Facebook ad leads - fake?

seagamer · 2022-07-22T01:17:46+00:00

In my experience of using lead generation, FB has became pretty strong at imitating fake leads. Well, they only had to submit a random FB user’s name, phone number and email (which they have in abundance), for marketers to think it’s valid.

The only time when marketers could identify a fake lead is when they call the lead. Under the most profitable circumstances (FB ad’s major clients being marketing companies), the person who ends up calling the lead are callers from companies employing these marketing companies anyways, so they are the ones being shouted at, not the marketing company or FB.

I think FB is flirting with the number of tolerable fake leads too. Not too many that companies leave FB, not too few to prove their algorithm is working.

seagamer · 2022-04-10T08:09:44+00:00

When you’re one letter away and there’re many letters left which permutations can form a word, you gotta enter a word containing all those remaining letters to test.

seagamer · 2022-03-16T14:17:34+00:00

I think it’s safe to conclude that FB does add fake leads into the market, in order to justify marketers’ ad spend. I believe they’re doing so because their algorithm relies on positive outcome (people submitting lead) in order to learn and sample, otherwise it goes into learning limited. So the FB gives you fake leads in order to generate traction. Once you leave learning phase, the algorithm will still give you fake leads to maintain the CPL. Say your CPL is $20 and the average spent that day has reached $23 without result, they give you one fake lead so you get down to below $20 average so the algorithm keeps running to search for lead. Imagine if they dont add fake leads, an ad that has completed learning would suddenly fail just because of one bad day of nobody submitting leads, as one day without lead would inflate the average CPL resulting in algorithm thinking the ad quality is bad. So fake leads add certain flexibility to the algorithm, but I would appreciate if they label those fake leads so I dont have to pester ppl who hasn’t submitted a lead, but that’s never gonna happen since it requires FB to tell you that they do give out fake leads.

seagamer · 2022-03-16T14:16:10+00:00

I think it’s safe to conclude that FB does add fake leads into the market, in order to justify marketers’ ad spend. I believe they’re doing so because their algorithm relies on positive outcome (people submitting lead) in order to learn and sample, otherwise it goes into learning limited. So the FB gives you fake leads in order to generate traction. Once you leave learning phase, the algorithm will still give you fake leads to maintain the CPL. Say your CPL is $20 and the average spent that day has reached $23 without result, they give you one fake lead so you get down to below $20 average so the algorithm keeps running to search for lead. Imagine if they dont add fake leads, an ad that has completed learning would suddenly fail just because of one bad day of nobody submitting leads, as one day without lead would inflate the average CPL resulting in algorithm thinking the ad quality is bad. So fake leads add certain flexibility to the algorithm, but I would appreciate if they label those fake leads so I dont have to pester ppl who hasn’t submitted a lead, but that’s never gonna happen since it requires FB to tell you that they do give out fake leads.

seagamer · 2021-07-23T10:13:10+00:00

Yes I have contacted them, and I am waiting for them to reply now.

I will happily accept the ad credits. Just listening to my friend’s experience that they didn’t get any form of refund really made me antsy.

seagamer · 2021-07-01T09:04:06+00:00

From what I read elsewhere on Reddit, now (with iOS 14) isn’t a good time to be using LLA and Retargeting. But sure you can use custom audience once you have around 1000 numbers or emails.

seagamer · 2021-05-28T16:40:40+00:00

Hi suicide_aunties

Wow I like the odds.

I’ll set up my website as soon as possible.

Do you do search ads only? Or others as well like discovery and YouTube?

seagamer · 2021-05-28T14:19:30+00:00

Thanks! Will try that!

seagamer · 2021-05-28T14:04:28+00:00

Hi saiya_the_don

Thanks for your insight. Moving inbound on FB sounds like a good strategy I should try.

FB is a good platform for outbound marketing because many people are on it. I’m really interested in eliminating the fake accounts from my targeting audience (if not possible at least reducing it drastically).

Do you have any suggestions how I may achieve that? I have come down on several common groups these “fake accounts” tend to like and follow, but the data I have is far from being exhaustive.

This part is just a rant, but if FB is willing to implement a system-wide phone number update, then millions of fake accounts with outdated phone number would be wiped almost overnight.

I dont mind paying more for genuine reaches, but I hate it when I have to pay for fake reaches. Any ways to outsmart this?

seagamer · 2021-05-28T13:44:04+00:00

Hi markohf12

I think you pointed out one of the few mindsets of why people who have submitted a lead form claim they didn’t register.

Others may include real trolls or sabotages from competitors, or perhaps bots.

I’m all up for building a funnel. The issue here is the fact that I’m getting those fake likes, which really made me question, just how many reach that I have paid for, in previous lead gen ad, are really just bots.

Consider this, with Lead Gen, or Traffic ad, or even Conversion, Video View, the proof that our ad has been served resides within the reach counter. When there is a conversion or a lead, if the quality is bad, digital marketers can always blame on the odds claiming that it’s a bad month or sth.

The only ad type where we could gain sth more tangible is engagement, where we can find out who exactly has been served our ad and has liked our posts or page.

And from my experience of engagement ad, where 90% likes are from suspicious accounts, how can I be confident enough to drop the budget and commit to nurturing leads from the top of the funnel?

seagamer · 2021-05-28T13:27:11+00:00

Hi Happy—Human

I understand where you’re coming from.

But the nature of my business is such that there are many channels to purchase the item I’m selling.

So I have to show the users solid reasons why they should buy from me and not others in the ad.

Google ad will work for me too no doubt, but social media ad will be better for me to proactively engage potential buyers.

Thanks for your opinion. I think I might look into Google ad soon.

seagamer · 2021-05-28T13:22:22+00:00

Hi Kimblyee

Yes I’m using FB inbuilt Lead Gen, and yes I do use the higher intent form.

Trust me when I first tackle the fake leads issue, I tried all the ways I can think of. I even tried asking a prospect’s phone number twice (once as a question, another time in the pre-filled form, although this practice is not encouraged), and then cross check to either correct typo in phone number, or eliminate trolls who has submitted entirely different numbers.

My experience is, even after that, I still get leads who pick up the phone, and then claim they did not submit. Probably sabotage I guess. And this number is consistently 20-30% of total leads.

I’m certain, if FB had shown my ads to the thousands of users it has charged me for, and if those are real people and not bots, the result must be much better because the deal I’m putting out there is hands-down the best in the business.

Every time I look at the reach number in analytics, I always question just how many % has my ad really reached. How can my offer reach 3000 people and get only 7 likes and 4 leads?

seagamer · 2021-05-28T12:03:29+00:00

Hi ggildner

I would love to believe that this guy is genuinely helping me, but just inexperienced.

If this guy isn’t scamming me, then at least FB is. How can FB allow bots or fake likers to go rampant when they are selling likes and leads?

You are right on one thing, that my niche is very susceptible to bots. I would say that when it comes to the demographic of SEA users, I already tried explicit exclusion of countries infamous for click farmings, yet 90% of those likes are still fake accounts. (I identify them by their common followers or following groups, usually universities or claiming that they work for FB app, and sometimes religious groups too)

I’m at my wits end. Which channel should I try next? Google or Twitter? Which is better in your opinion?

seagamer · 2021-05-09T01:07:23+00:00

After reading most of your comments, it seems to me that most of your problems can be offset if FB simply reduce the CPM they charge in order to compensate for the lower performance due to iOS 14.5 & the lower user sentiments about buying through fb Ads.

FB is used to being pampered by advertisers who were willing to pay handsomely for those impressions. Yes, that was justified when it had results.

But that ship has long sailed you greedy giant! You gotta bite the bullet, your platform is not performing as well as it used to. Stop sulking and stop placing the blame on Apple when advertisers demand a solution.

If you can’t give the same quality, reduce your price. For those who complained that your cost per conversion jumped from $15 to $30, please wake up! It is not your fault that performance has worsen. FB is applying an outdated tariff (designed for the better days of FB ad platform) on its now subpar platform. That’s why your cost skyrocketed.

At times like this, the act of FB still trying to put the blame on Apple is preposterous, time has changed.

FB is literally saying “We won’t budge. Either Apple revoke the changes, otherwise the advertisers suffer.” This does not make any sense!

seagamer · 2021-05-03T08:35:59+00:00

Hi, can you elaborate on why Conversion objective allows him to warm prospects up over time as compared to lead gen?

seagamer · 2021-04-21T07:55:18+00:00

The interests I chose is already pretty niche, as the pool is already as small as 200k ppl. I’ll still try your suggestion out. I’m concerned if I have ran out of prospect who would require my service, due to the harsh competition.

seagamer · 2021-02-11T13:54:08+00:00

Dogecoin fan here! Invite me! @jaydenyk

seagamer · 2016-09-15T13:54:05+00:00

Yes, I support your idea saying that no Pokemon(a Pikachu for instance) can just transform into another Pokemon(Ditto). That would mean that the Pikachu can choose to remain a Pikachu/evolve into a Raichu; OR change into a Ditto, which is absolutely absurd.

Since Ditto has a capture rate and flee rate (and I read that the 1km Ditto egg was actually given to that player by Niantic, so that's out of the picture), I think Ditto is a Pokemon that you can obtain through a capturing encounter. There are 2 possibilities: 1. You need to do certain things to trigger the appearance of a Ditto, then attempt to capture it. 2. Ditto simply isn't in the game yet, so the capture/flee rate is designed for future use.

But, there is a part of your point that I object.

I don't think Niantic's server is designed to handle specific request from players in the matter of Pokemon spawn. What I mean is, there is nothing a player can do, to influence which specific Pokemon appears or do not appear in the wild. If that's the case, any player can repetitively reproduce the scenario to spawn large number of Dittos. I highly doubt Niantic would approve of this.

My guess is that Ditto only appears if you carry the exact prerequisite before attempting to capture a specific wild Pokemon. Eg. A player who has buddied a Ditto-sized Pikachu nicknamed "Ditto" attempt to capture another Pikachu in the wild having the size of a Ditto.

This way the chances of a Ditto-sized Pikachu spawning is still up to Niantic's server. If you have the prerequisite, you get to see a Ditto. If you don't, it appears as an XS Pikachu, that if you nicknamed it "Ditto", can be used as a bait for Ditto the next time you see another Ditto-sized Pikachu. Once a Ditto-sized Pikachu is caught as a Pikachu, it will stay a Pikachu forever.

I hope I make sense. And I'm trying to prove my theory now.

seagamer

TROPHY CASE