Facebook Ads Manager add-on helps marketers craft more effective campaigns

Facebook’s latest move is a boon for marketers who want more control over and information about their campaigns on the world’s largest social network.

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The new self-service Ads Manager tool measures and optimize campaign performance. In an expansion to its “Optimized CPM” (OCPM) bidding program, Facebook has crafted a two-part addition for marketers who want to drive specific digital actions, say web signups or online purchases.

The first piece, which involves adding code snippets to webpages, gives marketers a more comprehensive look at whether their units are driving the actions they want.

The marketer can use Ads Manager to generate a unique piece of code and place that code on check out, registration, or lead pages. When those pages load from a person clicking on the Facebook ad, the code snippet pings Facebook, and Ad Manager counts the conversion. People who click on an ad but don’t take the specific action are counted if they return and complete the action within a 28-day window. The idea here is to go beyond click-through rates and provide marketers with more accurate conversion metrics.

The tracking process is done anonymously, and marketers don’t get any data about users, a Facebook spokesperson told VentureBeat.

The second piece of the new tool is all about unit optimization. Marketers can opt to select the Optimized CPM option in Ads Manager to grant Facebook the capability to automatically show ads to the demographic group of people it deems will be the most likely to convert. This feature is meant to lower the marketer’s cost per acquisition (CPA) and provide a quicker route to potential customers, Facebook said.

Ideally, marketers can use the new features to both improve conversion rates and reduce their ad spend. Beta tester Fab.com used OCPM to reduce its CPA by 39 percent, the company said. On average, OCPM ads deliver roughly 40 percent lower CPAs, according to Facebook.

Of course, the social network would like you to believe that its new conversion feature is the answer to your ad optimization needs. Facebook needs to sell ads, after all. Marketers should keep in mind that the conversation and optimization features are only meant to serve those who want to drive specific online actions. They are not ideal for brands hoping to generate awareness or offline sales from their Facebook campaigns.

Facebook said the optimization product is currently in an extended beta period and will launch at the end of the month.

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