To reach young adults who had smoked recently, we paid for advertising using Facebook’s Advertising (Ad) program over 13 months from 2010 Feb 28 to 2011 Apr 4. Our campaign involved creating advertisements that appeared on the pages of our target audience meeting the criteria of age (18-25), location (United States or California), language (English), and tobacco- and/or marijuana-related keywords that appeared in their Facebook profiles through listed interests, activities, education and job titles, pages they like, or groups to which they belong (eg, “cigarette,” “nicotine,” “blunt,” “420”). At the time of this campaign, this was the only way Facebook ad could be targeted (ie, there was no way to target keywords to other areas of the Facebook profile). Facebook had to approve all ads based on the company’s guidelines [15 ]. Only one ad type was available to advertisers at the time the campaign was launched. Ads included a short (eg, 2-word) headline, a picture, and a link to the study’s survey website per Facebook’s advertising size and word-count specifications. Facebook rejected an ad that targeted both tobacco and marijuana users through pictures. Therefore that ad made no impressions. We incurred a charge every time a user clicked on one of our ads.
On a daily basis, we could specify a spending limit for each ad and for the entire campaign. We, like other advertisers, could then specify the maximum amount we would be willing to pay for an ad (a “bid”). Then auctions determined the likelihood a given ad would be shown on pages of the target audience. Selection criteria included bid (the amount an advertiser is willing to pay), quality of an ad (including feedback an ad has received from users), and past performance [16 ]. For a given ad, Facebook suggests a “bid range” based on how much other advertisers would be willing to pay to reach the same target audience. This range can change over time based on both the ad space (other ads in the pool of ads) or an ad’s performance. Our bids fluctuated over time in line with the bid range for a given ad. Facebook reports statistics on bids, impressions, clicks, and dollars spent on all ads in a campaign. Impressions are defined as a single time an ad is shown to a user, regardless of whether the user clicks on the ad. Clicks are when a user clicks a link in an ad. We used the Facebook-provided statistics indicating the success of each advertisement we ran and changed or stopped ads that were unsuccessful (ie, they rarely appeared, they received too few clicks, or they were too expensive). As such, we explored various picture and text options and determined the most successful ads based on impressions, clicks, and costs. Facebook, which normally restricts the reporting of its data, gave us permission, conveyed to our university’s legal counsel, to publish these statistics.
On a daily basis, we could specify a spending limit for each ad and for the entire campaign. We, like other advertisers, could then specify the maximum amount we would be willing to pay for an ad (a “bid”). Then auctions determined the likelihood a given ad would be shown on pages of the target audience. Selection criteria included bid (the amount an advertiser is willing to pay), quality of an ad (including feedback an ad has received from users), and past performance [16 ]. For a given ad, Facebook suggests a “bid range” based on how much other advertisers would be willing to pay to reach the same target audience. This range can change over time based on both the ad space (other ads in the pool of ads) or an ad’s performance. Our bids fluctuated over time in line with the bid range for a given ad. Facebook reports statistics on bids, impressions, clicks, and dollars spent on all ads in a campaign. Impressions are defined as a single time an ad is shown to a user, regardless of whether the user clicks on the ad. Clicks are when a user clicks a link in an ad. We used the Facebook-provided statistics indicating the success of each advertisement we ran and changed or stopped ads that were unsuccessful (ie, they rarely appeared, they received too few clicks, or they were too expensive). As such, we explored various picture and text options and determined the most successful ads based on impressions, clicks, and costs. Facebook, which normally restricts the reporting of its data, gave us permission, conveyed to our university’s legal counsel, to publish these statistics.
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