Facebook Men Are Cheap. I’m Talking Ads, Not Dates

As written for SocialMediaToday

Facebook Advertising

According to financial analysts Facebook Q4 revenue (including payments, fees) could reach $1.5 billion. Digital marketing technology company Kenshoo says that just over 20 percent (20.3 percent) of the company’s ad revenue is now coming from mobile. And as per eMarketer, almost four billion dollars in advertising budgets were spent on Facebook ads during 2012, and that number is expected to grow to more than six billion in 2014.

Meanwhile, Facebook continues to grow its user base as more people join the world’s largest social network and spend more time within its walls. ComScore reports that the average Facebook user spends more than 6 hours on Facebook each month. But what demographic is online more often, by gender, and how do you reach them?

Kenshoo knows a bit about this.

The company’s series of Social Media Insights report, “Metrics that Matter,” revealed key performance indicators to measure performance of Facebook Ads – Exposure Rate and Frequency. Its second report, “Social Media Advertising Global Games,” broke down Facebook ad performance by country. Now in its third iteration, the social media company reveals how women and men engage differently with ads on Facebook.

The study reveals which gender is more prevalent on Facebook. It explores which sees and clicks on more ads, draws more ad dollars, and costs less to target. Knowing these facts can help social media advertisers better optimize their ad spend.

5 Facebook Advertising Takeaways

Below are the study’s five key takaways to help your Facebook ad targeting strategy.

1. Create very finely-targeted ad segments. Separate men and women. Segment by age and other demographic selects, too. Smaller, highly-targeted ad segments enable more relevant and cost effective Facebook advertising.
2. Methodically expand the number of highly-targeted ad segments to effectively scale campaigns by extending this improved relevance and performance to larger audiences.
3. Use custom text and images for targeting men vs. women. Different messages will get the attention of different genders.
4. Adjust bidding strategies based on segment attributes, including gender. Don’t overspend trying to reach males given the glut of inventory and lower rates available for targeting men.
5. Monitor Frequency–an ad Frequency of six is optimal.
6. Beyond that point, people tune out and fresh creative is required to drive engagement.

You can access the full report here.