The Ethical Marketer’s Rules of Engagement
Facebook Ads is a prodigal channel, a tactical road for marketers to take en route to attaining carefully thought-out objectives, perhaps in tandem with other channels. When targeting users to receive ad impressions, take care to understand the community you’re dealing with and how your messages jive.
Because the advertisements are contextually targeted, users’ acquiescence to advertisers is more tacit than search, where users query for specific results. As a result, the psychological dynamic is a lot different. It’s almost as if marketers are invited into closely knit virtual municipalities where community members are connected by the essence of who they are rather than physical borders. Users do click those little Xs, which make specific ads go away. If enough users take the trouble to indicate that your ad annoys them, Facebook supposedly banishes the ad from showing. Here’s what we think are best practices when serving socially targeted ads.
Follow the Law
In nearly every part of the world, there is at least some form of protection for intellectual property, including text, images, catchphrases, logos, product names, and other assets. At the end of the day, following laws for the jurisdiction in which marketing is deployed is the single most important consideration.
In the world of search, there have been a number of cases where litigants slugged out how laws are applied to triggering ads with keywords, displaying trademarks or service marks in ad copy, and use of copyrighted materials. Throughout legal history, concepts of slander and libel have been litigated, adjudicated, and appealed, and tons of law has been made. Scams are scams, whether perpetuated in the back alley or on Facebook. Fraud is fraud and negligence is negligence.
These types of lawsuits and the outcomes are old news in traditional channels. Also, many industries have regulations that govern where and how advertising can be done. There are certain restrictions (or not) on tobacco, booze, sex, drugs, and gambling in certain areas of the world.
Gross and subtle distinctions between applicable laws in the United States, England, China, Australia, and everywhere else in the world Facebook penetrates would easily be a book in itself. However, there are fundamental rules that, if followed, will help keep you out of trouble.
Note: I’m not a lawyer so do not construe this as legal advice. Please visit with your friendly internationally qualified law firm for input as to your specific situation.
Don’t assume that because your ad is still running, you’ve not violated the law somewhere. TOS violations can get you kicked off of Facebook. Violating the law can gut your business and ruin your life.
Don’t say anything that’s not true. Assertions of any kind should be rooted in documented and indisputable facts. That said, always telling the truth doesn’t protect you from being sued. Especially when dealing with big companies, it can cost a crazy amount of money to respond to even a frivolous action brought against you.
Read and understand the license for any creative materials you purchase. If you’re working with an independent contractor to create intellectual property to be used in your ads and landing pages, make sure that the contractor vouches that the intellectual property is clear of restrictions. The last thing any business needs is to get sued for ripping off somebody else’s intellectual property.
Be wary of highly aggressive competitive practices. If in doubt, don’t do it. We can’t find any case law defining what’s legal or not about triggering Facebook Ads by targeting other companies’ brand-name fans who have expressed the brand proclivity in their interests. It is reasonable to expect that such case law will exist in the near future because it’s a serious hot button. Always consider and explain to clients and/or your boss that such practices may result in legal exposure.
Advertising on Facebook, as mainstream as it is, still amounts to gun slinging in the old Wild West. They’re more than happy to sell you the ability to target people who “like” Martha Stewart or Malt-O-Meal, regardless of the future legality thereof or where the data comes from on the social graph with respect to privacy settings.
Don’t pretend you’re someone you’re not. In some parts of the world, it’s literally against the law to run a sock puppet avatar. The legal noose is beginning to close in on those who post fake reviews in the United States. More American states are passing laws which criminalize online impersonation.
Follow terms of service. When it comes to what we can and cannot sell on Facebook, the restrictions evolved largely out of (a) the terrible advertisements Facebook accepted when the site was young, and (b) ruthless affiliate marketers spamming the tar out of Facebook users. While most marketers fudge a little here and there, finding sneaky ways to market restricted products such as lotteries or pharmaceuticals won’t work out for anybody.
Only market things that have real value. It is said that the only real way to attain wealth is by the creation of value. The best Facebook Ads campaign is for a product that doesn’t suck. An age-old adage in the marketing business is that “you can’t wrap a turd up in a pretty bow” and expect happy customers, good reviews, and repeat business. Don’t be in denial about “value” and what it really means to a targeted user. Again, if it feels wrong, don’t do it. If testing shows users don’t care, stop. We’ve seen community backlash starting with the committed and outspoken angst of a single user that mushroomed virally into reputation problems for businesses.
Facebook Ads is a double-edged sword. While we may reap the benefits of serving ads into an environment where users can easily share something good they’ve discovered with their peeps, it’s just as easy to propagate disdain. Trust me, one bent Facebook user can cause stress, legal bills, and lost sales. Don’t market products having little or no value. It can come back to bite you or your client. Trust your instincts and don’t delude yourself or others.
Keep promises. Think of ad copy as making a promise, lined up with a landing page that keeps the promises. Strive to make landing pages validate the users’ clicks with an “Atta boy (or girl), way to click on the most appropriate ad. Now you’re at the perfect place.”
Don’t be too creepy. I was contacted last February by an advertiser who was selling outpatient psychological services, targeting 50- to 60-year-old women in a very small community in rural Minnesota. He wanted to target those interested in Alcoholics Anonymous with messages like, “When Going to AA is Not Enough to Get Over Your Horrible Divorce,” and “Being Drunk Didn’t Help, Going to AA Didn’t Help,” and so on. We didn’t take the job. Coming from a recovery background, I knew that such messaging transcended the creep-factor I was comfortable with.
Facebook ads are insidious and lovely all at once. There’s a deep psychological tug that seems to occur in tightly targeted demographics. Our agency helps to market a well-known online marketing conference series. The product, and therefore, the ads were all about SEO, PPC, social media—all things I personally love and express in my social graph. Our team deployed a number of ads, which ended up being targeted to my Facebook page. I clicked those ads over and over, only to discover that I’d been taken in by my own shop’s targeting prowess! The targeting and ads are just that deep, resonating on a level beyond visceral. Watch your step. Be gentle. Don’t be egregious in manipulating people’s feelings and perceptions.
Manipulate only to serve. On the other hand, we’re in the channel to make money, friends, or both. Guile and ingenuity that lead users to a conclusion serving mutual needs are totally in order. Reasonable manipulation might include ads that end up being served to a competitor’s fans, say for a new, better, and cheaper product and without disclosing the competitive nature of the ad until the landing page.
It’s not wrong to make chocolate lovers drool over a fantastic truffle picture on the way to a landing page that’s about a fabulous candy recipe book. Nor is it out-of-bounds to brand orthopedic surgery targeted at high-school-age athletes and their parents. When it gets to clever-time, ask whether the desired outcome of the ad and landing page truly serves the user.
We often ask clients, “If the bionic fireman saves that cat from the burning tree, is the cat any less dead?” Sure, there was manipulation going on: The fireman wasn’t real, but the cat isn’t dead, right? Ergo, manipulate only to serve.
Set realistic KPIs. We’ll get into this in much greater detail later on, but for now, consider this: Many marketers get poor results with their Facebook ad campaigns. People have come to us saying, “What gives? We served 80 million impressions but the CTR (click-through ratio) was only .02 percent. The visitors stayed on the landing page for 50 seconds on average, drilled into the main site, but did not buy.”
OK, let’s have a look. First, .02 percent is a fine CTR for many Facebook Ads campaigns. Facebook won’t shut the ad down for that. Second, that’s 80 million impressions, branding the product to pretty much everybody who sees the ads. The other side of a low CTR for CPC (cost per click) ad with massive impression volume is the incredibly low CPM (cost per thousand impressions). Google can cost upwards of five times the CPM. The campaign may be justified as an incredibly low-cost and highly targeted branding play. If the appropriate expectations had been set, the perception of success might have changed.
Sure, Facebook ads can be terrific direct response, first-touch-sales mechanisms. However, we all know that many conversions require more than one interaction with a customer. Plan what your ads are for. Set realistic goals. Don’t put too much pressure on the channel with unrealistic expectation
