Read about why you should be using Facebook brand awareness here!
Have you ever wondered if your Facebook ads are really attracting attention? Sure, you may be seeing the impressions flow in, but is your audience seeing the ad or just scrolling past it? Just because an ad is on someone’s screen doesn’t mean that someone is taking note of said ad.
You can wonder a little less now, as Facebook recently unveiled a new campaign objective specifically for brand awareness. With that comes a couple of new metrics to track: Estimated Ad Recall Lift and Estimated Ad Recall Lift Rate. The former is the number of people who are likely to remember your ad two days after seeing it. The latter is that number divided by the number of people you’ve reached, expressed as a percentage.
As always, Facebook is guarded with how these metrics are calculated — note the ‘estimated’ in their names. What is known, however, is that engagement and how long an ad is on a user’s screen are two factors driving the formula.
According to Facebook, “early tests have shown that the new Brand Awareness options are on average 60% more effective at driving Ad Recall than our current Page Post Engagement solution when the goal is to drive Brand Awareness.”
What should be noted, however, is that heightened brand awareness seems to come with reduced effectiveness by other metrics. In tests so far we’ve seen higher (though not extravagantly high) costs per engagement.
Also of note: Videos have so far generated much higher brand awareness rates than photo posts — often between 5-10% higher on ads we have run. Facebook has made a big push into the video world, and these posts have done a great job building awareness.
Of course, you shouldn’t just jump into Brand Awareness on any of your campaigns. Always consider your ultimate objective. If you’re seeking web traffic or looking to build a more engaging page, brand awareness may not be for you. However, if you want to create familiarity with a new product or get the word out about your new local business with geo-targeted ads, this objective could aid in that venture.
There’s no baseline average number for brand awareness rate, and it’s certainly dependent on campaigns. To gain maximum awareness, however, think what will make your ad stand out most to gain added attention.
Strong imagery is a must (as always), along with copy that will keep people interested. Also consider your placement: Mobile newsfeeds offer a larger portion of a user’s screen than their desktop counterpart. As always, test a variety of things and see what works best for your advertising effort.
Is Brand Awareness perfect? Is that recall rate all-important? Nah. Far from it. But along with other newer metrics like relevancy scores and the faithful stats that have been there for years, advertisers have one new piece in the puzzle as we seek to get the best results possible.
