Facebook Ad campaign help or not?

[andrewzarian]

I received an email from a new podcaster about Facebook ad campaigns. They have about 30 podcasts and around 500 Facebook fans. They wanted to know if Facebook ad campaigns help in any way?

[techzentv]

A new podcaster with 30 podcasts? Or is that podcast episodes?

Steve from the TheTechBuzz said it worked good for him. I am not sure what the daily spend was and what the results were though. Steve......

[andrewzarian]

30 episodes

[Podnutter]

So has anyone here tired it?

[mcphillips]

I tried it for Rick's House. There was a tiny bump in listeners.

[cloudpail]

I've done some advertising with Facebook in the past. I think it can make a difference depending on what your trying to get out of it. Facebook has 2 basic ad models. The first is to promote your actually Facebook page and get more Likes. The second it to promote an external page (your website). Getting more 'Likes' is a lot easier then sending people to a external page. It could pay off if you post your episode information online.

The area that Facebook really excels is with demographics. Let's say your show is a niche topic, well you can have ad's only show up to those who only 'Like' that niche. For instance, let say you have a wresting show. well you can have that ad show up to people who like WWE, TNA or Hulk Hogan. You can also pick things like males aged 19 to 35 that live in the USA. You can really narrow the demographics for your shows niche.

[docizzen]

Cloudpail nailed it. Use Facebook for its great demographic syndication and attract "Likes." This summer, I used Facebook advertising for a sports parking facility in Columbia South Carolina, to market my real estate practice. I seldom mentioned anything about real estate, but would throw things like, "this update was brought to you by homeshoprealty.com" in the sports realated videos and podcasts I made. My cost was about $10 a week, starting on June 2nd and I stopped on September 30th, todate we have 678 likes on that page. I personally did nothing but add University of South Carolina graphics, images, podcasts and video updates to the page, and encouraged folks to send their tailgating images and video for me to place on the page.. Facebook did the rest. Now, I can send an occasional update to 678 people from that page and just add my little tag for my real estate practice for free.

The key to advertising is consistency and patience. Budget your advertising for at least a year and don't expect immediate results. Your marketing plan should bear fruit after about 6 months to one year of regular ads. I coined a phrase, that I use when training real estate agents, "Ignorance is your biggest competitor." By that I don't mean people are stupid, but if they are ignorant of you, or how you can make some sort of a difference in their current and future needs, or if they don't even know how to contact you, its impossible for them to follow you or do business with you. Facebook "Likes" are a great way to gather a captive group of people and then make regular updates with good information that will be of some interest, along with embeds of your videos and podcasts, or links to your blog. Use your media to lead them to your site. You can also use apps to add additional sections to your Facebook page to archive podcasts, etc.

The key is to plan on advertising for a year with low expectations, start by establishing a small budget you can afford, then create and implement a marketing plan around that budget. As you grow, so will your marketing budget, which means you'll grow more, and the rolling snowball gets bigger and bigger.

An old mentor of mine used to tell me, "Nothings works... until you do."

[hermanK]

You don’t have to have a huge budget to take advantage of Facebook Ads. Facebook Ads can be a great way to connect with people that are the right fit for your business. The casual Facebook user may be taken aback by the numbers. On advertising alone, the social network is primed to make several billion dollars in 2011. Smirnoff and Baileys are two labels that experienced considerable sales once Facebook advertisements (http://www.matchfinancial.com/) for the goods appeared. Their vodka and Irish cream beverages have spiked by 20 percent, according to Nielsen data.