“Despite Facebook’s recent controversies, ad sales have continued to grow. In fact, Facebook netted nearly $40 billion in ad revenue last year because brands believe the platform is driving significant sales. But smart marketers and agencies have been in on a secret for years: The actual sales revenue advertisers generate from Facebook ads is much smaller than what Facebook or their agencies reports back to them.
If a brand’s ultimate goal is revenue, then it’s critical we optimize toward actual incremental revenue and not let Facebook take tens of billions of dollars’ worth of credit for existing or inevitable sales. The question that must be asked isn’t whether or not Facebook is driving sales, but rather how much of that revenue is incremental.”
Cofounder, Alex Lirtsman, is in Adweek unpacking Facebook’s embellished ROI reporting and how smart marketers can avoid falling into their trap.