META’S QUALITY RANKING
How Meta is Prioritizing Big Ad Spenders over Small Businesses and How to fight against it
The rumors are true… Facebook is thirsty for profits. Since the beginning of Facebook Ads, advertisers were well-aware of the quality ranking, which its main concern was “quality, engagement and conversion,” as per Facebook’s help center, which determined how your ad would perform. However, Facebook’s algorithm is now interested in a key factor: advertiser ranking. In other words, how much and how constant your account spends.
This factor, among others, determines the performance of your ads. When Facebook marketers unveiled this new element of its algorithm, I decided to test it. I created two identical campaigns in two different accounts, my top client’s account (Campaign A), who had an annual spending of USD $100,000 and a client who is a small business owner (Campaign B) who spends USD $900 annually. The results… not surprising.
As you can see in the images above, the high spending account had a significantly stronger performance than its identical campaign. Its cost per result was a combined average of $5.5, which compared to Campaign B was significantly lower at $26.45 per result.
As a fellow business oriented professional, I do understand Facebook’s decision to prioritize big spenders. This will create loyalty and dependence on big companies, while urging small businesses to invest more on campaigns and constantly. It is a strategy that focuses on profits. No judgments on that. But the question is, how do you help your small business — or your client’s—fight against it?
How to Avoid Poor Performance on your Ads
1.Expand your audience.
Targeting your ads can create spectacular leads; however, when dealing with a trifling budget it can negatively affect its performance. Limit the interests/behaviors of your detailed targeting and expand your location. This will allow the algorithm to bid more often and regularly, decreasing your cost per result.
2. Be constant.
Even if it means, investing an inconsiderable amount, your constancy will be noticed by Facebook’s algorithm. If your goals are not met, having an active campaign can help your engagement ranking.
3. Benchmark your ads.
Facebook—through Ad Library—helps you see other ads similar to yours that are currently active. Although they do not give you any specifics about the campaign, this allows you to understand who you bid against and improve your ads quality based on it.
4. Use all of Facebook Tools
I do believe there are good intentions in Facebook’s core values; yet, business is business. For that reason, they compensate on giving you all the resources possible to get the best results. Such as: Facebook Blueprint, Ads Support, and—my personal favorite—calls with Facebook marketing specialists.
4. Avoid having multiple ad accounts
The most obvious tip I can give you, is try not have different ad accounts where you can easily have one and improve your advertiser ranking.
Do you fall in the low spender category?
It all depends in your industry. However, $5 daily usually falls in the average spending, anything below that is considered a low spending account.
In conclusion, there is a clear disadvantage on small businesses and/or low spenders, but also, a way to go against it. I usually tell my clients: “Having a disadvantage does not mean stop fighting, it means fight harder.”
Expand your audience.
