Facebook Ad CPCs Increased 22% in Q2 2011
Efficient Frontier’s “Global Digital Marketing Performance Report: Q2 2011” reveals that search spend growth in the second quarter slowed down from its pace in the previous quarter. It also found that Facebook ad cost per click (CPC) significantly increased quarter-over-quarter.
According to the report, search spend was up 8 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, which was slower than the 17 percent increase observed in the first quarter.
Google got 78.5 percent of spend in the second quarter, leaving Yahoo/Bing with 21.5 percent. In the first quarter, Google had 79.2 percent, while Yahoo/Bing had 20.8 percent.
With regard to click share, Google had 80.8 percent, while Yahoo/Bing had 19.2 percent. These marks were virtually unchanged from the 80.6 percent and 19.4 percent, respectively, observed in the first quarter.
Median CPC on Facebook increased 22 percent quarter-over-quarter, according to Efficient Frontier. However, the report notes the high volatility in the “young channel,” as the minimum CPC change observed was a decrease of 11 percent, while the maximum was an increase of 95 percent.
Facebook spend accounted for 5 percent of overall search spend in the second quarter. “However, there are outlier brands where this rises to 25% of Search spend, depending on seasonality and specific promotions,” according to the report. “At this point, most signs seem to point that Facebook spend is incremental and not cannibalizing Search.”
Efficient Frontier notes that there is some anecdotal cannibalization occurring in retail during promotional times, and that some large advertisers in the entertainment category rely solely on Facebook advertising.
Every brand post on Facebook received an average of 100 comments, with bigger brands getting more interactions. According to Efficient Frontier, every 17,000 additional fans generates one additional comment per post.
The report also showed that Google’s impressions rose 7 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, while Yahoo/Bing’s impressions declined 3 percent.
Google’s clicks rose 14 percent year-over-year, showing that the search giant has found ways to improve CTR. Yahoo/Bing’s clicks declined 14 percent year-over-year.
Meanwhile, Google’s CPCs declined 1 percent year-over-year, and Yahoo/Bing’s CPCs rose 6 percent.
Google’s return on investment (ROI) was down 7 percent year-over-year, while Yahoo/Bing’s was up 8 percent.
Efficient Frontier expects Facebook CPCs to continue rising at a double-digit pace, with 80 percent growth this year. It also expects that Yahoo/Bing will benefit if its ROI improvements continue.
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