PUTTING IN WORK: 3 steps musicians should use to create better Facebook ads
With over 1 billion users, Facebook can be a good place to find new fans – but that comes with a price. I often see musicians lured in by Facebook without the results they were expecting. Yes, Facebook puts that “Promote Page” button everywhere, but if you don’t really know how to use the ad platform, you won’t get the results you hoped for. Resist the temptation to create an ad until you do some research. Here’s some things that I’ve learned over the years. I always use these three steps when creating ads:
If you’re simply trying to get your name in front of people to create awareness, impression-based spending might make sense. Otherwise, you should probably be using pay-per-click. Choose your pricing model based on your personal long-term goals. Different campaigns will require different pricing.
2. Target your audience. Facebook offers a wide variety of demographic and behavior-based targeting options. You can select your ad’s audience based on their gender, age, interests, job, groups, income level, and more. You can also target users based on similar artists, so if your band is sounds like Breaking Benjamin, you can target people who already like that page.
Another good targeting trick is to target fans of other local bands. Is your band pop punk? Then target people who like Young at Heart. Are you a rapper? Then target fans of someone like King Magnetic, an Allentown hip-hop artist. Ideally, though, these pages should have 5,000 or more likes in order for it to be successful.
3. Create a compelling ad. Facebook has a variety of different advertising options depending on your goals. If you’re advertising a new EP, use a promoted post. Promoted posts appear in your audience’s newsfeed, looking like any other post they might see, but to a new fan base of people who haven’t already liked your page. Use your best photos, a good headline, and language that speaks to your target audience. Promoted posts usually have a better return than ads placed in the right-hand column.
If you’re trying to add likes to your page, the sponsored story works best. Keep it quick and descriptive. Remember our elevator pitch? Well, we need it again! Take that and use it in your ad. Check out this sample that I recently did for a client. This ad below did very well and we had a very low cost-per-click!
It’s all about return on investment. Schedule your ad to run for a week and check it daily. See if there’s different ways to tweak it. Maybe your target audience is off a bit, and you’re not really appealing to them. Keep an eye on that cost-per-click or cost-per-like and do your best to keep it low by defining and tweaking your audience.
Good luck, and happy New Year!
