Goodbye Likes…Hello Link Clicks!
In a Facebook for Business post, the social network announced that advertisers who create their campaigns around cost-per-click (CPC) will no longer be charged for user engagement on their ads. These are user actions such as comments, likes, and shares.
Link clicks will soon be the only cost generating action in CPC campaigns.
Facebook has defined link clicks as:
- Clicks to visit other websites.
- Call-to-action clicks that go to another website, such as “shop now.”
- Clicks to install applications.
- Clicks to Facebook canvas apps.
- Clicks to view videos on other websites, such as YouTube. (Videos uploaded to Facebook will still be considered an engagement click.)
Why is Facebook tossing aside their lauded “Likes?” It’s all in an effort to better serve advertisers by putting their business objectives first by helping them gauge ad performance that actually drives business.
Advertisers are likely to see two big things happen as a result of this change.
- Click-through-rate (CTR) metrics will decrease since the additional engagement actions are no longer included.
- CPC costs will increase, but clicks should generate a higher return on investment.
What happens next depends on how you buy ads.
The Facebook Interface (Ad Manager or Power Editor) will stay the same for now. Expect an announcement from the social network in a few weeks about the CPC rollout.
If you use the API, the new CPC is now available in version 2.4.
If you’re still looking for a branding focused campaign, you will be able to create campaigns that focus on post engagement separate from the new CPC campaigns.
The current CPC definition will be available until October 7.