Facebook has reformulated its cost-per-click (CPC) measurement to favor advertisers and marketers. Facebook stated in a blog post Wednesday that as part of their most recent application-programming interface (API) release, a CPC will now only include clicks to websites and apps.
Before this new release, CPC was measured by any clicks on likes, shares, and comments included. This is a product enhancement rather than a product change. Now, it is no longer included and will help advertisers have a better understanding of what they’re investing their money into and what they are getting in return.
Facebook stated that they are updating CPC to only account what they call “link clicks”. To make it clear this includes: clicks to visit another website, clicks on a call-to-action that results in going to another website, clicks to install an app, clicks on a Facebook canvas app, or clicks to view a video on another website.
This means advertisers who care about link clicks are likely to see a better return on the spending because “they’ll be paying for the most valuable outcome,” Facebook stated. By eliminating likes, shares and comments, CPC will more than likely increase and will become more profitable for the advertiser. Some may think the click-through rate (CTR) will decrease but the CTR will no longer be included to affect the CPC.
Over time, Facebook’s ad offerings have pushed more in favor to help advertisers meet specific business objectives. This new definition is part of that support Facebook gives advertisers. “It is designed to provide measurement that’s more closely aligned with how advertisers are bidding so they can better optimize their campaigns against their stated goals,” Facebook posted.
As far as the other clicks, “If an ad has lots of likes and shares, that’s a signal of high-quality content being delivered to the right people,” Facebook states. This is considered a positive response to an ad and helps the ad become of more value at an auction. If advertisers choose to still bid on comments, likes and shares, they can do so by choosing other enhancing options. Those options however, will not be added to new CPC measurement definition.
Based on how you buy Facebook ads from now on, the next step will get a bang for your buck.