In 2006, the same year I graduated from High School, Facebook became available to the general public. While created originally JUST for Harvard Students and not being the first Social Media platform in existence (there was MySpace, Orkut, and Hi5), Facebook’s launch to the public marked a before and an after on what we know as “the internet”. Just based on the number of active monthly users, Facebook is the most used Social Media as of January 2023 and has been surviving and thriving throughout the years through constant updates, changes, and improvements.
One of the things that makes Facebook unique is its approach to ads: before the launch of Facebook Ads in 2007, advertising online could be a challenge, and businesses relied on TV, Radio, and Printed Media as their only way to reach audiences. Facebook Ads made advertising more accessible with their small budget requirements and, to this day, they offer advertising solutions for every level of expertise using simple self-serve tools and tracking their performance with easy-to-read reports. Facebook introduced more accurate targeting and custom audiences that expanded the possibilities for advertisers that were used to the more limited regular media targeting and made the final user experience more enjoyable by providing users with ads more aligned to their interests.
Ye Olde Metrics
Most of these metrics were manually measured and not as accurate: advertisers had to rely on surveys, manual data gathering and estimates to get a sense of the campaign performance.
Metrics Today
Part of the power of Facebook and Social Media is how accessible data and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are. Nowadays, advertisers have more relevant and accurate KPIs curated to their particular campaign and audience. While metrics like Reach and Frequency still exist, Social Media KPIs offer more in-depth insight into how our campaigns perform.
Overall, these KPIs can help you track the performance of your Ad Campaign and guide you into making data-driven decisions to optimize your ad creative, targeting, bidding, and budget to achieve your desired results.
Social Media has revolutionized the way we do advertising, providing businesses of all sizes with the tools and metrics to create and measure effective campaigns. We left behind the days when metrics were more limited and less accurate; we have entered an era of a more comprehensive view of campaign performance where data-driven decisions and optimizations are easier and can lead to better returns.
Where do you think we are headed? With the ongoing innovations and improvements throughout Social Media and advertising, what advancements do you think we will see in the near future? We will love to hear about it in the comments below.
