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Ideas & Innovation

What are the Different Buying Types of Facebook and Why Do They Matter?

What are the Different Buying Types of Facebook and Why Do They Matter?
Sep. 14,
2017

This blog post is about the Reach and Frequency vs. the Auction buying type. Most of the Facebook marketers still default to the “Auction” buying type on the Facebook marketing campaigns. Why? What is the reason that marketers use Facebook’s auction type more and do not give Reach and Frequency a try?

Most of the marketers on Facebook seldom go beyond boosting their post to the people who have liked their previous posts or their page. Some others, delve in deeper and understand how Interests, Behavior, custom audience, and connections work. If you have an in-house marketing team that is trying its hands at Facebook marketing, it will be useful to spend some time on the Facebook marketing help groups, Facebook Blueprint, and sites such as Jon Loomer Digital. Else, it always will be fruitful to work with a Facebook Marketing company that can work with you to define buyer journeys, buying phases and can help you understand the intricacies of Facebook Campaigns, ad sets, and ad creative.

Some Facebook marketers and advertisers see Reach and Frequency as synonymous with big brand awareness and advertising campaigns. While it is 100% true that with the Reach & Frequency campaigns you can reach out predictably, plan & book campaigns in advance, control how many people see your ads, and how MANY TIMES your audience see your ads. However, you can still set up campaigns with the objective of driving conversions, post engagements, site traffic, and video views. One major difference between the two buying types is that Facebook optimizes for the Reach objective before any other campaign objective when you select the buying type as Reach and Frequency.

A third reason why many advertisers and agencies do not opt for Reach & Frequency buying type is that they not see it as an option on their Facebook Business Manager. The reach and frequency buying type isn’t currently available to all advertisers. If you want to apply for access to the reach and frequency tool, contact Facebook.

Who is Reach & Frequency for?

  • If you need to reach an audience of more than 200,000 people in ONE country. This means that for an average advertiser with lesser budgets, these campaigns will be not useful. If you are using audience retargeting as a primary method for increasing your brand awareness, or if you are trying to Reach out to EVERYONE who visited your website, you may be better off with the Reach objective under the Auction buying type.
  • If you have a big regional or a nation-wide focus. For companies and enterprises that have a big audience size in a larger region, Reach and Frequency campaigns make sense.
  • Frequency Capping. For many companies and start-ups, an important question is – how many times will a user see my ad? Banner blindness and audience burnout are real issues and may lead to you (advertiser) being charged without the users clicking on your ads or interacting with your posts/reaching your website. Frequency capping is one of the main features of a Reach & Frequency campaign. You can determine how many times users will see your ads. Remember that within the Auctions buying type too, Facebook now has a “Reach” objective that lets you optimize for maximizing your ad view for as many people as there are, in your audience set.
  • Sequenced Delivery – With reach and frequency buying, you can use ad sequencing to deliver up to 50 ads to the same audience in a set order. You can also schedule your ads to run at specific times or on certain dates. If you want to build a narrative and tell your company or product story using a sequence of pictures, videos, or canvas (video and pictures), Reach and Frequency is for you. How do I sequence my ads? Select an optimal campaign length (duration) and the Frequency capping. For example, for a three-week campaign with a frequency of twice per week, you can show up to 6 ads in a campaign. Got questions? Ask Cibirix.

Who is Auction Buying type for?

For literally anyone who wants to utilize the power of Facebook for conversion-optimized marketing.

  • Auction buying type is available to anyone with a Facebook Page and an Ad account. Please note that when you select an Auction buying type, you are competing for mindshare and eyeballs. You are bidding against the other advertisers in your industry, your market niche, and your region. You can select optimizing for Brand Awareness, Reach, Traffic, Post Engagement, Video Views, App Installs, Lead Generation, Conversions, and Product Catalog Sales (eCommerce Sales).
  • When you select, an Auction Buying Type, you do not need a commitment towards reaching a set of audiences, like you must do under the Reach & Frequency buying. You can select a Lifetime budget or a Daily Budget and select to run your ads during selected hours of the day for the duration of the campaign.
  • Auction type campaigns are also great for companies that want to run their ad in more than one country. When this option is combined with the power of Lookalike Audience, you can create campaigns that are very specific, targeted, and can generate immensely profitable results for your business.
  • Flexibility with the budget – Unlike the Reach & Frequency buying type, you can create, pause, delete, or edit your ad groups and the ad creative. In a Reach & Frequency buying type, neither can you change your audience not shorten the duration of your campaign. However, if you selected an Auction buying type, you could set a duration with a lifetime budget. If for any reason, your campaign does not perform as desired, you can edit, pause, or delete it without committing any further funds to it.

Once again, I urge you to remember that Buying Types are not Campaigns. Campaigns in Facebook, are where you set your objective. Campaigns let you optimize your ad sets and ads for the different stages of your buyer’s journey. If you have any questions, I am happy to answer them.

About Author

Ashish Roy

Ashish Roy

CTO & Co-Founder

Since founding Cibirix, Ashish has leveraged his marketing degree to lead the agency in crafting meaningful digital marketing experiences for clients. His results-driven approach is a unique mix of analytical thinking, crisp visual aesthetics and a desire to simplify frontends while developing robust architecture. With a passion for design, technology, & marketing, He leads each aspect of the agency’s business and oversees its talented team of digital professionals.

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