Sponsored by engage:BDR Reach 354 Million Real People
Over the last month, the popular social network Facebook has received a lot of criticism since it was reported that brands organically reach only 6 percent of fans, down 12 percent from this past October. The same report’s sources, provided by Ogilvy, stated that the decrease in reach will continue to fall until it reaches minimal to zero percent. It is evident that advertisers will no longer receive anymore free ad perks from Facebook.
Organic reach on the popular social network continues to decline, and if this is not bad enough, more brands are finding that it has become both costly and challenging to trust Facebook ad results due to click fraud or “like” fraud. The fake clicks are accredited to bots not humans. This has left many clients wondering why they have thousands of fans in countries all across the globe, where very few of their customers or target audience members exist.
The primary reason click fraud is so alarming is because clients have dedicated many hours building brand fan bases they aren’t capable of reaching or do not want to reach at all. This is only the beginning of the detrimental effects of click fraud. Matters continue to worsen when you take into consideration the amount of money advertisers pay for ad space on Facebook for only a minimal amount of value. In other words, advertisers are now paying more for less as prices have increased by 437 percent since 2013.
More and more clients who utilize Facebook ad space as a primary marketing outreach avenue have reported 20 to 30 percent of click fraud through the use of highly advanced forensic software dedicated to tracking bots. Clients are not receiving likes from humans overseas, they are receiving fraudulent clicks from robots that are ultimately deteriorating the performances of advertisements on Facebook.
The declining organic reach to target audiences, increased ad prices, and click fraud driven by robots has led many clients to ditch the platform altogether, and instead, search for alternative solutions to market brands to consumers. After all, there is no purpose in paying skyrocketing ad prices on a platform that produces less than acceptable results.
What are advertisers capable of doing to solve this problem?
First of all, it is imperative that advertisers refrain from equating number of likes received to target user reach. Rather than striving to achieve as many likes as possible, it is important for clients to strongly evaluate their ad inventory and focus on more precisely targeted ads. Many believe the solution rests in utilizing real-time-bidding or RTB on demand-side platforms or DSP.
The second step advertisers must take is to transition from standard impressions to viewable impressions. Click fraud is not solely designated to Facebook. It can also be spotted on many mobile and desktop banner ads. With the implementation and use of viewable impressions, advertisers only pay for time slots or allotted ad time viewed by users; it is no different than paying for commercial ad space on television. The duration of time ranges anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds, and clients are required to pay only if the ad is displayed on the users screen for a certain period of time. This helps to ensure that advertisers only pay when the ad is viewed and users actively engage with its contents. If no action is taken by the user in terms of viewership or engagement, the advertiser is not mandated to pay.
It is important to note that a bot is incapable of replicating actions that distinguish real human beings from fake users or bots, so the implementation and use of viewable impressions is highly effective when it comes to the elimination of click fraud.
Lastly, with everything we have touched on regarding organic reach, ad prices, targeting key fans and viewable impressions, it is strongly encouraged that all advertisers strongly evaluate premium inventory, and work to secure standard and viewable impressions and clicks through real-time-bidding on a demand-side platform. You will receive more return on your investment utilizing this advertising strategy. Additionally, it will allow clients to use data, like census data from physical storefronts, to target consumers they are incapable of finding or reaching on Facebook.
Though Facebook may not have addressed the click fraud issue yet, we would not advise you desert its platform yet. If the social network implements a viewable impressions model, they are capable of eliminating click fraud from the network altogether. In terms of like fraud, this will require a different type of strategy, but we believe it will solved it in due time. If Facebook actively works towards solving the click fraud issue, more sites would follow its lead and eradicate this online advertising problem altogether. It could benefit the advertising world a tremendous amount. For right now, we encourage advertisers to focus on buying premium ads based on a viewable impressions model. After all, there is no purpose to spending money on Facebook ad space if your a quarter of your reach is a result of fraudulent clicks.
Sponsored by engage:BDR Reach 354 Million Real People
