By Salvador Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times –
LOS ANGELES — Facebook is rebuffing claims that its advertisements are ineffective. It’s come out with its own research results, which show that most ad campaigns get companies $3 for every $1 they spend.
The new data released by the social network company was released Tuesday together with ComScore in a report that also shows how Facebook ads have helped companies including Starbucks and Target.
Facebook said its research shows that 70 percent of ad campaigns will get advertisers a return three times what they put in, and in nearly half of all campaigns, Facebook ads get companies $5 for every $1.
ComScore said that users who saw paid ads for an unnamed retail company were 16 percent more likely than those who didn’t to make a purchase from the company’s locations and made online purchases 56 percent more frequently, according to a Bloomberg report.
The report also showed people who “Like” Target were more likely to buy from the company 21 percent more frequently, and people who saw unpaid marketing messages from Starbucks made purchases from the company every four weeks 38 percent more often than those who didn’t.
“This provides some strong evidence that Facebook can be an effective marketing channel,” said Andrew Lipsman, vice president of industry analysis at ComScore, to Bloomberg. “These are strong results.”
The study is based on 60 campaigns in recent years but only addresses Facebook’s non-mobile platform, leaving up in the air how effective its mobile advertisements are.
The new report comes out about a month after General Motors announced that it was pulling all of its Facebook ads just prior to the social network company going public, which raised concerns from would-be investors.
Reuters added to those concerns by releasing a poll earlier this month that showed that 80 percent of Facebook users said the site’s ads had never influenced them.
