Saturday, July 20, 2013

Soapy Corgis, Dog Packs Online and OMG, Facebook Ads Work!

Note: If you came here for the Facebook stuff, and don't like looking at adorable, soaped up Corgis getting baths, then you can just...um...well...
...click here to skip over the dog stuff. I'm very sorry, though, that you missed out on all the happiness in between. :*(

So, a few two of you might recognize some (or all, if you've been following since the olden days, when I was wearing a size smaller) of these photos. None of them are new; it's just that I'm about to talk about spending money on Facebook. And for some reason, that made me think of going to the cleaners and/or taking a bath, so naturally, I wanted to post photos of the dogs taking a bath. Except, I didn't feel like staging baths just for the photos, plus I'm tired, and my creativity is bobbing for air in a toilet bowl somewhere, sOOOOooooo, I'm posting these re-run pics instead. 

But, I promise, they're still as cute as ever!



I call it: Forlorn.



Oh where, oh where have Jon Farleigh's ears gone...?

Yes, they're both Dewi. No, as a mater of fact, I can't stand the cuteness. :-)

And, speaking of cute, have you heard of Pack (packlove.com)?

It's a startup (still private, invitation-only beta) social platform for dogs and their people, divided up into breed (plus blends and Heinz 57 variety) packs. Within each "pack," there is a (gorgeous) profile page for every dog (photo provided by dog owner, obviously). Here is Jon Farleigh's (in 2 parts - it's big):


Killer of Ladies, indeed!

So anyway, if you haven't yet, and you like being social with your dog (online at least), you should go over and take a look. Remember, though, that the site is still a cyber "baby," with lots of fun functionality still in development. What's not in development, though, (because I've been subscribed for over a month) is a weekly e-newsletter for your dog(s)' particular breed/mix. And, it just so happens that I'm the author/curator for the Cardigan Welsh Corgi newsletter, and you can sign up for it RIGHT HERE, if you want! ;-) You don't have to be a member of Pack to subscribe (not yet, anyway).

Having fun yet? I hope so, because this is the part where I talk about:


(And, if you don't give a flying flip about them, then this might be a smidge boring.)

#1: For as little as $1 (max) spent per day (for however many days you specify), you can run a Facebook ad for your blog/business fan page.

If you have a fan page already, I know you've seen the Boost Post button under all your status updates, and I'm sure you've received at least one pop-up from Facebook, prompting you to create an ad to promote your page. And perhaps, if you've clicked either a Boost Post button or pop-up ad, you've seen the pre-filled $10/day budget in the ad generator (which might have prompted you to roll your eyes and/or mutter expletives for wasting your precious time). I mean, who the heck has $10/day to blow on a Facebook ad for a blog?! I certainly don't.

The thing is, if you really do want to boost a post (say, for example, you just began a contest, or an awareness campaign), for a budget as small as $1/day (hint: you can change the $10 in the ad generator to $1*), you can exponentially increase your post engagement. (As an "experiment," for $5 total, I did it for my Frosty Paws giveaway and increased my post engagement from an avg. 200, to nearly 9,000. It works.)



Or, if you've got a goal to increase your page likes (perhaps you've been simmering around the same number for a while), for the same low daily budget of $1**, you will get them (and I'm not talking about random strangers; these are bona fide fans - most likely in the same demographic as your existing fans - who wouldn't have clicked "Like" if they didn't want to follow your page). (I've been running a $1/day-budgeted ad for one week, which has generated 57 new page fans, many of whom are fellow Cardigan Corgi people. For perspective, my Facebook page has been around since March 2011, with pre-ad, avg. new likes at 10/month. So, in a week, I've seen over a 500% increase! The ad is working.)

Please know that I understand there are other ways to attract Facebook fans, that don't involve paying Facebook. Clearly, I could probably stand to research that a bit more. But, that's not the point of this post. I simply want to share (my anecdotal evidence) that IF you choose to run a Facebook ad, and you have an existing loyal Facebook base, you will most likely see significant, swift results. Additionally, the Facebook Ads Manager makes it easy to edit, pause, delete and track most every detail of your existing ad(s). (In other words, the "delete" button isn't buried three-layers-deep in some obscure place on Facebook Help.)

So, has this been helpful? Has anyone else tried Facebook ads? 

As always (because this information has been fairly high-level), I'm happy to answer any questions!


* The minimum daily budget cannot be less than $1. I tried.
** The amount you spend per ad, per day will never be more than your budget. Facebook charges are calculated based on CPM (cost per impression), meaning that you are charged each time someone clicks your ad. Therefore, it is possible that if your ad generates few clicks, you'll spend less than your daily budget. Conversely, if your ad-clicks quickly reach your daily allotment (per budget), Facebook will pull your ad for the remainder of the day (so your budget is not exceeded).

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post. Facebook's britches are much too big for the likes of little ole me.

P.S. Have an awesome day! Thanks for reading! And "liking"! I heart y'all!

18 comments:

  1. Thanks this is helpful. (And the pics are terribly cute!)

    I ran a traditional Facebook ad (I had a $50 free thing from GoDaddy when I set my author site up with them) when I released "What the Dog Ate" and it generated a good # of likes, but I couldn't really see that it turned into book sales, so if I'd spent my *own* $50 I probably wouldn't have been happy. Because of that experience, I hadn't planned to do any more Facebook advertising, but this makes me think it might be a good idea to pay to promote a post once my new book is out. Sounds like it's a fairly cheap way to get some good exposure.

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    1. Yes, Jackie, it's difficult to determine cost-effectiveness (without a complicated analytics study), but for a small blogger who wants to get noticed a bit more, I definitely think it has advantages. A new book post (in your case) would def. be something to consider boosting.

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  2. Great pictures of your pups :) I have a totally awesome success story with FB ads. I decided one day I was going to "promote my page" for more likes and spend $5 max in 24 hours. I was also having a giveaway. I took a nap, and woke up to about 1,000 new likes... I was literally in shock! I spent up all of my $5 and ended up with about 1200 new likes in less than 24 hours... I've done a promote a post one too but am not really sure if the results from that were all that great.

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    1. 1,200 in 24 hours for $5, Ann?! You should write a testimonial on Facebook's Small Business page!

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  3. We will have to look into this. Thanks for letting us know. Have a serene Sunday.
    Best wishes Molly

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  4. Loving the little trip down memory lane of the soaped up boys!

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  5. I love bath pics!
    Thanks for the FB in-service! It's not something I would have considered before, it's great to have a first hand account!

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  6. I've been using Facebook Ads for over a year now to promote posts and my page in general. I know not everyone can or wants to pay Facebook but I agree that ads are very effective! If you can increase the amount over $1, it pays off.

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    1. Thanks for sharing, Jess. Maybe one day I'll "experiment" with a larger daily bid, but for now, even the $1 (for a smaller blog like mine) has made a sizable difference. I'm starting to pick up even Pembroke Corgi fans now! :D

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  7. Hmmm...that is the first time I have heard from anyone that has tried it. I may have to give it a whirl. Thanks for posting!

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  8. That's awesome you wrote about packlove! I'm a member of that site also with my dog Harley - http://packlove.com/harley-41 if you want to check it out ;)

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  9. I'm glad my heart didn't stop beating from the cute overdose and that I made it through the rest of the post. In fact, I sent this link to Suzy, in charge of marketing for Jones. This is great! Thanks!
    www.dogtreatweb.com
    P.S. Having a giveaway on the blog today!

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    1. I'm glad you made it, too, Flea. I don't know CPR and I would hate to get sued. (har har) Thanks for sending to your marketing person!!

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  10. Wait. Are there actually people who don't want to see soaped up Corgi Cuteness? Sickos!

    Very interesting about the FB ads. I was curious when i saw sponsored posts. Of course I am the cheapest person in the world. I don't know what it would get to make me spend $1. :)

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  11. Soapy Corgis are adorable!! This is good info, probably best results in something like a contest or getting "likes." Like Jackie, I'd have to consider if the ads would result in book sales. Since royalties are so low to begin with, if we spend too much we'll lose money with each book sold!

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  12. Soapy corgis? Way cuter than I expected!

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  13. You know, I ran an ad when we did K9 Kamp and I was really unhappy with the results. I ran an ad recently just to increase likes and I'm wildly happy with it. If I had the budget, I could see how it could REALLY make a difference (my $1 budget maxes out before noon.)

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