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Is Facebook dying as an advertising tool?

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Piper

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It seems like over the past 3 months it has become increasingly difficult to get any traction with Facebook posts. My posts (to 5,000 fans) used to get at least 2,500 impressions. I’m starting to have trouble cracking 1,000 lately. Small impressions means small interaction, and that means my posts can’t go viral.

Perhaps Facebook is attempting to get businesses to cough up some cash for getting posts out. That’s fair enough; they’re a business. But even when I “promote” posts they don’t come anywhere near hitting budget. I put a post out last week and promoted it for 5 days with a $10.00 budget. It only spent $2.52., and that was “Auto Optimized CPM” so it’s not like I’m underbidding.

I have to assume Facebook would want to get the full budget possible, so the only reasonable explanation I can think of is Facebook activity is dwindling, or at least the activity that gets ads displayed.

Even with promotion, I promoted today’s post about an hour ago and it has now gotten 48 paid impressions for 33 cents. $6.88 per 1,000 online impressions? Granted it’s “targeted”, but it’s targeting my (mostly) existing customers. I’ll pass on that price.

Are we being bitten by the same problem as Facebook itself? Everybody is switching to mobile? Or are people getting tired of Facebook? I haven’t logged onto my personal Facebook page in months.

It’s becoming not worth the time for me as an advertising tool. Perhaps it has some benefit with “branding” for existing customers, but as far as gaining new customers… I can’t find an ROI.

If it’s all about reaching existing customers I have much cheaper and more effective ways of doing so.
 
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How Ironic reading this,
I too have seen a HUGE decrease since the change in September. I have done a lot of research on this and what I have found is that when you post something on your business page it hits roughly 10% of the people for free over 24hours OR you can pay the extra $ and hit everyone over 72hours, there is also another selection people who like AND there friends I thought oh this will be great…NOT. Turns out alot of my customers play mafia wars, farmville and so on… that they are out of the country…So that was a bust. Which brings me to what I did today! I made a personal page
http://www.facebook.com/ronald.mathews.50
What I am doing is sending out all friend requests to everyone that likes Rockstar pizza, then when I post something on the wall I will share it and EVERYONE will get to see it. It’s extra work yes, but I think it will be worth it after I get it all done
 
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Well I’m glad it’s not just me…

Here’s an update on the post I “promoted” yesterday: Now seen by 620 people, 26 viral, 273 paid for $1.91. That’s now a $7.00 CPM. We’re half way a network television ad in terms of CPM.

Half of the interactions on the post came from being promoted, so let’s assume half of the 26 “viral” views also came from being paid for. That leaves the CPM to reach new customers at $146… For comparison, Superbowl ads go for about $30.

My last direct mail campaign cost me $33 per new customer ordering, and that was somebody that actually ordered. They paid for half of that price with their dollars spent with me, so $16.50 for a real lead where the customer tried my food.

What do I have to show for the Facebook money spent? I don’t even know if any of the “viral” people live anywhere near me!`

At this rate, I don’t think the entire budget will be spent before the promotion ends. It’s cost per impression, so there’s no reason for FB not to display the ad up to the budget.

The only conclusion I can come to is Facebook doesn’t have anybody to show the ad to… and that would explain the overall drop off of organic views lately too.
 
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Mark Cuban had an interesting blog post about Facebook and the ability for a business’ posts to show in the news feed organically: http://blogmaverick.com/2012/11/19/what … -facebook/

Some of the comments hit the nail on the head for me with regard to FB advertising… they’ve changed the rules on us. Originally, we were told that the platform was ideal to engage customers. All we had to do was build an audience (get them to “Like” the page, or become a “fan” back then). We could then post and essentially reach those people for free. Users indicated they “Liked” us, and implicitly gave permission for us to post into their news feeds.

Businesses went on massive campaigns to build an audience. We bought Facebook ads to build that audience (I have spent over $8,000 on Facebook advertising, building that audience). We put “Like us on Facebook” on our own ads, menus and in-store - taking up valuable selling real estate. This was a brilliant move by Facebook, I think, because we were essentially advertising for them.

We’ve left ourselves in a position where a huge portion of our online presence is in Facebook’s hands.

And then the rules changed… Our posts will only organically display to a small portion of our audience unless we pay again. I understand Facebook is under immense pressure to build revenue… but so am I. The platform has not proven enough ROI potential for me to waste any more money on it.

I am now promoting posts (buying Facebook advertising) to my existing audience only, and those posts are to sign people up to my rewards program. That gives me their name, phone, physical address, birthday, marital status, number in household and ties them to an order history in my POS.

I can then talk to whomever I want, whenever I want, and say what I want to say to select groups… significantly better than shouting out on Facebook, and without being extorted. I paid for that audience, either through Facebook ads or general advertising of the page. They’re mine now. Perhaps this is the only way to truly discover ROI with Facebook advertising - get them off Facebook and onto our internal marketing systems. I know the average lifetime value of all customers on my rewards program. I have no freaking clue what the value of a Facebook “Like” is.

It pains me to think I haven’t done anything with my website in about 18 months, because Facebook became the online presence. It’s time to take the power back… I have a powerful e-mail marketing tied to a rewards program, a website and the ability to purchase ads on search engines (where people actually go to look for things.)

In reality, I think Facebook became an ego thing for a lot of us. I loved watching my “Likes” grow and dominate over every other pizzeria in the area. But in the end, who cares?
 
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I absolutely agree, Here is an issue I had, I had live music on Thursday, I posted in the morning about it, I got people showing up on MONDAY asking where the music was. They pulled up there face book and there it was but it showed 6hrs ago…WTF I really am starting to think its not as worth it as before…
 
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I have yet to find the perfect advertising media, I’ve tried them all, door to door leaflets, targeted mail, blanket mailings, box toppers, postcards, newspapers ads, news paper promotions, emails, texts, facebook, blogspot, google adwords etc etc.

Each and everyone has its positives and negatives, problems, costs and so on. Simple fact is that no one method is perfect so I try and do a broad spread of each and change them regularly, if I do them all I’m likely to hit the best method and not have all my eggs in one basket.

Likewise with facebook I use witty(!) posts, competitions, changing profile pictures (with ads in) and paid promotions, maybe I won’t get '000s of customers every time but if I remind a couple of customer to order that day and get 1 or 2 new people each week then the 7.00 I pay is worth it. Does it get me '000s of new customers to market to? not now, coz theres not '000s of new people on facebook from my area week in week out. They’re all on fb already.

Mix it up a bit!
 
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I have dropped the FB ads and now use the “promote” feature on our posts. Much less expensive and lots more people see it. Downside is that if your promote to “friends of fans” you have zero control over where they are located. Upside is that promoted posts are cheap and do get seen by a lot of people and generate way more clicks than ads ever did.

I think that the big change is driven by mobile use. A lot of people only check FB on the phone now and the old style ads do not show up there.
 
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I’m impressed at the level of intensity from you guys on facebook. Most Ma & Pa Pizzeria Owners are not even close to you guys knowledge and experience about FB, Piper and Rockstar I’m coming to you for advise :).

You are right about facebook being pressured to make money and they have changed the game over the last 8 months to curb you and to increase theirs.

You are also right about a well diverse promotional platform to not leave your eggs in 1 basket. From Flyers to Mobile to Social Media to Augmented Reality which will be the newest avenue to advertise.
Cool Stuff
http://mashable.com/2012/06/28/brin-google-glass-2014/

Getting back on subject.

When ever facebook changes the rules to limit the end user to promote oneself new ideas get developed
to work with in the rules to get back on track.

Are any of you guys running a coupon type app’s via facebook? Coupons where the end user has to like your page and even share the experience on their wall which will help your coupons go viral? This allows your customers to spread the word for you.

I’m in development of just that type of app. My end goal is to have the Pizzeria Owner to run their own campaigns.

Right now I have it working where the app has a Gate to increase likes, I can turn it off or on
The Coupon can be a 1 time or multiply use, it can be set up to expire on a date.
I can place Images, Text and or Youtube videos in the coupon.
A custom coupon code and QR Code are assign for tracking (Full Reports Available)
A locked Sharegate can be added (must be shared before accessing coupon) this will help in your coupon going viral.
This app captures emails from all users for later promotions.
When a customers comes in to redeem the coupon the business scans it with a smartphone with a QR Code reader to see if the coupon is active, this adds to the tracking report info too.

Some of the draw backs is that up to 3 images have to be designed.
plus you still have to get APP Ids and code them in to the app, which is fairly easy if you have done this a couple of times.

Once I get the bugs out I’m looking to turn full control over to the end users so they can make their own coupons and campaigns when ever they want and not wait on a developer.

I am looking for a few beta testers to kick the tires and get some feedback, if you are interested PM me and I’ll get your info and setup a coupon for you. Full reports with line & bar graphs, complete break down on your campaign to fully inform you on your progress. All you need is a smartphone to improve tracking but it is not necessary.

I have a demo running now https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pizza-Co … 0359389989

As always feedback is appreciated.

Here’s my tip for the day with facebook. This one should be a given but they’re ones that are not aware of this: Everyone that likes you, you need to request to be your friend.
 
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I, too, have noticed/stopped much of my FB efforts, do to lack of success/response…

When I 1st began my FB trek, we were quite happy/successful with the results…

After we reopened, things had ‘changed’ but I did switch to ‘promoted’ posts, but even those failed to come close to our past success’…

We’re not even happy with our EDDM returns!

But our text message ‘machine’ has been a winner…
 
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Patriot'sPizza:
I, too, have noticed/stopped much of my FB efforts, do to lack of success/response…

When I 1st began my FB trek, we were quite happy/successful with the results…

After we reopened, things had ‘changed’ but I did switch to ‘promoted’ posts, but even those failed to come close to our past success’…

We’re not even happy with our EDDM returns!

But our text message ‘machine’ has been a winner…
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I agree 100%
pt
 
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Don’t want to hijack the thread here, but what do you do with your text messaging that works so well for you? We have been using it for 2+ years but do not notice much of a response. Plus, what has been the best way that you have found to grow your list?

Dan
 
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Never tried text messages.

Speaking for myself as a consumer, if a local business sent me text messages, I would probably stop shopping there. For that reason, I have never considered using them.
 
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I agree, if a local business sent me an unsolicited text message, I would not be happy. In our case (and probably most others here) permission has been received to send the text messages. In most cases, the customer signed up themselves, without us asking. Properly done, the customer has to opt-in by replying YES to a text in order to receive texts going forward.

Dan
 
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48.png
bodegahwy:
Never tried text messages.

Speaking for myself as a consumer, if a local business sent me text messages, I would probably stop shopping there. For that reason, I have never considered using them.
Click to expand...
This statement speaks volumes. For us that actually have dozens of pizzerias around our shops along with dozens of other eateries, we have to be ahead of the game or we go out of business.
sms marketing has been around for years and for those that have to compete, I highly recommend it. Google it…text marketing

btw, it’s illegal to text someone out of the clear blue, sms marketing is a 100% opt in/opt out marketing tool.

pt
 
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To answer the original posters question,
It has taken me some time to figure it out. I was having poor results for a while as well. I can say now without a doubt in my mind, IT IS NOT DEAD however it has dramaticly changed. My best results come from engaging posts or topical statements, questions or posts about sports teams sprinkleing in the hey "Here is a new Item we are offering let us know what you think and not just our specials are blah blah blah or come check us out.

The other part of the equation is a part I am not real excited about but have put it to work and have come to grips with, IT IS NO LONGER FREE, promoted posts do seem to work with the right message and work quite well. I am able to see real immeadite ROI on these posts on a daily basis and often within hours or minutes, enough to know that they are working. I don’t like paying for what once was free but (I will not stop doing something that is working). Responding to questions timely means I am getting updates on posts on my phone and responding quickly tagging the persons name in the response so their friends also see the post. It is about specific Brand awareness with personal endorsements of people friends. If your friend goes there or trusts them people have a higher likelyhood of trying it by associated trust. Virility is KING!

Just my 2 cents.
 
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Updating this, because Facebook pi$$ed me off again yesterday. I made a nice graphic with our Superbowl special and posted it on our page. It got some good traction, and I decided I would actually pay Facebook (something I haven’t done in a while) to promote this ad.

The ad got rejected, and I come to find out there’s a new 20% text rule for pictures in ads. The picture can not have more than 20% text. Are they serious? Now I can’t use Facebook’s advertising system to… advertise? What the heck is the point of this thing?
 
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For those running Facebook Ads, they changed their back end. This apparently knocked all my adds offline, but I only realized today when I noticed I had no Ad charges to my credit card recently. Anyways, I found a rundown that explains the new format: http://www.jonloomer.com/2014/03/17/facebook-campaign-structure-tour/

Anyone else notice that the post reach took yet another nose dive with the most recent update? Less than 10% of my fans see any given post now. Facebook is really forcing you to spend $ to reach your fans now.

P.S. - I’m just starting to look through that Jon Loomer website. I also like to read http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/ for ideas on how to work all these social media options.
 
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I have switched entirely to using the geographic and demographic selecting tools for promoting posts. We are in a small town so I can target people who live here who are in my target age demographic. I find that the estimates of the eyeballs reached when I place the promotion and the numbers reported seem to match. With that said, I think FB is best for top of mind awareness and really nothing else.
 
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