I just wasted 53$ on Facebook ads
So far in March I have had an average sale on Amazon of 1-2 products a day even if I don't have that much traffic. It all relies on one good keyword high up on Google. That's what I talked about in my last blog post.
To repeat the success I wrote a new similar kind of post targeting a good keyword with about 725 monthly searches, QSR 190 and SEO score green 82 with this post.
Promote with Facebook Ads
To promote my new blog post I wrote about in on my Facebook page and thought I would try to give it a boost of paid promotion. I read a bit about in online and read some techniques on how to pinpoint the correct audience. I like the idea that you can choose exactly who you want to show the post to.
I figured out through checking similar authority sites on Alexa which audience to target. I went for women between 20-40 who are interested in fitness, health, gadgets and online shopping.
Happy with the reach
The campaign ran for two days and since this was my first Facebook promotion attempt I don't have anything else to compare it with. But I'm reasonable satisfied with the numbers even if it didn't actually came close to going viral... ;)
So after the two days had passed and I had 53 dollars less in my pockets my pin-pointed Facebook add had been showed to 14850 paid people and reached 326 organically (total 15176).
It got 23 likes, 1 comment with answer and shared 6 times.
And the most important thing... 302 clicks to my page.
Not a single sale thou...
I knew that with just a few sales from these 302 persons clicking to my my site I would easily earn back the money spend.
But the results were discouraging, not a single sale. :(
At least Facebook earns money...
Conclusion
My conclusion is that i almost hit the right target group, who was interested in the products but obviously not ready to buy at the moment and I didn't manage to convert them either.
Usually my sales are from Google traffic and from people who actively search for the products I promote. So.. maybe Google Adwords with re-targeting next time?
If any of you guys have any thoughts on the results or what i did wrong I would really like to hear your opinions.
Andreas
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yu have done nothing wrong, but I got FB likes for free, on twitter ppl follow you easily than on Fb, and whenever new followers follow me, I thank them and give my FB page link and ask them to follow if they are interested, it works they follow and I follow them back :)
Hi Andreas, given your product type and the results you got from the ad, I'd definitely suggest retargeting. With FB you may be reaching people that are interested in the item, but are not ready to buy at that moment. Retargeting will keep it in front of them as they go from site to site to read reviews and compare similar items. You also might want to check out Perry Marshall's Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising, as he talks about these aspects and many others.
Thanks for the good advice as usual. :) Retargeting is definitely the way to go. I will look into how to do it with Google. Not sure about Facebook now.
Perry has a recent (2014) book on Goodle Adwords too, and it has a section on remarketing. Perry's books are a comprehensive source of core information, and then there are always more advanced references as needed.
The reason you may not have gotten sales from your Facebook boost is very simple do not trust what they make you believe that you receive. https://youtu.be/oVfHeWTKjag Check this link.
Wow thanks for the link. Hm that's not very encouraging. Don't think I'll ever try Facebook ads again.
I am so in the bottom of the totem pole on experience here but I watched that video and I am amazed more in WA aren't seeing it. I am in shock and I do not click on what look like a lot of loser ads in addition to ignoring all the senseless posts on memories, polling and targeted things like what color is you or what word best describes you. FB is definitely only useful for looking a family and friend pics. The rest is garbage you cannot trust. I hope AndreasS avoids this and focuses on his awesome Amazon instead.
Andreas, I know this is off-topic, but I'm dying to know how you get your screenshots into a shared image like that. I think it's very cool and I really want to learn how to do it.
Hi! I use printscreen or Snpping tool in windows to capture the screens. The image on this particular post is actually two print screens from my iphone I sent to my PC. Then I used Photoshop to put them together and angle them like that. :)
Perhaps you would have been better doing a small google paid ad. I always think facebook is a bit tricky with the way they advertise.. try just retweeting and using G+ put links on pinterest to your site with an article I get quite a bit of traffic from them
How about try capture readers email. Go for Jay reorded video on email marketing. Run your ads and try capture them. So you still have them in your list. Which I going to do.
FB ads seldom turn into sales, maybe because ads overload. But at least you given it a tried.
Hi! I started the list building work a while back and have a autoresponder system set up. It don't work as well as I want so I have to go through it again. I havent seen that Jay video yet but it's on my list. :)
Hi - have you tried re-targeting within FB? So your ad pops up time and time again at people who have already visited your site?
This keeps it in their field of view - and when they are ready to buy... you know the rest.
Search the FB help pages for retargeting and you'll get all the cookie code etc to add to your site.
FB has significantly reduced it's reach for normal posts - and so the only way to really reach an audience now, is to pay (or Boost) your posts/ads. It had to come eventually - how else were they ever going to make money? But I agree, it hits us hard.
All the best, Mark
Hi,
I have not tried re-targeting on either Facebook or Google yet but that is next on my list. It's a clever response to people who have been on my site already through Google searches.
Will check out the FB help pages now. :) Thanks.
Andreas
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Thats good info for the rest of us. Thanks for the detail. Sorry to hear no sales from your efforts though :(