If you have a digital brand in 2021 you’re probably intimately familiar with Facebook advertising. Over the last decade Facebook has become one of the most commonly used platforms for marketing brands online, and not without good reason. With a large dedicated user base of highly engaged intenders, it’s easy to see why so many people have flocked to Facebook as their primary, or even sole, digital marketing platform. 

This phenomenon can be a double edged sword for marketers, however. While Facebook does allow you to target their large, proprietary audience, they do so with complete opacity to their targeting practices, pricing, and performance reporting. This leaves many marketers wondering whether or not they are getting their money’s worth for the ever increasing cost of marketing on Facebook. 

We hear all the time from clients that CPMs are increasing on social platforms. One FieldTest client reported a 3x increase in CPM on instagram alone with little to no increase in clicks or conversions. The explanation given by the platform? None, it’s kept completely opaque. Despite this, brands will continue to buy on these platforms due to the guarantee of a large proprietary audience and the name recognition of the service. For this reason, we like to think of Facebook and Instagram as “Retail” advertising experiences. For what you receive in access to a name brand platform with immediate name recognition and a proprietary audience, you also have little insight into pricing and performance metrics. You simply have to take them at their word that what you are receiving is in line with what you should reasonably expect. To the people inside of a retail store prices may seem reasonable, price markups hidden behind brand recognition and a sense that there is nowhere else to go, or at least nowhere as easy and effective.  From the outside looking in, the story is a little different. 

If Facebook is a retail advertising experience, then FieldTest is advertising wholesale. By giving you access to the most comprehensive library of audience segments online as well as the freedom to set your CPM, we expand the reach of your marketing and give you the freedom to choose exactly how much you want to spend to reach them. No more shady backroom deals influencing the distance your advertising dollar will take you, on FieldTest you are in complete control. 

What’s more, once your campaign is up and running we give you full transparency into your data so you can make informed decisions that will drive your CPMs down over time. While the average Facebook CPM has done nothing but increase over the last several years, the average FieldTest CPM drops between 10-50% in the first 90 days and stays put with proper strategy and campaign maintenance. All of this from a platform that is as simple and intuitive as any social media advertising platform.

When digital brands make decisions about their long-term marketing strategy, they have a lot of things to consider. Whether or not their advertising costs will increase on the whims of their chosen platforms should not be one of them. At FieldTest we are dedicated to giving consumers the freedom to reach their key audiences the way that best represents their brand, the information to make smart decisions with their marketing strategy, and the control to act on them and maximize their return on investment. The retail solutions will always be there, but any marketer worth their salt knows that the most efficient solution is always to shop wholesale.

Get in touch to find out how FieldTest can help you set up a high-performing ad campaign with full control over your CPMs wit no hidden retail fees or upcharges