Walking The Dog Episode 3: Facebook Ads

Facebook: we love it and hate it. Facebook brings up so many opinions, but there is no question that it plays a big role in our lives both personally in business.

In Episode 3, I have decided to take a slightly different tack than the first two podcasts. I’m going a bit longer (11 minutes) and I’m going to discuss a hot marketing issue that also came up last night on the #ggchat Twitter chat (run by Madalyn Sklar every Thursday).

Many bands have experienced a drop in interaction on their Facebook pages in recent months since the changes Facebook made to its algorithms for how posts are displayed in fans’ news feeds. Basically, the days of free advertising are over. There has also been a lot of discussion about whether bands should be on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms.

In this episode, I summarize the key points in a recent (December 2013) article by Larry Kim on MarketingProfs called Twitter vs. Facebook Ad Showdown: Which Offers the Best Social Media Ad Platform. At the end of the podcast, I also give my analysis and recommendations in practical terms for artists and bands.

Let me know your thoughts on Facebook, Twitter and other social media advertising. I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

 

 

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2 comments

  1. Thanks for the conversation starters and your own insights, Solveig! I can see that we have as varied an experience of social networks as appears to be the case across the board.

    FaceBook returns are definitely down as all the social media outlets are saying. For my brand, I used to get dozens of hits per day on my sites from those connections, but it’s down to just a few per day. Twitter on the other hand is producing great results for me. In my opinion, if you’re also blogging, Google+ is essential.

    A huge caution on paying for FaceBook ads. This video is the best illustration of the problems that are now magnified by the low organic share rate on pages. http://youtu.be/oVfHeWTKjag

    My $.02 on social media is automate as much as you can. Otherwise, social networking sites can become a huge time suck. If you’re a musician, your time is much better spent practicing music.

    1. Thanks for this perspective, Stan – this is what I like to hear, your experiences with your own site. I think the entire small and medium biz community is really grappling with these changes, and clearly it’s not all over yet. I agree that for many musicians, Facebook advertising may not be worth doing, but I also know that most event planners still use it very successfully to drive attendance. That said, I think Facebook is in grave danger of a reaching a tipping point of sentiment against them, definitely the grumbling is getting louder in the blogosphere. I agree with you that Twitter and Google+ are often overlooked or not emphasized enough by musicians, although perhaps you are at the more techie end of the musician spectrum 🙂