With increased scrutiny of its revenues since going public, Facebook is trying to up its sell to marketers. Instead of focusing on clicks, it is now trying to turn its focus onto real world sales, and more effective targeting.

The company has put together a survey with Datalogix, which analyses data related to real world sales, and found that under one per cent of sales tied to Facebook ads came from a click i.e. just because someone doesn’t click on your ad, it doesn’t mean they won’t buy the product.

It is a sign that Facebook wants to move away from a world where “click is king”, according to their head of measurement and insights Brad Smallwood.

Instead it wants to work to get more effective advertising by adjusting the amount of time someone sees an ad, and who the target audience is.

Facebook would obviously argue that these changes make its platform more profitable and compelling to marketers. Advertising though is becoming an increasingly data and metric focused practice in the social age, and Facebook will have to provide the proof that these changes are generating real sales for advertisers.

The company is going to start tracking what we buy in shops using the extensive loyalty card database that Datalogix has access to.

It is also going to start targeting people based on their web browsing outside of Facebook, so you could get an ad for a online shop whose website you visit, even if you don’t like their page.

It all sounds quite intrusive, and could lead to a push back from users. We all remember Beacon… Ultimately though, so long as people actively keep their accounts running Facebook will try and give advertisers as much data as possible.

COO Sheryl Sandberg has been publicly batting back the notion that Facebook ads are not beneficial to advertisers, and not making the company enough money.

She told American TV network CNBC that social adverts can be incredibly effective” for brands, and that the services mobile app was “boosting engagment”. Perhaps so, but not enough money yet, as Sandberg also said that Facebook was looking at creating premium services for businesses.

Facebook last week launched its Gifts service as another revenue stream, and is clearly sensitive to criticisms about its revenue streams, or lack thereof.