Campaign Crash Course: How Facebook's ad auction works

Welcome back to Campaign Asia-Pacific's Crash Course learning series, in which you will learn valuable lessons and practical business tips on trending and essential topics from industry experts in just five minutes. Think of it as a mini mini MBA, if you will.

Lessons will cover the breadth of the marcomms industry, including technology, creative, media, strategy, leadership, diversity and inclusion and more. We'll start off by introducing you to larger topics and delve deeper into specific elements in the future. This series is designed to be useful to C-suite executives as well as those just starting out in their careers.

The 13th lesson in the Crash Course series delves into the intricacies of the Facebook ad auction. The ad auction is responsible for pulling in bids from advertisers. An algorithm then assigns a value to each ad, and decides in which order to show the ads within Facebook's family of apps based on various signals.

For advertisers, success is not purely down to how much budget they assign to Facebook ads, and there's no 'one size fits all' playbook. There are a multitide of factors to take into account in order to 'game' the algorithm and reach as wide an audience as possible. Given Facebook accounts for roughly one-fifth of global ad spend, this lesson is a must-watch for any marketers.

In this lesson you will learn:

• How Facebook's ad auction compares to a traditional ad auction.
• The pros and cons of different bid strategies.
• The components of how Facebook assigns value to ads.
• Strategy and creative tips to boost relevance and success.

Your teacher

Catherine Wong is currently an associate media director at VaynerMedia APAC, responsible for leading media buying and strategy for more than 10 clients across FMCG, telecommunications and finance verticals.

Wong has served at the digital agency for more than four years, first in London as a media analyst where she planned and executed campaigns for entertainment and real estate brands. She moved to Singapore in May 2019 to become one of the first employees at VaynerMedia APAC, and was promoted from her role as media manager in March this year. Outside of work, she is a certified personal trainer and an avid baker.

The quiz

After you watch the above video, test your knowledge of Facebook media buying with this quiz:

Campaign Crash Course is an ongoing series with new courses to be released on Fridays. We are always looking for feedback and ideas. Have a suggestion or want to take part? Complete our feedback form or email our editors.