Ever seen an ad on Facebook? If not, you’re missing out. They tend to range from the amusing to the downright bizarre. They usually feature grinning models showing off enamel-filled grins and sporting American polo-necks or low-cut tops.
Advertising dating on Facebook is not as simple as it sounds. Advertisers can only target Facebook members who have marked themselves as ‘single’ in order to be eligible for that honour, according to Facebook’s advertising rules. This cuts out over 50% of the market, many of whom simply enter no relationship status. Moreover ad approval policies are difficult to interpret, and penalise on what would constitute relevant, targeted copy elsewhere. So why do dating affiliates like advertising on Facebook so much? Many of the large CPL performance networks dotted across the globe will readily disclose that 80% of their affiliate dating traffic comes from Facebook. Having launched some sites on several networks recently, it’s easy to understand why.
Facebook offers massive reach and volume at low cost – if you can get the targeting and the ad right. ROI is the biggest gripe of most Facebook advertisers. Perhaps though, dating is the perfect market for Facebook advertising. One affiliate promoting JustSingleParents.com, provides a fantastic number of sign-ups per day, primarily from Facebook. Where this becomes really interesting is where businesses use Facebook’s Open Graph (AKA Facebook Connect) to pull through users’ data. WhiteLabelDating.com recently implemented Facebook Connect, to allow members to sign up to the dating sites via their Facebook profile details within 2 clicks. A second phase now allows members to drag their Facebook photos through to their dating profile. The latter enhancement has led to an impressive increase in photo uploads– something we know is crucial to improving the quality of our member base and conversion. The above-mentioned affiliate is providing members from Facebook whose photo upload rate to their dating profile is 50% higher than member acquired through other channels. 33% of their photo uploads are coming via Facebook Connect, and much of that is incremental. Moreover, the average Facebook photo uploader has uploaded 2 photos per person.
Facebook advertising, combined with use of Facebook Connect, offers a path of least resistance for the user. This is great news for the marketer and is attractive to affiliates, who assess an advertiser’s ability to convert their traffic above all else.
So, you get it… Facebook is worth a try. But how do you get the most out of it?
• KW targeting – target keywords relevant to dating in general or your niche in dating. Facebook will match your add to keywords which appear in users’ profile page or apps.
• Age/gender targeting – crucial for niche dating sites.
• Test multiple ads – keep rotating your ads (particularly the image) as they become saturated, and the CTR drops. Keep them fresh, and test 10+ ads at any one time if possible.
• Seek targeting / ad combination ‘sweet spots’ which produce high CTRs. As soon as you have a CTR which is high enough to make it cheaper for you to switch from CPC to CPM bidding (>0.1%), consider making the switch. A 0.2% CTR can be half as expensive on CPM vs CPC.
WhiteLabelDating.com continues to invest in the technology to enable its partners to take advantage of Facebook advertising and Facebook’s Open Graph.