In Part 1 of this series I discussed why I think Facebook is a superior form of advertising. In Part 2 I went through the steps of how to set up your own advertising account to get started right away. Now I’d like to give you an update on how it’s going. I started the campaign on June 21st and it is now September 6th, so I have roughly two months of data.
So let’s cut to the chase. How many patients did I get?
Well… none.
But that’s okay! I’m still calling this a success so far. Here’s why:
(1) My advertisements have been viewed by 1,400,374 people
When you run a newspaper or radio ad, you really don’t know how many people actually see or hear it. With Facebook, you have a far more accurate idea of what your reach really is. My ads appeared on roughly 1.5 million Facebook pages in two months. That’s pretty good. Now not all of those 1.5 million times may have actually caught the person’s attention, but it’s still a really good indicator of my reach.
Also keep in mind that I don’t pay for views, only clicks. So being viewed potentially 1.5 million times cost me nothing. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
(2) My advertisements resulted in 253 clicks
Of those 1.5 million appearances, about 250 people were interested enough to click on my link. Those people may not have called my office yet, but it makes me happy to know that my office name is out there.
My Melville Resident and Wedding campaign data
So what did this all cost me? Well at roughly a dollar per click, I’ve still spent less than $300. In my opinion, that’s totally worth it.
Here are the lessons I’ve learned so far:
(1) Make your words stand out
In Part 2 I discussed how one of my campaigns targets businesses in my area. Originally my advertisement read something like, “State-of-the-art dental care that can fit your busy schedule.” Not bad, but not exactly interesting. After a few weeks, I noticed that my business ad hadn’t gotten any clicks yet. I decided to make a course correction. I simply changed the wording to, ” Skip the rush hour traffic! Take advantage of early morning and late night appointments and you can cruise on open roads.” BAM! I started getting clicks the next day.
Read any books on advertising and they’ll tell you the same thing. Think like your audience. What do they really want? What are their concerns? Target that emotion in your words and show how you can help. You’ll notice similarities with my post on effective communication.
(2) Don’t be afraid to target a very specific audience
I introduced a third campaign about a month ago that targets couples about to get married. Of course, with Facebook, this is very easy to do. I set my parameters to only people that had their relationship status as “engaged.” I developed a “Broadhollow Dentistry Wedding Package” that offers examinations, cleanings, and cosmetic procedures at discounted fees for the happy couple.
You may have noticed that my recent data for the wedding campaign shows no recent hits. I believe this is because other businesses (not necessarily dental-related) are out-bidding me. The suggested bid for this campaign is almost ten dollars per click! Let’s face it, the wedding business is big business. I’m still debating whether I should raise my bid and pay more per click.
Facebook does not charge for each advertisement; only on views or clicks, as you specify. So there is no risk to running several campaigns at once. In fact, you may find that the more specific you get, the more interest you generate. For example, I’m going to divide up my campaign targeting local residents into a few campaigns that target specific populations of local residents.
I’ll report back
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