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FB ads: worth it or not?
Tell us your experiences with FB ads. Your targets, your settings, and your results. Did you adjust anything as time passed? Oct 09 12 02:19 am Link I once tried it but it was a free promo code they were giving out. My likes jumped x3 what I had. I never used it again but given the amound of likes it did work. Oct 09 12 10:40 am Link As a consumer I am more likely to click on a FB ad than any other online ad. I haven't bought ads, but I think they can be an effective part of your marketing mix. Oct 09 12 10:49 am Link we're running one now for weddings and so far we've spent $140 and gotten one inquiry (they came in for a consultation a couple days ago). so i wouldn't say it has been a huge success thus far. Oct 09 12 11:00 am Link Count me as among those users with Firefox and AdBlock Plus, so I will not see a Facebook ad no matter what. And I prefer it that way. Oct 09 12 12:06 pm Link twoharts wrote: Facebook can only send people to your page. Whether people want to contact you from there or not is entirely up to you. Oct 09 12 12:21 pm Link If you want to improve your traffic then go for it but if you are searching for new instant clients it probably won't happen. It works more in long term - people will see you and maybe keep in mind, subscribe etc. btw., I haven't used fb ads, but my friend have.  Oct 09 12 01:12 pm Link I think it depends on what you're advertising, something like hosting for example is pretty much going to be a fail (too much competition and you'll most likely need to spend several hundreds of dollars for any kind of a dent). I think if you're planning on spending less than 200$ for the exposure, it's not going to work. Seems like word-of-mouth works better, and don't even think about buying up fake likes, does nothing for ya (as per one customer I had tried buying 500 fake likes lol). Oct 09 12 01:18 pm Link Kaouthia wrote: Did they change that? A few years ago they allowed links straight to a site, as long as the person setting up the ad had a fb page. Oct 09 12 03:54 pm Link tenrocK photo wrote: I use Facebook ads. I've used the standard stipend ad (You set a monthly fee and they disperse a certain amount of ad views.) and set mine to U.S. women with an interest in spa/massage etc. Although it only takes a couple of conversions to break even, Facebook can't compare to our conversions with Google ad words. Lately I've been promoting individual Facebook post with a small set advertising amount (between $5-$20 per post). The per post ads are doing much better than the monthly stipend ads. Facebook will direct your "click through" to wherever you want it to go on stipend ads. And if you want, you can offer discount coupons. But there's a reason that FB stock is half it's initial offering price, and that's largely the disappointing results many business are getting for their FB advertising dollars. I'm no different. Oct 09 12 04:38 pm Link tenrocK photo wrote: YES! They are so very worth it. It's cheaper, and more targeted than any other form of advertising. Oct 09 12 04:43 pm Link You advertise to raise brand awareness. If you think it's a way of buying sales you will be dissapointed. You could offer a discount or coupon but then you are training your customers to wait for a deal/sale and in the end devaluing your work. Use it as part of a marketing strategy and FB can be OK, but so many use things like ad-block your impression are actually far lower then what Facebook shows. Again advertising it just one small part of marketing and not a entire solution. Oct 09 12 04:43 pm Link Kaouthia wrote: This is true. While I've had visits from running ads, I've not had any business as a result. But who knows what will happen if I do it again? Oct 09 12 04:43 pm Link Andrew Thomas Evans wrote: Your FB page, a page on your website, whatever. My point was that once they're looking at something you have control over (ie, what content is shown to the visitors), that's what's going to decide whether people contact you or not. That's the same whether they find you via Google, some random website directory, your business card, a flyer or word of mouth. Oct 09 12 04:45 pm Link From my experience.. a total waste of time. Ask yourself this; How many FB ads have you clicked on in the last month? 6 months? Year? Shit.. I don't even notice them any more. Oct 09 12 04:51 pm Link MN camera wrote: Exactly the same for me ---I don't see ad's Oct 09 12 05:04 pm Link mmcreative wrote: This is actually not true. First, Google Adwords (or Bing) are more targeted because only people that are searching for your product are shown the ad. That's a huge advantage over FB. That's why Adwords will always have a higher conversion rate than FB. Secondly, I pay an average click through rate (CTR) on FB ads of almost 53 cents a click through. With Adwords, my CTR cost is only 28 cents per click through. FB is not cheap. Oct 09 12 05:07 pm Link mmcreative wrote: House of Thailand wrote: This, though people will assume that FB is more targeted since they own the data of those accounts. Where as adwords displays ads on more than just google's site, rather every other partner's websites etc included. Much more exposure especially if there are related sites using google for their advertizing (ie: MM) Oct 09 12 05:38 pm Link House of Thailand wrote: Yes, but with adwords your ad shows up when others try to search for themselves. So when I search to see my rankings, which I do often, your ad is shown to me and I may or may not click. Oct 09 12 05:46 pm Link As far as I am concerned all social media promotion is a waste of time. I've seen huge rises in traffic sure, but anyone who contacts me usually wants something for free or next to nothing. I think that says something about facebook culture. What people see on there they expect for free. Photos, music, videos. It just click on a link and get it for free. Paul. www.photographybyriddell.co.uk Oct 10 12 02:53 am Link I wanted to test it out with a free voucher i had a while ago. Voucher did not work and their billing was like 1-10cents on all SEPARATE BILLS (for whatever reason). My bank statement was like 1cent 3cents 1cent x100 Facebook, for some reason, had a bug not letting me cancel the service and they have no customer support at all. I had to cancel my credit card and just leave it at that because that card company only gives you like 5 fraud refunds a year and my statement had about a hundred things I wanted removed. The settings are supposed to have a maximum spending cap so the plan was to have it stop after the voucher and think about it. Pretty sure this is a rare case. But speaking more as a regular person, I never click facebook ads. Oct 10 12 09:15 am Link Facebook ads are very different from Google. When on Facebook, people look to socialize, share their news, and have fun. They will not respond to action ads. If the ad is playful or thought provoking it may generate demand for the future by planting an idea in their heads, but it's low conversion - people on facebook tend to want to stay there until they are done, and when they're done they're gone. Google (search) is different - people aren't on google search for Google's sake, they want to find something asap and get on with their lives. And they are either in research or buying stage, so you have higher conversions / velocity. I think you want organic and commercial presence across the board on social media and search, but you want to operate within the culture of each channel, not push the same canned content across the board. Oct 10 12 08:55 pm Link Karasev Studio wrote: +1 Oct 10 12 09:38 pm Link tenrocK photo wrote: All I ever see is FB ads of other photographers. Which means it is targeting towards my interests. But the advert is wasted on me which is a shame for the advertiser. Oct 10 12 09:42 pm Link assuming that the click even meant they were interested in the first place (although we are targeting engaged couples only). they might just be getting ideas to pass along to whomever they eventually choose as their photographer. and with the internet they could be checking out dozens of photographers before deciding. a couple weeks back we booked two weddings in a row (including one couple who hired us solely based on our web site without even meeting us first) based on google organic searches and so far that has been better for us than paid fbook. next we may try google adwords although i find that complex. Kaouthia wrote: Oct 10 12 11:29 pm Link or people looking to find a photographer through the internet are most concerned with getting the best deal and if you sift through dozens of photographers you can probably find someone giving it away who isn't completely terrible. the thing that's interesting to me is that quality photographers are on CL now. it used to be mostly crap plus a few older PPA guys but it's not like that anymore. around here you can find a quality solo shooter off CL for $1,499. Kaouthia wrote: Oct 10 12 11:33 pm Link Definately not worth it. I had ads running for about a year. Generated NO extra for me. Had a couple of extra hits a day, but no real impact. I guess people clicking on FB ads are mostly teens with dreams and no economy..  J. Oct 10 12 11:38 pm Link I suspect a lot of people who click on your ads are your competitors. I hope the price per click isnt too high or they could burn your budget real fast. Oct 11 12 12:45 am Link Still on the fence between FB and Google... Oct 14 12 03:09 am Link twoharts wrote: I dunno, I know a bunch of wedding photographers charging $3-5K per wedding (and one that regularly charges $10K+) and they get over 90% of their initial enquiries (from people who actually end up becoming clients) via Facebook. Oct 14 12 04:10 am Link |
