Based on data collected from Social.com across upwards of 1 million ad units and 114 billion impressions during the first quarter, Salesforce has released a benchmark report [download page] examining the performance (and cost) of Facebook ads across unit types, industries, and geographic regions. The study shows that telecom (0.919%) and publishing (0.79%) brands are leading the charge in click-through rates (CTR), although telecom brands are paying significantly more on average per click than publishers ($0.34 vs. $0.22). On the other end of the spectrum, dating ads suffer from the lowest average click rate, of just 0.027%.
Looking at ad types (soon to be streamlined), the study shows that the following ad types generated the best click rates in Q1:
- Sponsored Place Check-In Story (3.2%);
- Sponsored Page Post Like Story (2.32%);
- Sponsored Page Post Action Story (2.13%);
- Page Post (2.03%); and
- Mobile App Install Ad (1.72%).
That suggests that sponsored ad types tend to perform well, even if they have above-average costs per impression. Indeed, compared to their non-sponsored counterparts, Sponsored App Action Stories drive application installs at a 5.7x higher rate, and Sponsored Page Like Stories acquire the page like at a 13.7x greater rate.
Turning to geographical benchmarks, the data shows that the average click-through rate (CTR) in the US is a rather low 0.171%, trailing only Argentina (0.159%) among the 25 countries measured. Taiwan is somewhat of an outlier, with a 2.126% CTR, with the next-best being Bulgaria (1.018%) and Malaysia (0.788%).
Average cost-per-click in the US stood at $0.24 in Q1, below some of the higher rates (such as Denmark at $0.51 and Sweden $0.40), but not nearly as cheap as several countries (such as Brazil and Bulgaria) coming in under the 10 cent mark.
Other Findings:
- Average cost per page like is highest in the telecom sector ($1.57), with general retail ($1.23), health and beauty ($1.17) and auto ($1.13) next. Food and beverage ($0.34), non-profit ($0.38) and technology ($0.38) have the lowest costs per fan.
- The average cost per app install stood at $1.40 in the US in Q1, while the average app install rate was 0.04%, the highest among the 25 countries measured.