LONDON: Facebook advertising can help increase the impact of paid search campaigns by up to 30% according to new research from Kenshoo, a digital marketing technology business.
A white paper – Added Value: Facebook Advertising Boosts Paid Search Performance – analysed recent paid search results for a leading retailer with more than 2,500 stores in the US. Certain segments of the target audience were exposed to both paid search and Facebook advertising while others were exposed to paid search alone.
The results indicated that combining search and Facebook generated 30% more return on ad spend than search only. This was, said Kenshoo, "strong evidence that Facebook advertising delivers additional benefit as a performance-driver when run alongside paid search".
In addition, that mixture drove a 24% higher average value order, as consumers exposed to social advertising became higher-value customers for the retailer.
Clickthrough rates also rose, although rather more modestly, at 7%. Nonetheless this still suggested that social advertising was able to positively impact consumer awareness and perception of the brand.
Perhaps more importantly for marketers operating in tough economic conditions, combining search and Facebook activity was shown to reduce the cost-per-acquisition by 4.5%.
"The findings can help advertisers better capitalise on what have become the two most important digital marketing channels by discovering their best customers through search intent and continuing the conversation through social interaction," said Josh Dreller, director of marketing research at Kenshoo.
Meanwhile, Rob Creekmore, attribution measurement manager at Facebook, suggested the social networking site could act as a discovery platform to increase performance on paid search metrics.
"A thirty percent increase in return on ad spend is something marketers will find exciting," he said. "It's clear from this research that pairing Facebook marketing with paid search marketing leads to customers who are primed to open up their wallets and spend more."
A white paper – Added Value: Facebook Advertising Boosts Paid Search Performance – analysed recent paid search results for a leading retailer with more than 2,500 stores in the US. Certain segments of the target audience were exposed to both paid search and Facebook advertising while others were exposed to paid search alone.
The results indicated that combining search and Facebook generated 30% more return on ad spend than search only. This was, said Kenshoo, "strong evidence that Facebook advertising delivers additional benefit as a performance-driver when run alongside paid search".
In addition, that mixture drove a 24% higher average value order, as consumers exposed to social advertising became higher-value customers for the retailer.
Clickthrough rates also rose, although rather more modestly, at 7%. Nonetheless this still suggested that social advertising was able to positively impact consumer awareness and perception of the brand.
Perhaps more importantly for marketers operating in tough economic conditions, combining search and Facebook activity was shown to reduce the cost-per-acquisition by 4.5%.
"The findings can help advertisers better capitalise on what have become the two most important digital marketing channels by discovering their best customers through search intent and continuing the conversation through social interaction," said Josh Dreller, director of marketing research at Kenshoo.
Meanwhile, Rob Creekmore, attribution measurement manager at Facebook, suggested the social networking site could act as a discovery platform to increase performance on paid search metrics.
"A thirty percent increase in return on ad spend is something marketers will find exciting," he said. "It's clear from this research that pairing Facebook marketing with paid search marketing leads to customers who are primed to open up their wallets and spend more."
Data sourced from Kenshoo; additinal content by Warc staff
