Would love to see a formal post on FB ad tips. In addition:

Images in ads typically get a higher CTR.

Use the “keyword targeting” option with caution as this can significantly narrow your audience and not always in a good way.

Always a good idea to run ads and have them point directly to your fan page in order to boost/maintain new fan rate.

Great post.

I agree Facebook Ads Manager is a joke. It’s like doing PPC Management in the GoTo days before Overture, LOL.

There is sooo much room for improvement. I think they grew so fast and rolled out their Facebook Ads program before they could really create a good UI.

However, the potential for Facebook Ads is encouraging. In some verticals that I am testing on I am seeing a higher conversion % than Google Adwords.

I should really write up a formal post on this but here are some quick tips on Facebook Ads:

If you use Google Analytics don’t submit any URL’s to FB w/o first running them through the Google URL Builder.

Use a consistent naming structure so you know how each ad is performing when you look through GA.

Test several Ad Variations/images to see what gets you the highest click through rate.

More focused (keywords you target) FB Ads will get you higher click through rate and a lower CPC.

If I write up an article on FB Ads I’ll post the link here.

Oh and until recently you were able to use multiple $50 Free Trial FB Ads Coupons that FB was giving away on the same account. So you could try a new ad, spend the $50 and if was converting keep it running if not pause/delete it. FB finally wised up and stopped this. But give it a try it might still work for you.

Nick – I agree. I get very frustrated with some of the sketchy ads and app updates. There certainly needs to be stricter regulation surrounding applications, fan pages and ad messaging in relation to actual landing pages.

And that the vibe has kind of been killed for what started out as something very niche and relevant for college kids. But I still have hope as they have an opportunity here to class up their ad serving platform with greater relevancy so they won’t turn into the wasteland that MySpace has become.

I understand where you’re coming from, and I guess from your standpoint, and at facebook’s current place, it would be nice to have the things you suggested. But I’m not comfortable with the goofy ads (99% of which are digging through MY profile information to generate phony phishy ads about my supposed likes and dislikes)

I’ve just grown tired of all these social networking sites just trying to 1up each other. Facebook used to be something different and unique for college students and alums, and for them, and now it’s gone and gotten more facelifts than Joan Rivers, and is just trying to figure ways to integrate the success of other companies into its model

Perhaps I wouldn’t be so grumpy about the changes if things like applications and fan pages faced a CONSIDERABLE amount more scrutiny and administrative approval before being replaced. I’m tired of my “suggestions” page being filled with nonsensical fanpages of phrases, inanimate objects, and fake celebrity homesites. Hell, even most of the legitimate ones are just run by publicists, where’s the person-to-person connection when someone else is ghost writing the page?

Want to find a cool application for your page? Good luck sifting through the 75% of things that will spam you, take and sell your personal information and more. No, I think Facebook forgot it’s “A” game years and years ago. Perhaps you should be referring to their “C” game.

Luckily, I was able to talk with someone in support through email and phone.

I expressed my concerns that are basically what you wrote about at different points and, according to the facebook representatives, these are things that they will be possibly working on/thinking about implementing in the future.

a.) Absolutely zero customer service or tech support, even for companies who are interested in paid services, until you send enough angry messages and phone calls, after which you get a LITTLE customer support.

b.) Basically no peer-to-peer support. (Compare to MySpace, with great peer-to-peer support for personal accounts and responsive corporate support for businesses.)