I have to admit it-I was completely, utterly wrong.
Misinformed, misguided, wrong-headed, mistaken, idiotic.
I’m talking about Facebook ads.
I wrote a blog post entitled “The Shocking Truth About Facebook Advertising for Small Businesses”.
The sad thing is that I received a lot of good comment about the article at the time. Positive comments from people who had the same view as me. You can see them below the article.
But I was completely wrong, and advertising on Facebook is now a central part of my online marketing efforts.
I took the time to learn about Facebook advertising, and then began implementing what I learned from others, and from my own trial and error and observation.
Now, I get likes, engagement, page likes, post likes, shares, comments, video views and, most importantly of all, leads and clients. Yes-I have got clients straight off Facebook, at very small cost per lead/client.
Cost of Facebook Advertising
I primarily advertise with an objective of page post engagement with my video posts, and for page likes (not so much now because I have enough of them).
Facebook Page Likes
I can now easily obtain Facebook page likes for $.01. Take a look at the screenshot image below, and you will see that I got 6,013 page likes for my Terry Gorry & Co. Solicitors Facebook page for $51.75-a cost of $.01 per page like.
What is the value of a page like? Social proof.(You might be interested in Social Proof-Don’t Overlook This Stunningly Effective Tool in Your Business).
When somebody comes to any of my Facebook pages some of the questions that cross their mind will be: “does this man know what he is talking about?”, “what do others think?”
When they see over 6,759 page likes they are reassured.
The same story applies to other pages of mine: Employment Rights Ireland Facebook page has 10,549 page likes today and Family Law Ireland has 4,752.
When anyone lands on any of these individual pages they are not backing away because nobody else likes the page, or because they are doubtful; they are reassured by the large number of other people who like the page.
Video Page Post Engagement
Most of my ads on Facebook are Page Post Engagement ads with a video in the post. Here’s an example about rest breaks in the workplace.
Not the sexiest topic in the world, you’ll have to admit, yet take a look at the statistics:
172 likes, 51 comments, over 40,000 views, 25,351 post engagements for $46.28
And the cost per post engagement? .002 of a $US. That’s two tenths of a cent per post engagement!
The vast majority of my ads, over 95% in fact, are video based ads. The videos are basic, just simple, useful tips for my audience/target market.
And new clients?
I have a “conveyancing/property purchase” campaign running at the moment. It comprises approximately 10 videos dealing with various aspects of buying a house.
My spend is $5 per day, and I have obtained 3 new conveyancing clients in the last 3 weeks. This is a massive return on my spend if you consider that one conveyance will generate a fee of €1,100 to €1,900 plus vat and if you are acting in the sale and purchase, which I will, I will get both the sale of the existing house and the purchase of the new one.
Conclusion
I haven’t even discussed probably the most powerful aspect of advertising on Facebook: the powerful targeting possibilities with all your ads.
Do yourself a favour: don’t make the mistake I made and overlook the power of Facebook advertising. Take the time, though, to learn Facebook advertising.
And be sceptical about commonly accepted wisdom as to what works and doesn’t work with Facebook advertising.
Experiment and test yourself. Think about who your ideal audience is, your perfect customer, start small, scale up.
And don’t be afraid to change your mind and put the power of Facebook to work for your business.