2 builders who never spoke to each other

Do not take the platform's word for anything

Reconcile the clicks you are billed for against the sessions your own analytics records, in the first days rather than at the end: one campaign showed under five recorded visitors for every hundred clicks charged, because people were tapping the image to expand it, and the fix was an ad format where only the link is clickable. Impressions cannot be audited at all and the discrepancies favour the seller. Never raise a budget because the platform's own insights panel recommends it; set automated rules and watch the costs.

The method

1. 01

   Reconcile the clicks the ad platform bills you for against the visitors your own analytics records, since impressions cannot be audited at all and platform discrepancies favor the platform.

2. 02

   Compare the clicks a platform bills you for against sessions in your own analytics within the first days of a campaign, and switch ad formats if the gap is large.

3. 03

   Do not raise search budgets because the platform's own insights panel tells you to; set automated rules and watch costs instead.

What it returned

• 5

  A Twitter Ads campaign he ran showed under 5 analytics visitors for every 100 clicks Twitter charged for, because people were tapping the image to expand it; he moved to a format where only the text link is clickable.

Sources

• B2B SaaS Marketing - Getting started with paid acquisitionChris Frantz · chrisfrantz.com · Google Search – the best place to start · 2020-04-23
• How to Use LinkedIn Sponsored Content to Get Sales LeadsGreg Kogan · gkogan.co · Set Up and Run the LinkedIn Sponsored Content Campaign · 2016-06-10
• Why Ad Campaigns FailGreg Kogan · gkogan.co · Platform Errors · 2017-01-17