Should You Do A Facebook Promotion?
 |
| Is a FB promoted post for you? |
I started the promotion on April 2nd and selected the $20 option. For twenty bucks, FB promised to expose my post in a more visible placement on the feeds of both my fans and the friends of my fans. This appealed to me because, while I had 643 fans for my page, I needed to reach beyond them. Promotions are a way to do this. Keep in mind that your post will be noted as "sponsored" with a little box beneath the ad.
 |
| These are the results of my FB ad campaign. |
As you can see from the screenshot of my promotion results, I ended up with a reach of 3,160...not bad for what FB promised. The promotion lasted about two days. There were 20 clicks on my link (which is shown below) and which redirected people to the Amazon page for my book. My primary goal in doing the promotion was to sell copies of To Have and To Hold on Amazon and, thereby, increase my book's ranking. Ultimately, I ended up paying $1 a click. That's not a great rate but not bad either, especially for a wide-reaching outlet like Facebook. I also picked up two more page likes and 11 "likes" on that particular post. Would I have gotten those likes anyway? Probably not all of them. On average, posts on my fan page have been "viewed" by anywhere from 30 to 100 people, according to FB stats. I certainly increased the exposure for To Have and To Hold and also for my page.
 |
| This is the post that I paid to have seen by 3,160 Facebookers. |
Would I do another FB post promotion? Yes, I would. But I would be discriminating about the post and when I sent it. Also, I would determine whether two $5 posts maybe a week apart might be better than a $10 or $15 post. I think that FB posts are not a good way to sell books directly, like some other advertising outlets, such as a clickable ad on a romance blog. However, what these promotions do provide is increased exposure for my name and my books. And that's always a good thing. Those who see my book on FB may not buy it, but may be more inclined to buy once they see it in another venue, such as a blog or on twitter or on Instagram or even here on The Pop Culture Divas.
Have you done a FB promtion? Would you? Good luck with all your promotion efforts!
Best Wishes,
And pick up To Have and To Hold from Amazon for $1.99 and let's see that ranking rise ;)
Thanks so much for being brutally honest about your experiences with Facebook paid promotions _ I've been wondering how successful they really are.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure, JoAnne. I'd been wondering about it and couldn't find any details on someone else's experience so I figured I'd share mine. Of course, everyone's result will be a little different. But I think this offers a decent snapshot of what likely will happen....may not sell product but will increase exposure.
ReplyDeleteI paid $10 to promote my author page...the results being likes according to the promotion criteria.
ReplyDeleteI got one like. One. For $10.
Then again, I've promoted posts and gotten hundreds of views. *shrug*
I'd love a peek into their algorithms for this.
Great post, Kellyann!!
I haven't done a promotion, but I did do an ad for a week on Facebook. At the time, the suggestion for a starting bid per 1,000 impressions was .12. I chose per impression instead of per click and ended up paying on average .07. The cost per click was around .50. During the course of the week, I got 19 clicks, for a cost of over $1 per click. I decided that if I did it again, I would do it per click. It was cheaper right? I went to do another ad a month later, and the cost per click was about $5. The cost per impression was about the same as what I paid. So, if you do ads and you don't have a specific time frame, I'd suggest keeping an eye on the prices as they change drastically.
ReplyDeleteIt can be unpredictable, Virginia. Meanwhile, I did an experiment of posting a link to this article on my Facebook author page for $5 (there goes my latte for the week). But the results are interesting. There are $3 left in the promotion and I've already gotten 16 link clicks and 3 post likes. That's a really good result. But I think it's because of the old "news you can use" adage. If it's free advice people think may benefit them, they have no hesitation clicking on it. It takes a little more finesse to convince people to click on a book or product they may not have heard of before. But I do think that repetition helps.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that's my 500 cents....
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Virg!!
Wow, Krystalyn, your stats are really interesting! I found the prices and the proposed coverage to vary widely as well. Paid ads provide more of a guarantee of clicks but can be much more expensive. The promotions can be cheaper but don't guarantee any clicks, just "views". I think if I was a math whiz, I could figure out a way to be a bestseller ;)
ReplyDeleteI did a Facebook ad for my book, "The Art of Life," and paid about the same amount per click. In my case, though, I did not see that translate into sales and ultimately, I canceled the promotion.
ReplyDeleteIt's really so intriguing/frustrating, Alyce, isn't it. I think part of the problem with Facebook ads and promos is that we don't target the audience. If my promo is going being viewed by 1,000 people, say, but only 50 of them are known romance novel readers, then the exposure is sort of pointless.
ReplyDeleteI'm now gathering data on exposure to very specific romance reader audiences, via blogs that cater to that cohort. I'll keep you posted on the results...
Best of luck
K
It's an remarkable article for all the internet viewers;
ReplyDeletethey will take benefit from it I am sure.
my blog ... xnxx