[calbear81]

I think you make a good point about ignoring the visits because at the end of the day it all comes down to the effective CPA (cost per action) or conversion rate. Much of the misconception and disappointment in Facebook ads come from folks who don't have a nuanced view of the differences in marketing channel effectiveness. It doesn't really matter what you pay as long it works out to the same ROI - better channels can charge more per visit, worse channels charge less. The only downside to having lower quality channels is that they blend down your overall metrics so you have to segment your reporting appropriately.

In the last Facebook bashing post, the author compared the CPC on Facebook to the cost on AdWords which is a terrible comparison because the intent of a directed search on a search engine is so much more legitimate than just being somewhat interested in something on Facebook.