There is a docu-drama on Netflix that has gotten a lot of attention and has caused many people to completely delete their Facebook accounts.
It seemingly shows all the sneaky ways social platforms collect and use your data, forcing you to keep coming back, and even influencing you to some degree.
I don’t know. I haven’t seen it
But I had my own ‘social dilemma’ a few years ago.
In the middle of 2018, I got a random call from a reporter in the UK who said they had their hands on Facebook data (millions of users) that the powers that be weren’t too excited about.
He called my cell phone, he knew where I lived in 2014, he knew who I lived with, and he also knew our personality traits with respect to each other.
It was pretty… creepy to say the least.
Not only did it give me a good reason to delete Facebook, but it also showed me the incredible power of its algorithm.
Which, if you’re using it to advertise, you can take advantage of it.
Because that same data makes Facebook extremely good at finding people who will take certain actions that you want them to take.
However, it can also work against you.
When you create a new campaign in Ads Manager, you’ll be presented with 11 different options. And many of them sound like what you want. But like I said, Facebook is very good at finding people who will do what you tell them to.
If you set up a ‘Reach’ campaign, you will reach a lot of people for a very low price.
If you set up an ‘Engagement’ campaign, you’ll get a lot of people liking, commenting and sharing.
If you set up a ‘Traffic’ campaign, you’ll get a lot of people who like to click on the link, but not do much else.
You almost always want to use the “Conversions” campaign objective if you’re looking for leads and/or sales in your ads.
I can’t tell you how many clients I’ve attracted who are running other types of campaigns that just aren’t generating any results.
You see, every time someone converts to a lead or buys from another advertiser, Facebook tags that person as a “lead” or “buyer.” That way, when you tell Facebook what you’re looking for, it can show your ads to those people first, since they’re more likely to take that specific action.