What is Facebook Exchange?
FBX allows programmatic buying of Facebook ad inventory through real-time bidding. Agencies, trading desks and direct marketers can buy Facebook ads using the same consumer intent data they use on other exchanges. Instead of aggregating many domains in a central marketplace, FBX offers Facebook only inventory which is bought on a dynamic CPM basis.
FBX has been around since mid-2012 in the US and rolled out later to international markets. Currently, retargeted FBX ads appear on the right hand column of a Facebook user’s page but since May 2013 Facebook is extending exchange ads to the news feed section. This development will provide even greater prominence on the site.
How does FBX Work?
When a user visits and interacts with a website using a Demand Side Platform’s (DSP) cookies, he/she will be recorded by that cookie. Later on he/she will visit Facebook and the social network will recognise the DSP data and what that user has been looking at elsewhere on the internet.
The DSP will start taking bids on the exchange with targeting drawn from the cookie data. The user is then served preloaded ads from the advertiser.
It is worth noting that the ads served are Facebook’s own unique ad formats and not IAB standard types. Creatives for FBX ads should be in the Facebook Ad Space Unit (ASU) standard to match the side bar impression ads with a custom spec for the news feed insertions.
Why Should You Use FBX?
Over 1 billion people, including most of your customers, are literally parked on Facebook and browsing on the site all day long. The average user spends over 11 hours per month on Facebook, logging in multiple times per day. The average time per session on Facebook is over 3 times longer than most other sites. Essentially this makes it many people’s internet front page and a preeminent location for retargeted advertising from other places they visit online.
US DSP AdRoll has seen enormous growth for advertisers in FBX retargeted ads. After FBX was launched in August 2012, they found a 3% impression rate from the exchange, but this had risen to over 66% of advertisers’ retargeted impressions by December 2012.
FBX is ideal for marketers who want to expand the reach off their current exchange-based remarketing and behavioural targeted audience buys across 1 billion active users.
Facebook is the #1 site on the internet with 70% of all internet users registered. 1 in 7 people are on Facebook right now. The majority of people who visit a site would see your FBX ad within an hour. So there are strong benefits in FBX in terms of scale and recency. There is a high potential for prospecting to find new individuals using DSP search data and applying it to the Facebook community through FBX.
They are also converting with fewer impressions, and at a considerably lower CPM than elsewhere. Initial reports also suggest CPAs on FBX are a lot lower compared to other major exchanges and FBX outperforms above the fold only ads on other exchanges at a lower cost.
FBX is also being extended to appear in the user’s newsfeed. A report by US social media advertiser Nanigans has found a massive increase in engagement with these ads; with an average 17% higher CTR and 40% lower CPC. So the future potential of newsfeed enabled FBX ads is bright.
There is also huge potential in being an early bird in the FBX world. In January 2013, only 12.8% of US marketers were using the exchange as it was still an unknown quantity. The months since have seen FBX go from strength to strength and marketers are starting to catch on. Now is an ideal time to get involved to get a better share in the bidding market and take advantage of DSP cookie data before FBX advertising explodes on the European market.
How can Insightful Media Help?
Insightful Media has access to FBX and we would love to show you how to scale your current marketing program using FBX inventory. An estimated 15% of users on Facebook Exchange cannot be accessed anywhere else in the RTB world and Insightful Media can increase your campaigns net reach through FBX.
To discuss FBX options with Insightful Media, contact Lee on (01) 703 0406 or email lee@insightfulmedia.ie
