What to Look For When Monitoring Facebook Ad Performance – Top Tips

Facebook ads are a make or break for your ad spend. With its possible reach of over 2.9 billion monthly active accounts, reach maximisation is awesome, but profitability is about having the right metrics in balance and data-driven optimisations. Companies initiate campaigns and hope for the best, but intelligent marketers know that constant monitoring is the difference between profitable campaigns and money drains.

Understanding what the key metrics are and how to interpret them will make Facebook ads become a science rather than an art.

The Key Performance Indicators That Drive Results

Reach and Impressions

Reach measures how many unique users viewed your ad, while impressions track total views, frequently including repeat views. These top-funnel indicators of metrics track campaign visibility and saturation levels with audiences. When reach plateaus, yet impressions continue to rise, your audience is viewing the same ad repeatedly, resulting in ad fatigue and suboptimal performance.

Monitor frequency as well as these numbers. A number over 3.0 tends to mean that it’s time to refresh your creative or expand your targeting.

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

CTR is an indication of how well your ad is performing doing what it’s doing in terms of engaging your audience. Your message is resonating with the audience and your creative is pulling them in if you have a high CTR. Industry standards vary, but incredibly successful Facebook ads have 1-2% CTRs.

Low CTRs signal that your image, targeting, or copy need to be optimised. Try varying headlines, images, or audience segments to create more robust engagement. Also, work with ad specialists such as King Kong. 

Conversion Rate

This metric shows how well your landing page is turning ad clicks into the desired action. Facebook traffic may be coming in, but your conversion rate is dependent upon page speed, ad to landing page message match, and user experience.

Monitor conversions at multiple levels. Verify both your Facebook conversion tracking and site analytics to ensure accuracy of your data and to detect any tracking problems.

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

CPA is a metric used to calculate how much you are paying per customer or lead. Your CPA directly affects your campaign profitability and must be weighed against your customer lifetime value. If your CPA is so high that it is not affordable in terms of your profit margins, your campaign must be optimised as soon as possible.

Compare CPA across different ad sets, audiences, and creative variations to find your most cost-effective combinations.

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

ROAS measures revenue brought per dollar spent on advertising. A 3:1 ROAS means you’re making $3 for each $1 you’re spending. It’s the best measure of campaign profitability and what you use to defend ad spend to stakeholders.

Customer lifetime value and campaign ROAS need to be tracked to observe longer-term profitability after the initial buys.

Equipment for Effective Monitoring

Facebook Ads Manager

The native Facebook platform provides real-time performance metrics and in-depth insights. You have a custom dashboard through which you can track numbers of your preference that are meaningful to your goal. Use the breakdown feature to track performance based on demographics, placement, and time frames.

Use automated rules to stop underperforming ads or increase budget for high-performing campaigns. This prevents wastage of budgets while you are away.

Google Analytics

While Facebook Ads Manager shows platform-specific data, Google Analytics shows what occurs once users have clicked through to your ads. Track bounce rate, session duration, and conversion funnels to get a full picture of the customer journey.

Include UTM parameters in your Facebook ads so you can easily view traffic sources in Google Analytics and measure cross-channel attribution.

Digital Marketing Agencies

Leading agencies have some capabilities and skill sets that are difficult to replicate in-house for most companies. They have better analytics tools and optimisation methods. Agencies have the ability to provide unbiased analysis and discover opportunities that you might miss.

Consider agency partnerships if you are launching multiple campaigns on multiple platforms or if your internal team does not have Facebook experience.

Transforming Data into Improved Performance

Measuring performance for Facebook ads is not about data collection but acting on insights at the right time. Develop the habit of creating routine review loops, establish specific performance targets, and have systematic testing and optimisation approaches.