Does advertising on a Facebook increase your sales enough to make it worthwhile?

[BWFoster78]

This is essentially the bottom line, and I have some pretty big doubts about whether this is a good number. For instance, my last article in Mythic Scribes had 94 likes and 124 tweets. So do many others. In some ways that's an unfair comparison, but in others it's somewhat telling. I think you should look into other options for your future ad campaigns.

While I respect your viewpoint and agree to an extent, I think that neglecting this as a worthy number is a mistake:

16,607 people have seen the ad: $0.002 (yes, that low) per view of ad

20,363 people have seen the post: $0.0014 per post view (includes views of ad)

That's a lot of freakin' people!

And, since FB allows you to target ads, it seems like, as you often recommend, it's possible to catch the same people with additional campaigns.

Also, I'm a little unclear on this, but isn't a FB like for a business acct a lot like a "follow" more than just an indication that someone agreed with your post? I think it means that the people who "liked" him will now receive at least some of his posts, so future communications with those 24 (or is it 38) is now free.

I'm not advocating FB ads by any means as I'm still very skeptical of how they will translate into sales. I have a hard time finding anyone out there (besides Ankari) who's screaming, "Advertising on FB is awesome!"

On the other hand, it seems like there might be some merit to it as a PART of a comprehensive marketing strategy.

 

[Ankari]

It's not so much as validating Facebook as a worthy marketing avenue as it is to find the best way to market on Facebook. The art has been a little more successful, but that is only comparing my recent ads. When I do the next round of ads (trying the same $50 budget) with the new novelette, I'll have a better understanding of what works better, visual art or consumable content.

I am optimistic about the decreased cost per clicks I'm receiving from the previous ad to this one. If the trend continues in this path, then at one point the return on investment will be so high it would be silly not for me to advertise on facebook.

As is all studies, you can't base your decision on a small sampling of data. I'll continue to share my findings as they come in.

 

[Devor]

And, since FB allows you to target ads, it seems like, as you often recommend, it's possible to catch the same people with additional campaigns.

I don't know, has that been verified? I thought he said that he had no idea if the same people would see the next ad or not. Some degree of targeting might make a difference in the long run.

Also, I'm a little unclear on this, but isn't a FB like for a business acct a lot like a "follow" more than just an indication that someone agreed with your post? I think it means that the people who "liked" him will now receive at least some of his posts, so future communications with those 24 (or is it 38) is now free.

Yes and no. It's a little deceptive. If they like the post, the answer is mostly no. If they like the page, the answer might be yes. But facebook runs everything through a number of filters that are hard to keep track of, so that you may have more people seeing your posts because people will see "Your friend liked a post on Age of Heroes, here's their page," or you may have almost nobody seeing your posts because the facebook filters decide you're not worth it.

It can be hard to tell what stage of the game you're at.

On the other hand, it seems like there might be some merit to it as a PART of a comprehensive marketing strategy.

I would want a bigger picture as to what the rest of that strategy looked like before agreeing or not. Right now, I'm inclined to think you'd be better off spending $100 paying people to write articles for your page than spending it on ads.

 

[Ankari]

I don't know, has that been verified? I thought he said that he had no idea if the same people would see the next ad or not. Some degree of targeting might make a difference in the long run.

You can target your ads to people's interest. For instance, I've targeted my ads to people who like the same authors, novels and RPGs that I like. You can also filter it by country. I'm doing Canada, USA, UK, and Australia. I am targeting about six million people.

 

[Devor]

You can target your ads to people's interest. For instance, I've targeted my ads to people who like the same authors, novels and RPGs that I like. You can also filter it by country. I'm doing Canada, USA, UK, and Australia. I am targeting about six million people.

6,000,000 / 16,607 = your reach is 1 in 361 members of your target audience. That means an individual who sees the first ad has a 0.28% chance of seeing the next one, assuming he even notices them. You would want that number to be in the high double digits if you want your ads to generate a cumulative effect. If you're going to generate 17,000 views for each ad, you want to be targeting 20-30k people.

 

[Ankari]

That's good advice. I'll narrow my target window down more the next time. Perhaps keep it to only the authors I like (they have around 40K total likes if you don't include GRRM).

 

[Devor]

That's good advice. I'll narrow my target window down more the next time. Perhaps keep it to only the authors I like (they have around 40K total likes if you don't include GRRM).

Consider doing that, but unliking a few authors first.

 

[Ankari]

No, you don't have to target all the authors you like. You can pick and chose which ones you want to target. It doesn't even have to be authors I like. It could be any author of any genre or no authors at all. I'll take a screenshot of the process next time I do it so you have an idea.

 

[BWFoster78]

If they like the page, the answer might be yes. But facebook runs everything through a number of filters that are hard to keep track of, so that you may have more people seeing your posts because people will see "Your friend liked a post on Age of Heroes, here's their page," or you may have almost nobody seeing your posts because the facebook filters decide you're not worth it.

It can be hard to tell what stage of the game you're at.

All I know is that all I did was click "Like" for the New Orleans Saints. Now it seems like 1 in every 5 posts is some kind of message from them.

I would want a bigger picture as to what the rest of that strategy looked like before agreeing or not. Right now, I'm inclined to think you'd be better off spending $100 paying people to write articles for your page than spending it on ads.

As Ankari stated, I think it's a worthy experiment to determine what is effective. I'm just glad that he's spending the money instead of me having to spend mine

 

[Devor]

All I know is that all I did was click "Like" for the New Orleans Saints. Now it seems like 1 in every 5 posts is some kind of message from them.

But sports teams are popular, and you probably have friends who've liked it too. As an experiment, try visiting the wall of some of the other pages you've liked and see how much you're missing. Also, it's pretty easy to "like" a page and still "hide" it from your feed, which people do to a lot when they're sick of seeing their posts.

 

[BWFoster78]

But sports teams are popular, and you probably have friends who've liked it too. As an experiment, try visiting the wall of some of the other pages you've liked and see how much you're missing. Also, it's pretty easy to "like" a page and still "hide" it from your feed, which people do to a lot when they're sick of seeing their posts.

There's also the possibility (probability?) that the Saints pay to "promote" their posts. Of course, we have the same option. Not sure that it's not worth it for major announcements like a book coming out.

Is it me, or does the following plan not sound that bad:

1. Spend a bit of money attracting likes to your page
2. The people who like your page are "like"ly to both be interested in your brand and in buying your books
3. Spend the necessary $$$ to promote your announcements of new products and promotions in order that it show up on everyone's feeds

Of course, note that it's best not to spam your followers lest they hide you.

 

[Devor]

To be honest, no.

I really think that if you took a hundred bucks and invited a few people to write something for the site for $20 apiece, it would bring more than 24 likes to the page. That would build up the site, the audience, the brand's reputation, and so on. It would give other writers a credential, expand your network, help get other people to promote you, and on-and-on-and-on. There's an opportunity cost to doing one thing instead of the other.

Also, liking the page after seeing an ad might reflect some interest. But it's not much. "Yeah, that looks good, LIKE." You could show a random string of numbers to 17,000 people and get 24 likes. "Hahaha, what is this? LIKE." Pressing like doesn't mean the same thing to everybody. It's not a good metric to maximize for.

For instance, Ankari, have page views for the website increased with the facebook ads?

 

[Telcontar]

Forgive me, Ankari, as you probably have this info elsewhere and I've simply forgotten, but are you selling any sort of novella, art, or other product in relation to these campaigns? If so, has there been any increase to sales that you've noticed in correlation?

As Devor mentions, "likes" aren't really persuasive as far as gaining an audience. Getting pageviews is a bit better. But actually getting people to spend money is far, far more difficult than all the rest.

 

[BWFoster78]

I really think that if you took a hundred bucks and invited a few people to write something for the site for $20 apiece, it would bring more than 24 likes to the page. That would build up the site, the audience, the brand's reputation, and so on.

I'm confused.

How does additional content attract people to your FB page?

Trying to reason it through:

Some of the people who have already liked your page would see it and might like it.
Some of their friends might see the "liked" post and click you page to like it.

I guess if you already have a big base of people who have liked your post, that could be more beneficial than an ad campaign, but, unless you're at an advanced stage as far as promotion goes, it doesn't seem like the $100 would give you much of a return at all.

What am I missing?

 

[Ankari]

Forgive me, Ankari, as you probably have this info elsewhere and I've simply forgotten, but are you selling any sort of novella, art, or other product in relation to these campaigns? If so, has there been any increase to sales that you've noticed in correlation?

Nothing to sell yet. I'm doing this for research purposes, thus the $50 budgets. I plan to sell a novelette/novella (it's been growing, see) sometime next month. Before I do so, I'll be doing a third campaign offering the story for free in their preferred format. The intention of that campaign is:

1) To create an email database.
2) Ask for reviews.
3) Generate more page likes.

Points 1 and 2 are the most important. The third point is to try and maximize my ROI by setting a page like goal double of the then current number. I'll let you know how that works out.

 

[Ankari]

I'm confused.

How does additional content attract people to your FB page?

Trying to reason it through:

Some of the people who have already liked your page would see it and might like it.
Some of their friends might see the "liked" post and click you page to like it.

I guess if you already have a big base of people who have liked your post, that could be more beneficial than an ad campaign, but, unless you're at an advanced stage as far as promotion goes, it doesn't seem like the $100 would give you much of a return at all.

What am I missing?

Unless I miss my guess, Devor is talking about generating content for a website/blog. The more content you generate, the more followers you'll attract.

 

[Devor]

How does additional content attract people to your FB page?

Ohh a few ways. Like for example, for people who see all of the new content, it's like four or five different ads, taking you straight the cumulative effect I was talking about before. Those people will become increasingly more inclined to share the content, which will in turn encourage them to share the content. The more people who share the content, the more people there will be seeing the content.

But not only that, since there's a lot of overlap between the communities surrounding your followers, the targeting is done for you. People inside the overlap will see multiple people sharing your content, which in turn, makes them more likely to like and share it, too.

On top of that, the people you get creating this content could help out with connections of their own, and if those people have overlapping connections, then those connections are more inclined to help you, too.

((edit)) Kids interrupted me, so I forgot where I was. But I left out the big one:

Since you would have more compelling content, and more legitimacy than an ad in your approach, then their level of interest in clicking Like would be higher. So not only would you get more likes, but you'd get better ones.

 

[BWFoster78]

Ohh a few ways.

Again, though, this seems to presume you've already got a number of interested followers. If you're starting from scratch, this would do nothing.

Therefore, it seems logical that there is some point of number of followers that using this technique may become optimum. Perhaps before that tipping point, ads are a good idea.

 

[Devor]

Again, though, this seems to presume you've already got a number of interested followers. If you're starting from scratch, this would do nothing.

There's some presumption, but not so much. Ankari is at 166 followers and is reasonably well regarded at least around here. If you do something that gets a few people involved and excited, that's contagious, and it becomes an event. Making an event is the most powerful way to market something.

For instance - no offense to Ankari, but I'm not one of the likes on his facebook page. If I knew a few people who got on board, I might quickly go from "not following" to "sometimes sharing." Not that I would do him much good, but I don't think I'm the only person around here who would feel that way.

 

[Ankari]

There's some presumption, but not so much. Ankari is at 166 followers and is reasonably well regarded at least around here. If you do something that gets a few people involved and excited, that's contagious, and it becomes an event. Making an event is the most powerful way to market something.

For instance - no offense to Ankari, but I'm not one of the likes on his facebook page. If I knew a few people who got on board, I might quickly go from "not following" to "sometimes sharing." Not that I would do him much good, but I don't think I'm the only person around here who would feel that way.

Good way of thinking, Devor. I'm not at that stage, yet, where I can include/recruit people to my project. When that day comes, I'll definitely begin with the fine people of these forums.

Another topic. I have less then $4 left in this ad campaign. When it's completed, I'll post the results. Then I'll move onto the next campaign with the free novelette offer (with all facebook fans, after I've reached a certain number). I hope to get a couple hundred more fans, a good base of potential reviewers, and some virality with the next campaign.

We'll see. As always, I'll keep you posted.