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Facebook   pay‑  per‑  click  advertising

Facebook has adopted the successful  pay-  per-  click model from Google in an effort to mon-

etise its audience. Mini case study 9.1, below, summarises the benefits. The case study shows 

how you can target effectively in Facebook and increase awareness of a service beyond 

Google, while limiting your exposure through a CPC investment. But it also shows a much 

lower response rate than Google Adwords. This is to be expected since customers aren’t in 

research or buy mode – they’re socialising! So it’s worth remembering that although not dis-

closed in this case study, conversion rates are likely to be lower too.

Mini Case Study 9.1

Saxo Bank is a global investment bank with headquarters in Denmark specialising in online trading and 

investment across international financial markets.

Saxo Bank uses Facebook’s standard advertising units to advertise three products: Forex Trading, CFD 

Trading and Saxo Premium Account. It uses targeting by  finance‑  related, sporting and luxury keywords 

which may be used in people’s profiles when they express their interest and passion. It also targets by their 

demographics. Using both of these targeting characteristics enables them to reach around 600,000 people 

on Facebook.

Head of marketing at Saxo Bank UK, Stuart Rice, describes the advantages:

Facebook ads have a tremendous advantage over Google (which we also use) because we can target 

people who perhaps use words like ‘Rolex’, ‘yachting’ or ‘shooting’ in their profiles. It enables me to target 

to a better degree than Google.

Ads are bought on a  cost‑  per‑  click (CPC) basis because it makes them easier to monitor; according to Rice:

I just know with CPC what it has cost me when someone clicks there. If I bought 100,000 impressions I’d 

have to spend a lot of time going through the data to see what I got for my money.