7 Essential Facebook Ads Metrics You Should Be Monitoring

Facebook currently has more than 1.7 billion active users each month, so it goes without saying that it is one of the most profitable medium for marketers. Of course, this only goes if your ads perform well. And, in order to improve their performance, the first things you have to check are a few relevant Facebook ads metrics.

As marketers, we spend a lot of time focusing on creating the perfect ad copy and strengthening the landing pages. However, if you dig deeper into Facebook ads metrics, you’ll see that they might be more useful than all the A/B testing in the world. Let’s see where you should look first.

1. The Conversion Rate Is one of the Most Important Facebook Ads Metrics

This one should go without saying, but I know even the most skilled of social media marketers sometimes overlook the basics. So I’ll elaborate a bit. The conversion rate shows you how many of the people who saw your ad took the action you wanted: filled in the form on your landing page, made a purchase and so on.

This is VERY different from the click through rate. The conversion rate shows you exactly how useful your ads are and you should use it for any campaign that has another purpose than traffic generation. A good conversion rate is between 5% and 10%. An excellent one can be even higher than 40%. Bear in mind that these numbers can vary GREATLY according to industry, time of the year and targeting criteria.

For instance, a huge sale on clothes will definitely have a bigger conversion rate than a B2B ad. Most people see Facebook as a place of fun and family interaction, so if you want to use it for B2B purposes, you should expect a higher cost of acquisition.

An important point to be made here is about the actions to be taken when the conversion rate is poor. Before changing your landing page altogether, look at your headlines and try different variations of it. Next up: make some small changes in targeting. Include more people or exclude some if you’re targeting a wide range of people. After you’ve played with the settings and the Facebook ads metrics haven’t changed, go back to the landing page and try improving on that.

Another good idea is to pair the results displayed in the Facebook ad manager with those in Google Analytics – you’ll find surprising results. Install the Facebook Pixel, but be sure to also use a UTM link that you can track with Google Analytics for more accurate results.

2. Find out how Frequently Your Ads Are Served to the Same User

When it comes to Facebook ads metrics, this one is often overlooked. If you dig deeper into the Facebook ads algorithm, you’ll find out that the same user can be shown the very same ad tens, even hundreds of times. Why is this bad for you? Because it leads to “ad deafness” – people are so accustomed to your ad that they don’t even notice it anymore.

Worse, people can actually take negative action against your ad, leave ugly comments and even block you – which is the natural thing to do when you’re feeling spammed. Please note: this happens especially to brands who run ads for months in a row and invest large budgets in them. If this is you, take a look at all your Facebook ads metrics and at this one in particular. If you notice the numbers spiking up, change your ad immediately.

3. Monitor Your Click Through Rate Closely

This is one of the most revealing Facebook ads metrics as it can give you insight on both your ad and your landing page. Here’s how:

• You have a good CTR: the ad is great and doing its job. If the conversion rate is also good, you’ve got no changes to make. If, on the other hand the conversion rate is poor, it means that your landing page is underperforming and you should try making some changes to it.
• You have a poor CTR: your ad needs more work – typically you should start with the CTA.

Facebook CTR rates are typically between 1% and 5%. Be careful: when monitoring them, pay attention to the column that refers to the link clicks (the right column) and not to the one that refers to clicks anywhere in the ad area – this is of little importance.

As you can see, it’s not just important to monitor your Facebook ads metrics, but to know how to pair them up, make correlation and draw the right conclusions.

4. Always Check Your Engagement Rate

In fact, when you set out to check your Facebook ads metrics, this should be the first thing you look at, as it can give you a general feeling about how your ads are performing. Your engagement rate indicates “the total number of actions that people take involving your ads”, including likes, link clicks, ad clicks, comments and so on.

Briefly put, this metric indicates the interest your ad has generated. It is actually advisable to measure your engagement rate for your entire Facebook page, not just your ads. After you’ve checked it, you can move on to see if your CTA was effective enough to lead those interested users on the path you’ve laid out for them.

Need help with your improving your Facebook ads? You’ve come to the right place!