The Social Network Meets Your Wallet. Are Facebook Ads Worth It?
Facebook launched on February 4, 2004. For those of you keeping score at home, that means it has been a part of our lives in one way, shape, or form for over a decade now. Facebook has gone from being a social media network accessible to a minimal number of college students, to the social media giant that it is today. I don’t know about you, but whenever I want to check out a new business or product, one of the first things I do is check Facebook to see if they have a page.
At Green Light Go we like to think of Facebook as the Yellow Pages of the Internet. By no means is it the one stop shop for musician success, but it helps fans find you in a quick and easy way. It also gives bands an amazing line of communication to their fans. Through all of the amazing features there is, in my mind, one big question. At what point should you start paying for Facebook and utilizing their ads? I’m going to explain the three main reasons and benefits that can come from bands using Facebook ads.
- Quick and Easy Exposure
Let’s face it. At this point, you’ve probably invited every single person you know on Facebook to like your band’s page. The big question is, how do you get the friends of your friends to like your page? Facebook ads are the perfect solution. A great option for a band is to create an ad to “like” their page – this can be written out in a quick and catchy post. The way it works is by targeting the friends of your friends of your friends. Facebook ads run for a varying amount of time (based on your level of purchase) but they put you in a better position of targeting people who would actually be interested in your band, and better yet, in your immediate geographical area. This is obviously a much better option than just purchasing random Facebook likes from a company that provides people from all of the world with no real ties to the band itself. Facebook also provides great insight on how many people were reached, both organically and through the ad itself.
- Cost Effective Marketing
Facebook has a host of options when creating the actual ad itself. If we continue with the example above, you can select details down to the demographic gender, age, and interests categories. You can then select the amount of days the ad will run, and select an amount spent (varies with duration) starting around $5. A band could honestly set up an entire Facebook ad campaign and find a decent level of marketing success for around $20. The more money you spend, the better your results. But to have that level of control of your target audience for less than $50 is, in my book, pretty cost effective.
- Just The Boost You Needed
I know from my own experience that as much as I try to keep my band busy with new things to promote with our fans, there’s always some down time. It also becomes difficult to constantly send new information to the same group of people, and there’s only so many times that your fans will “check this out!” Facebook ads are a great way to freshen up those periods where you don’t have anything to promote, and an even better way to compound the marketing that you’re already doing for big announcements. If you have a big show to announce, create a Facebook ad. If you’re releasing a new song on SoundCloud, create a Facebook ad. If you made a cool cooking video with your bandmates and the food looks delicious, create a Facebook ad. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to how long each ad should be, but a little common sense goes a long way with these types of situations. Sometimes a fun promo item deserves a short boost, while bigger, more substantial marketing campaigns should have a much more specific and extended focus.
As with all things involving money, I highly recommend doing some additional research for yourself. I know from my own experiences brushing up on my Facebook 101 that there’s a lot of information out there for people willing to find it. Another final piece of advice is pay attention to other bands or people you know that have utilized Facebook ads. Their posts will say “sponsored” toward the top. It’s always a great idea to just reach out and see what type of success (or even issues) they had so that you can cater those experiences toward your own campaign. Facebook is here to stay, so let’s take advantage of the resources it provides.
Green Light Go: Talk to your band and come up with a budget for potential Facebook ads.
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