Running Facebook ads is easy just select your creatives and text, copy and paste the destination link, hit publish, and once it's reviewed, you're set to go.
But should we take this simple approach? While there's nothing wrong with it, if you want to get better results, you need to understand how the algorithm works so you can adapt your plans accordingly.
In this article, we'll dive deep into this topic to give you more clarity, helping you make informed, data-driven decisions instead of guessing what works best.
Before we begin, if you have any questions while reading this, please reach out to us via email or browse our other blog articles to find relevant information.
What is the Facebook algorithm?
Just know that Facebook is nothing but a heap of code. Not really, but yes, it's a lot of code in the backend. We only see the shiny surface, but we don't see the rough and complicated things running in the back.
It's like you are looking at a beautiful tree without knowing it's going through a process called photosynthesis to make its food. As humans, we only tend to look at the surface.
Well, some do try to look inside, and that's exactly what we will do today.
In the backend, Facebook has its smart computer systems. Why are they smart? Because they use machine learning, meaning they can learn automatically as you feed more data into them, and they get better.
These machine learning systems have an important job, and that is to guess who is likely to like which type of ads. Based on that assumption—which was decided based on the data it had—it will push ads to your feed.
There is more to it: it also calculates the chances of you clicking on the ads and the types of ads you might like based on your behavior. We'll talk more about this next.
How Does This Algorithm Select the Best Ads for Users?
To solve the mystery, we have to examine the two sides of the coin. Let's talk about the first side: to even get ads on your feed, someone, company, or business must be willing to run ads on Facebook and spend money on advertisement.
They provide their audience data or requirements like what the target age should be, what interests they should have, and which area the users should be from based on what they think their target audience is.
Here is the second side: once Facebook understands your target audience.
It will review the creatives, copy, and the whole ad, then it will look at all the similar ads that could be shown to the user.
After reviewing all the ads, they will only pick the best ad out of all to show in the feed.
What are the factors they look into while ranking the ads?
According to Facebook, they look at the ad quality, meaning how relevant it is to the audience you are targeting. They also look into your budget—the higher your budget, the more likely you will appear at the top. Lastly, they consider how good your ad is.
Based on these three factors, they will pick the best ones to show ads to.
This insight can be helpful to you. If you are having issues with delivery, see if you can improve in these three areas this should probably solve the issue for you.
How Does Facebook's Algorithm Choose the Right Ad for You?
Have you ever had those coincidences where you were looking for something on Google, maybe, or somewhere else, and when you open Facebook, you see an ad relevant to what you were looking for?
It happens to many of us, and it always created suspicion about Facebook, so let's understand this today. Just know that this isn't a coincidence.
Facebook's smart systems analyze your behavior on their app—like what you're liking, what you're spending the most time on, and what you're engaging with. They study you really well.
They also look into the data that you provided while creating your account and where you're using the app. They study you, and based on this, the algorithm predicts what you might like and might not.
But wait—that's not all. Just knowing this alone won't help Facebook show you the best ads. They also track your behavior outside of Facebook, like which websites you've visited or which apps you use—only if you have shared this data with them.
So it's not a coincidence if you were looking for something elsewhere but you see similar ads on Facebook, because Facebook has already tracked you and knows you were looking for these types of things.
Is it ethical for the algorithm to use our data to show ads?
This is a very complex and subjective topic. While some might not like the idea of Facebook using their data to show ads, for some it might be useful—they want Facebook to show useful ads that they are interested in, so it totally depends on the user.
If you are not comfortable with Facebook using your data for showing relevant ads, you can go to settings and deny the permission to use your data.
Read More: How Long Does It Take Facebook to Review Ads?
Read More: Why Does My Facebook Ad Is Not Delivering?
Can we trust our data with Facebook?
According to Facebook, they never sell your data nor use it in any way to cause harm. They also mentioned they do not use messaging data and they do not listen to you secretly from your microphone to collect data—these are all myths, as stated in one of their articles.
But they do collect your user behavior data and what you do outside of Facebook to some extent, which allows them to show you very relevant ads according to your interests.
Note: keep in mind Facebook might try their best to protect your data, but there are always cybersecurity threats going on and they might compromise your data.
How to Use Facebook's Algorithm to Your Advantage
If you know how the algorithm works, you can make data-driven decisions that will help you get better results. Let's do a quick recap on things that you should look into carefully and make improvements on them to get better results consistently.
- Know your audience: Find your perfect audience with Facebook's targeting tools
- Make your ads better: Use eye-catching visuals and write copy that gets people clicking
- Keep an eye on budget: Having the right budget helps you win the auction and your ads get visible—too low of a budget might not get any good results
Conclusion
Thank you for reading this article! Knowing how Facebook's algorithm works is important to running successful ads.
If you find this topic complex, that's okay - take your time to read through it again. The main things to remember are: create good ads, know who you want to reach, and set a reasonable budget.
Remember that Facebook updates its algorithm regularly. Stay informed about these changes to keep your ads performing well.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How often does Facebook update its algorithm?
Facebook updates its system frequently, though they don't provide specific data about their update schedule.
What specifically makes an ad "good"?
A good ad is relevant to customers, follows Facebook's rules, and has quality website content, copy, and creative elements.
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