By Will Burghes, Head of Professional Services, DV Rockerbox
Today, most new brands start advertising on Meta and Google first, and it’s surprising how far those two channels alone can take you! Meta offers plenty of reach and prospecting opportunities while Google can put you directly in front of in-market shoppers. Between them, you have access to two of North America's largest social platforms, its most influential search platform and its premier online video platform (YouTube). That is more than any brand needs to start and scale effectively.
In the beginning, your budgets might be small and your tactics limited. But over time, you can develop sophisticated campaigns and diverse audiences which will require a robust measurement system to maintain and optimize. At DV Rockerbox™, we propose an evolving, advanced measurement framework even when your setup appears deceptively straightforward.
Low Spend and Simple Campaigns
For when you just have one strategy or tactic per publisher
- Use platform-only attribution supplemented by site analytics
- Use Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads reporting as your primary sources of truth
- Cross-reference platform data with Google Analytics (GA4) to understand the full conversion path
- Be aware that site analytics is click-biased and will typically over-credit Google while under-crediting Meta's view-through impact
- Set up basic UTM tracking to distinguish between different campaign types and tactics
- Monitor key efficiency metrics (CPA, ROAS, CTR) directly in each platform
Moderate Spend and More Complex Campaigns
Once you start running multiple strategies on Facebook and Google, such as prospecting vs. remarketing and brand vs. non-brand search
- Begin a testing program to go beyond what you can get natively from Google and Meta
- Run geo holdout tests to measure true incrementality and designate control markets where you reduce or pause spend
- Test different budget splits between Meta and Google to find your optimal allocation
- Establish a testing calendar
- Invest in an multi-touch activation (MTA) solution to go beyond what your site analytics is telling you
- Choose a vendor that captures view-through exposures, not just clicks. This is critical for being able to identify paths from awareness campaigns, brand search, andretargeting
- Implement a unified tracking solution that can tie together cross-device and cross-browser journeys
- Use your MTA data to understand how Meta and Google work together in the customer journey (e.g., Meta introduces, Google converts)
High Spend and Complex Campaigns
Once you start spending substantial amounts with highly complex interactive strategies on both Google and Meta
- Invest heavily in controlled experiments to supplement and double-check what is available to you on these platforms
- Run geo-holdout tests to measure true incrementality and designate control markets where you increase, reduce or pause spend
- Continue testing in market throughout the year
The Bottom Line
Your measurement approach should grow alongside your advertising sophistication. What works when you're spending $10,000 a month on a few simple campaigns will fall apart when you're spending $500,000 on dozens of campaigns with varied objectives. The key is to invest in the right measurement tools at the right time. Not too early when you can't fully use them, but not so late that you're flying blind as you scale either.
The beauty of a Meta- and Google-only strategy is its simplicity. But don't let that simplicity fool you into thinking measurement can be simple too. These platforms are sophisticated, but their attribution models have built-in biases based on what they are trying to measure, and an accurate understanding of the true incremental value of your spend takes more than looking at what the platforms tell you. Start with the basics, and have a roadmap for evolution. Both your future self and your CFO will thank you.
Next Steps
Contact a DV representative.
Learn more about DV Rockerbox.
