Facebook advertising

[jimh]

I'm trying to learn about FB advertising:  artist/business pages, boosting posts, targeting audiences, hashtags, etc.   A Google search turns up endless sites supposedly giving you the whole inside story; they're all rubbish, endless vague hype, clickbait for ads for ads for more ads.     

And FB just announced they're changing the game again, in ways no one really understands yet.  So I assume a lot of what's out there is partially obsolete.

I'm an old school guy who reads books and doesn't want to sit through videos, seminars, online courses etc.

Anyone want to recommend a good book on advertising with FaceBook?

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... Anyone want to recommend a good book on advertising with FaceBook?

If online resources are already obsolete, that book must have been written on a scroll of papyrus

Joking aside, the only one who benefits from Facebook advertising is Facebook itself.

[sdwilsonsct]

Joking aside, the only one who benefits from Facebook advertising is Facebook itself.

Could be. The "reach" of my posts is a small fraction of my followers, and FB offers to extend the reach to more of my followers if I send money.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Here is an example: 920 people reached in a week, only 19 clicks on my web site that I was promoting, at about $1 per click.

[Colorado David]

I've run Facebook ads and received 3800 views and 31 clicks through to my website with zero purchases. Working on Facebook gives you the illusion of productivity.

[tom b]

I've never bought anything through Facebook advertising. It is an intrusion that I… you know the feeling.

I have bought a camera through Michael's articles. I'm a happy owner of a GH2 {and GX7). Just fighting myself as to which M43 lens/lenses I'll take on my new trip to Honk Kong and southern Italy.

Cheers

[danielc]

I'm absolutely not an expert, and I definitely need some more education in terms of better targeting of customers, but using basic targeting for my city I've spent about $400 in 6 months with Facebook.

I've had only one directly, 100% attributable purchases through it, and I have recouped the advertising cost from sales of small products as a direct result of the advertising.

As a bonus (and the reason I keep doing it) is that as part of a campaign/multi channel advertising strategy it is a good part.

Often I had people come and purchase from me that may not have otherwise as they have seen a few of my advertisements over a period of months and it has grown my brand trust with them to the point that they feel comfortable laying down decent coin for purchases with me.

Saying all that, I think advertising on local Facebook buy swap sell groups is equally as effective (I would normally do both and when I asked people if it was a paid ad that they saw or a buy swap sell it was roughly 50/50 )

Hope this helps.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

What are you selling, Daniel?

[James Clark]

Hi All -

Not photo specific, but FB advertising is a cornerstone of my architectural events business, and we find very good ROI on well-constructed ads.  I've run a few small tests to sell prints, but didn't optimize the sell-through, so ultimately the test was unsuccessful (i.e. no sales), but my clickthrough was promising and should scale. 

A few things to look at.  Using Slobodan's example above, the ad is far too general, and I'd be curious to see the target audience in detail.  The ad itself doesn't really speak to a specific goal.  Were you trying to sell prints, or make contact with potential architect/developer clients?  That's important and should be reflected in the ad.  (The result of better targeting is a lower cost per click, and a more qualified audience).  I also think Slobodan's sample size is too small.   If I was trying to sell a $299 print, for example, anything up to an including a $150 cost per acquisition would be a raging success, and somewhere between $150 and $298 cost per acquisition would require an analysis of ROI on time involved.  Conceivably, if I had a good list acquisition and sell through system, and good customer loyalty, I could argue that even paying OVER a one-time sale cost would be worthwhile.

Does all this make sense?  Sorry to pick on you Slobodan, but your example is in the thread and being an MBA type, I figure this might make sense to you and you might have more thoughts on the subject.

[jimh]

So far my results match those posted above:  a thousand likes, dozens of shares, a handful of clicks, no sales.

I agree that an ad has to include an action. FB has buttons, but won't let you set the text that appears on it, and I'd say "Shop Now" is useless.  Maybe if it said "Get A Framed Print" or even just "See more of my photos".   But we can't do that.

[James Clark]

So far my results match those posted above:  a thousand likes, dozens of shares, a handful of clicks, no sales.

I agree that an ad has to include an action. FB has buttons, but won't let you set the text that appears on it, and I'd say "Shop Now" is useless.  Maybe if it said "Get A Framed Print" or even just "See more of my photos".   But we can't do that.

I always use "Learn More."  I like that option because it gives people a reason to di ve deeper without making them feel like they are committing o a purchase or another potentially unwanted action.  When they click through to your landing page, you can do all sorts of cool stuff.  Gather permission-based email address, present offers, show them a page designed to lead them to a sale etc.  FB is just the place where you filter for appropriately targeted people and direct them to your relevant content - don't expect it to be the place where you actually make your full sales pitch.

[DP]

Here is an example: 920 people reached in a week, only 19 clicks on my web site that I was promoting, at about $1 per click.

once they see the last name they think that you are attempting to interfere with them 

[MattBurt]

I tried it with a specific promotion and also saw no direct sales but quite a few views and likes. Some possible indirect sales but nothing huge.
I used to say that with likes, you get what you pay for and that was when they were free.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... Using Slobodan's example above, the ad is far too general, and I'd be curious to see the target audience in detail.  The ad itself doesn't really speak to a specific goal.  Were you trying to sell prints, or make contact with potential architect/developer clients?  That's important and should be reflected in the ad.  (The result of better targeting is a lower cost per click, and a more qualified audience).  I also think Slobodan's sample size is too small.   If I was trying to sell a $299 print, for example, anything up to an including a $150 cost per acquisition would be a raging success, and somewhere between $150 and $298 cost per acquisition would require an analysis of ROI on time involved.  Conceivably, if I had a good list acquisition and sell through system, and good customer loyalty, I could argue that even paying OVER a one-time sale cost would be worthwhile.

Does all this make sense?  Sorry to pick on you Slobodan, but your example is in the thread and being an MBA type, I figure this might make sense to you and you might have more thoughts on the subject.

Hey, James, all good questions. I was placing that ad with my photographer's hat on, not MBA one

I was simply curios what the result would be in terms of interest. I do not offer prints for sale on my site, I do not even advertise specific services. My target audience was, geographically, USA, and those whose interest is "photography" (as per Facebook option). Now, 19 people landed on my site. I have a different tool that provides insight into what they do once there and the answer is, in 80-90% of cases, nothing. No more exploration what else is on my site. One click on the "Learn more" button, and they are done. Other visitors to my site usually explore several different galleries and often drill deeper into single photographs. I ascribe the Facebook promotion visitors' behavior to the typical attention span of a typical Facebook user, i.e., very, very short. Obviously, investing more money just to drive traffic to my site makes no sense, since I do not offer anything for sale there.

I agree that advertising a single print for sale might be a better strategy (or some other single purpose). But even then I think that the typical Facebook public simply is not there to buy art or photographic prints.

[danielc]

What are you selling, Daniel?

www.danielcourtney.com.au

Images!

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... Images!

Ok. The reason I was asking was that you said (bold mine):

...I've had only one directly, 100% attributable purchases through it, and I have recouped the advertising cost from sales of small products as a direct result of the advertising...

so I was interested what "small products" you were selling. Also not clear from the above, whether that "one direct sale, 100% attributable..." was for one of your images or for those "small products." Or you were saying you sold one image and recouped the cost of advertising from additional sale of small products.

It seems to me that it is easier to advertise and sell products on Facebook, rather than images. I might be wrong, of course.

[pearlstreet]

I'm absolutely not an expert, and I definitely need some more education in terms of better targeting of customers, but using basic targeting for my city I've spent about $400 in 6 months with Facebook.

I've had only one directly, 100% attributable purchases through it, and I have recouped the advertising cost from sales of small products as a direct result of the advertising.

As a bonus (and the reason I keep doing it) is that as part of a campaign/multi channel advertising strategy it is a good part.

Often I had people come and purchase from me that may not have otherwise as they have seen a few of my advertisements over a period of months and it has grown my brand trust with them to the point that they feel comfortable laying down decent coin for purchases with me.

Saying all that, I think advertising on local Facebook buy swap sell groups is equally as effective (I would normally do both and when I asked people if it was a paid ad that they saw or a buy swap sell it was roughly 50/50 )

Hope this helps.

Daniel, everything I clicked on on your site was out of stock.

[Rob C]

I'm absolutely not an expert, and I definitely need some more education in terms of better targeting of customers, but using basic targeting for my city I've spent about $400 in 6 months with Facebook.

I've had only one directly, 100% attributable purchases through it, and I have recouped the advertising cost from sales of small products as a direct result of the advertising.

As a bonus (and the reason I keep doing it) is that as part of a campaign/multi channel advertising strategy it is a good part.

Often I had people come and purchase from me that may not have otherwise as they have seen a few of my advertisements over a period of months and it has grown my brand trust with them to the point that they feel comfortable laying down decent coin for purchases with me.

Saying all that, I think advertising on local Facebook buy swap sell groups is equally as effective (I would normally do both and when I asked people if it was a paid ad that they saw or a buy swap sell it was roughly 50/50 )

Hope this helps.

I think you need more Botox. It sells everything.

[danielc]

Ok. The reason I was asking was that you said (bold mine):

so I was interested what "small products" you were selling. Also not clear from the above, whether that "one direct sale, 100% attributable..." was for one of your images or for those "small products." Or you were saying you sold one image and recouped the cost of advertising from additional sale of small products.

It seems to me that it is easier to advertise and sell products on Facebook, rather than images. I might be wrong, of course.

Yeah we've just transitioned to a new website and moved house so the new website isn't 100% yet. Small products are things like calendars and postcards.

[danielc]

Daniel, everything I clicked on on your site was out of stock.

Yup, transitioning websites and doing pricing now.