FACEBOOK ADS: BOOSTED POSTS

I'm sure you've already cursed Facebook for only showing your last post to only 10 of your fans and denounced the idea of handing over your hard earned money to advertise on social media. This blog post will help you get your feet wet and show you the easiest way to reach more fans on a small budget.

(Skip to next section if your Ad Account is already set-up)

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If you are completely new to Facebook advertising, the first thing you need to do is set-up your Ad Account which includes your billing method. I'm just going to run through a quick overview of setting up your account so if you have questions feel free to ask them in the comments.

From your personal Facebook account go to the dropdown arrow ▼ on the top right of your page. Click on 'Settings' and then select 'Payments' from the options on the left of your screen. From there select 'Ads Billing' which will open up the 'Billing' menu in the Ads Manager. This is where you can add your payment method, see your current ad balance, and set a spending limit for your account.

One other useful option to look at when setting up your Ad Account is adding other members of your band to your account if they will also be in charge of setting up ads. From Ads Manager, click on the 'Account Settings' menu option on the top of the page and scroll down to 'Ad Account Roles.' From here you can add people and designate them as 'Ad Account Admin,' 'Ad Account Advertiser,' or 'Ad Account Analyst.'

Before you begin setting up your ad, it's important to understand Facebook's 20% text rule. Facebook has a rule that only allows 20% of your image to be taken up by text. Graphics must comply with these requirements or they will be denied as a violation of their advertising policy. This is important to keep in mind as it can be quite the annoyance to go through the process of posting and boosting an ad only to have Facebook deny it.

If you are questioning whether or not your graphic complies to Faceook's 20% Text Policy, you can upload your image to Facebook's Grid Tool to verify. It's good to have an understanding of the grid method that Facebook applies when checking for text. As you can see by the example below, the same amount of text can be compliant or non-compliant based on where it falls on the grid system.

If you are questioning whether or not your graphic complies to Faceook's 20% Text Policy, you can upload your image to Facebook's Grid Tool to verify. It's good to have an understanding of the grid method that Facebook applies when checking for text. As you can see by the example below, the same amount of text can be compliant or non-compliant based on where it falls on the grid system.

The first parameter you can adjust is your "Audience." You'll see three options given to you:
• People who like your Page
• People who like your Page and their friends
• People you choose through targeting

The quickest and easiest method is to choose one of the first two options and put in your spending limit. Then select a duration, and your post is ready to be Boosted. However, the last option of targeting your post is my recommended choice in most cases as this allows you to not only get the right people to see your post, but it also puts your content into the eyes of potential new fans who don't already like your Page. This can serve the dual purpose of not only getting your post seen, but also increasing the amount of Likes your Page has.

You want to boost your post about your big show tonight, but obviously you don't want to waste your money advertising to fans that live in a different state. In this instance you want to reach people that live within a certain proximity of your show. To do this we're going to set up a custom audience by clicking the link to 'Create A New Audience.'

The first thing you'll see in the pop-up box is a place to name your unique audience you are creating. Once you create an audience, you can reuse it for future ads and save time. Below that is where you'll target your audience based on their location. Type in the city where you are playing your show and then choose a radius around that city (+0, +10, +25, or +50 miles). Now your post will only be seen by people in your selected city or cities as well as the people that fall in the radius bubble surrounding that city.

Your next targeting option is to target by age. If you're playing a show with a 21+ age limit it doesn't make sense to promote your show to people under that age group. Lastly, you can enter a few 'Interests' to help Facebook better target your post. If you're in a folk band, you don't want to waste money showing your post to metal heads and vice versa. Start inputting some interests such as your music genre and similar bands, and Facebook will show your posts to people with similar interests.

After you've narrowed down your audience by targeting location, age, and interests, you will see an estimate on how many people will see your post over its lifetime. This "Reach" will change as you increase or decrease your budget, adjust the duration of the ad, or edit your audience.

On the right side of your 'Boost Post' pop-up box you'll see a preview of what your boosted post will look on a desktop computer as well as a mobile device. Note that once you boost the post, you will no longer be able to edit the text of your ad so make sure you include the correct info and check for spelling errors. As you can see by the preview, a nice little "Like Page" box is also displayed with your post which will generate more Likes for your page along the course of your ad run.

Finally, hit the Boost Post button on the bottom right and your ad will be sent to Facebook for approval. Their approval process usually takes about 30 mins, and you will get an email and Facebook notification letting you know when your ad is approved.

If you want to keep an eye on how your ads are performing you can do so in the Ads Manager. To get there go to your dropdown arrow ▼ on the top right of your page and select 'Manage Ads.' This will open up the Facebook Ads Manager which display all of your current and past ad campaigns as well as analytics such as their Results, Reach, and Cost.

One issue I see often with advertising is using vague time sensitive wording in the text of your post such as 'tomorrow' or 'next week.' Keep in mind that your post is not just going to be seen on the day that you publish it. If you have a show tomorrow and in your post you only say, "See us play tomorrow in Madison," there's a good chance that many of your fans will see that post the actual day of your show, but could possibly think your show is the following day. To remedy this, use days of the week or specific dates in your posts. Instead of saying "See us tomorrow," the better option would be "See us on Thursday, January 14."

Questions? Ask them in the comments or visit us on Facebook.