Facebook is doing its bit to improve transparency in digital marketing after announcing plans to overhaul metrics, so that brands can get a better overview of ad performance on the platform.
Facebook says the new metrics offering will have a labelling system so marketers can see stats for ad reach, frequency and recall rates among others, while outdated metrics will be phased out. A drive to educate marketers about measurements will be supported by a new “measure what matters” series of content.
Facebook has been working hard to clean up and streamline metrics during the last two years after a number of high profile ad metrics errors. Transparency has been cited as a major concern in various studies and reports in recent months, and Facebook is eager to bring additional clarity to its ad offering.
The latest move will see more clearly defined labels listed in Ad Manager, where media buyers will be able to see whether they are “in development” or “estimated”. The changes will give advertisers better insights and better guidance on business outcomes for the ads they buy according to the company’s VP for marketing science, Brad Smallwood.
“In order for us to report reach, we analyze the number of people who see an ad multiple times, de-duplicate them and then calculate the total number of unique people in real time,” Smallwood said. “To do this quickly, we sample the data and will therefore label it as estimated. This is also how reach is calculated for ads on TV and across other digital platforms.”
