Frequency Asked Questions
Raise your hand if you’ve been personally victimized by social advertising.
I can’t see you, but I’m going to go ahead and assume you’re raising your hand. It’s happened to just about everyone. You’re doing some online shopping for a new outfit for that wedding you have coming up, and you click around a few websites before giving up for the day. You get on Instagram and see an ad for one of the dresses you looked at. And then you see it again. And again. And again, for weeks. “Jeez,” you think. “Even if I actually liked this dress, these ads are so annoying they would make me want to buy it even less.”
This brings me to a question I’ve heard a few times over the course of my work: what if ads harm my business more than hurt them? After all, no one wants to get hit over the head with advertising, and there’s always a chance that rather than luring in a prospect, advertising could turn them off completely.
It’s true, sometimes social ads are annoying, and I have a sneaking suspicion the digital advertisers responsible for them are failing to monitor one essential metric: frequency.
Defined as the average number of times a user sees your ad, frequency is calculated by dividing your ad’s impressions (total number of times it’s been seen) by your ad’s reach (number of individual users who have seen your ad). The ad’s frequency is affected, in turn, by a balance of your ad set’s budget, audience size and duration, among other factors. If, for example, an ad set has too much budget for its audience size and a short timeline, it’s much more likely that your ads will be inundating your audience with excessive frequency. Before you know it, just like the drunk uncle at that wedding you went to, your audience has been overserved.
By contrast, if you don’t use enough budget for your audience size, you risk them not seeing your ad enough for it to make an impact. What if they were distracted the first time they scrolled past your ad and then they never see another one? They were a potential prospect who may have been primed to click on your ad with intent to purchase, but because you didn’t put enough budget behind your ad set, they only saw it once and forgot about your product.
I monitor my clients’ ads to ensure they’re all achieving that goldilocks-level frequency sweet spot. As a general rule, I shoot for an average of users seeing ads no more than twice per week, but the golden number depends on the phase of the marketing funnel you’re in. Brand awareness, for example, typically warrants higher frequency than a conversion ad. That’s because with brand awareness, you’re assuming the audience knows nothing about you and needs to become familiar with your product, whereas by the time you’re serving them a conversion ad, they know exactly who you are and don’t need as many reminders. Another factor to take into consideration is the urgency of the content you’re promoting – is it a one-day sale? Then feel free to boost up the frequency. They won’t see these ads again after today anyway and you want to make sure they act within your limited time frame.
Frequency isn’t the sexiest metric, but it’s an essential factor to monitor throughout your campaigns’ progress to ensure your ads are delivering results and cultivating goodwill with your audience. Need someone to keep an eye on your ads’ frequency (and everything else)? Let’s chat.