Not too long ago Facebook contacted me with a “Meet your new Facebook Rep” email.
That’s pretty cool.
I suppose it’s a result of spending over $40,000 per month on Facebook ads.
Anyway, it’s a welcome development because now I’m able to get questions answered very quickly and schedule telephone calls to review campaigns etc.
On a recent call with my Facebook rep I asked “what exactly am I paying for with Facebook Newsfeed ads?”
When looking at my Newsfeed ads, there are several metrics reported. They are:
- Clicks to website
- Likes
- Comments
- Shares
I was curious whether I was paying for all of this activity?
My rep said “yes, you’re paying for all of that activity DIRECTLY PERTAINING TO YOUR AD.”
Which led me to asking “am I paying for traffic and engagement on the shared (or syndicated) version of that ad?”
My rep said “No, you don’t pay for traffic and engagement for your Newsfeed ad posts once shared”.
That was great news and it explained why Facebook traffic can be very, very cheap per click.
Let me clarify this with an example:
1. You create a Newsfeed ad.
2. That ad displays on someone’s Newsfeed. Let’s call this person Sally.
3. Sally shares the ad and then clicks through to your site. You’re charged for the share and the click.
4. But, because Sally shared the ad, it ends up on her friends’ Newsfeeds. Let’s say it ends up on Rachel’s, Bob’s and Michelle’s Newsfeed.
5. When Rachel and Bob click the ad and go to your website, you are NOT charged for those clicks.
Here’s an example of one of my Facebook Newsfeed ads:
While the bulk of the actions are website clicks (that’s what I optimized the ad for), you can see the ad also received 5,250 shares. That’s a good number of shares which no doubt generated a lot of additional free traffic to my site.
And that is why, if you create an ad that receives engagement, you can get very cheap and plentiful traffic from Facebook.
FYI, it also explains in large part how I was able to get 100,000 Facebook fans in under 1 year for one page.
How can you figure out exactly how much traffic you’re getting from Facebook ads?
The best way is to use link tracking software when creating your Facebook ads. This way you can see exactly how much traffic an ad generates.
I use the free Google URL Builder which integrates with Analytics and therefore I can see how much Adsense revenue any Facebook ad generates.
Learn more
If you want to learn how to launch a massively profitable niche site in months, get my full course on the subject. Within 8 months, I hit $40K per month. I set out exactly what I did (and do).
Jon Dykstra is a six figure niche site creator with 10+ years of experience. His willingness to openly share his wins and losses in the email newsletter he publishes has made him a go-to source of guidance and motivation for many. His popular “Niche site profits” course has helped thousands follow his footsteps in creating simple niche sites that earn big.
