Are facebook adverts worth it?
On facebook you can pay to have posts and ads inserted into more mini feeds. You can manipulate the algorithm for more views to your facebook and blog post. It isn’t a secret either. Pages that pay to boost posts are labeled as “sponsored” on the mini feed. On a boosted post, More people will see the post and it will drive awareness to your website and facebook page…but is it worth it?
I help a personal friend with her coaching page. She is a great coach and someone I would highly recommend in the South Jersey area. We have played around with facebook adverts to boost her page and client base. It has been working rather well. She has signed more local runners and the page boosts have helped her build her community. I couldn’t be happier for her! It made me think, how would a facebook advert post for fueledbyLOLZ blog fare?
Unlike coaching, I’m not really offering anything. I’m not offering coaching or a product. I’m not offering the secrets to stay injury free, healthy or breaking news. By reading my blog you are not eligible to win millions of things. I just assume people put up with my poor grammar and spelling because they can find a LOL in there somewhere.
FueledbyLOLZ offers morning amusement with your coffee. That is what I offer and probably will continue to offer.
I decided to do an experiment and spend a whopping 20 dollars to boost one of my recent posts. For my experiment, I chose a post many people responded well with without the boost.
Basically a post about why Running doesn’t have to be expensive.
There are many cost options but I chose the 20.00 option. It costed $20.00 for an extra 1000-8,000 people to view the facebook post (not my blog post but the facebook post (with the link attached) to be inserted into the minifeed).
You can pay more for more views.
Just because you boost your post, it doesn’t guarantee will see it or that they will like your page at all.
It doesn’t guarantee they will click the link to your post. The only thing a paid boost guarantees is that the post will be inserted into at least 1,000 mini feeds (it could even be the same persons mini feed 1,000 times).
For instance (spoiler alert) when I payed 20.00 for a fueledbyLOLZ advert, about 6,000 people viewed the post. The post itself, received 176 clicks to LOLZ blog.
The post was inserted into 6,082 feeds and I received 172 clicks to my actual blog. It cost 11 cents for each feed it was inserted in.
The real question: Was it worth it?
First I must ask myself this: What did spending $20 to promote my post get me? It got me 176 extra clicks to my blog. What did those 176 extra page views get me? Possibly new readers or possibly readers who like the page but never read the post…it got me 176 clicks.
What did I learn?
I thought a paid boost would receive more interest or “boost” than 176 clicks (I’m not upset or sad, I just thought it would).
Overall Thoughts:
I can’t tell you if it’s worth it to pay to grow your blog.
If you are offering a product or service, it makes sense to use facebook to advertise.
If you want to grow your blog and following then it makes sense. Is it the best way to grow your following? No probably not but if you gave enough money, you could probably gain hundreds of facebook likes and new readers
At the end of the day, having more or less facebook likes, twitter followers, blog readers doesn’t change who you are or your blog. I might occasionally use facebook adverts again. I don’t think it’s something I would use frequently but I can see how it would help bloggers trying to “make it big” and make money (FYI: I’m not sure what making it big means in blogging….). If your main goal is to grow your blog and profit, then perhaps this is a route to experiment with. For me I have no interest in blogging for a living and main source of income. I can barely write a coherent 600 word post.
In cliff notes: You’ll probably get a few extra clicks from boosting your posts. For blogging purposes, it doesn’t make as much sense to use. If you are offering a product, service or something of value than it makes more sense to use. For me I’ll spend 20 dollars on a bunch of coffee next time.
Questions for you:
Do you use facebook adverts?
Facebook users: What do you think about facebook ads?