry.

By: Markus

Markus — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:38:50 +0000

As I recall there were very few sales so the entire campaign didn’t really make anything

By: DesignerElla

DesignerElla — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 06:08:59 +0000

You didn’t mention how much money you made though, including how many people purchased books (not just clicked) and how much you made off of sales.

Also, you spent a lot more with AdSense, did that investment work better?