30 days to Facebook Freedom – Day 26 – New insider tip

This insider tip has been active on Facebook for a while but it may be new to many Facebook users as it is not talked about a lot. If you are up to testing a paid for option in Facebook, this could be a great addition to your monthly plan to increase engagement, find new fans and get your message out there.

Promote your post was a new initiative launched on Facebook a few months back, before the IPO of Facebook. The basics is this, pay Facebook a minimal amount of money to promote your post and reach more people over a 72 hour period. The concept is very different from Facebook ads as you can not determine your demographics, target particular geographic areas or even have a ton of control as to where your post goes but you will reach more people, invest little and gain more. The cost Is 5 USD or 10 USD and the results can be interesting and surprising.

How Facebook promote posts work

First  you need a fanpage, this does not work on friend pages (do you really want to promote yourself to your friends) second you need a credit card, and third you need an interesting post. The idea behind the promote post is by paying money you can either get the post highlighted to your fans so they see it on their timeline, not just your wall. For a bit more money you can have your promoted post be placed on the timeline of your fans and all of their friends. It is recommended that after you promote it you then pin the post to the top of you timeline.

The 5 USD option will have the post promoted (put on the timeline) of your fans, the 10 USD option will promote the post (put the post on the timeline) of your fans and their friends.

The difference between a promoted  post and Facebook ads

The difference between Facebook ads verses a promoted post is the following:

1. Promoted posts get better interaction, ads provide only a click through option that may or may not turn into a new fan.

2. Promoted posts are less money (5 USD) and does not require any graphics or creative designs

3. Promoted posts are quick to do, Facebook ads do require some thought and intention to be successful

4. Promoted posts do not have text or character limits, Facebook ads have limits…and meeting those limits to get your point across is a challenge for many.

Promoted posts will gain more engagement first and additional fans second. Facebook ads are only for getting more fans…which may not get you more engagement…..

Results of our promoted posts test

We tested promoted posts over a few months to see if the 5 USD or even 10 USD is worth the effort and the money. Our results have been that the increased engagement through promoted posts at the 5USD level has generated a lasting effect with our fans. With one promoted post a week, engagement significantly increased for the promoted post and remained throughout the week even after the post was taken down. For the 10 USD promoted post option, fan levels did increase but engagement was much higher but tapered off more than the 5USD post that went out to just fans.

If you feel that you want to increase fans and build engagement, a combination of both an ad for more fans and a promoted post for increased engagement may be the right mix. We have not tested this combination yet but it could be well worth the test.

How many promoted posts should you purchase?

This will depend largely on your budget but no more than one a week, or one every two weeks should be sufficient. If you promote a post every day, people will start to ignore you, but a random promoted post one a week or once every two weeks should be enough. As your engagement goes up, hold off on the promoted posts. If you feel after a month your engagement is going down again, pop up a new promoted post.

Marketing is not a science and Facebook marketing is most definitely not a science but paying 20 USD to test a strategy is really not a lot to see what happens with your fan base. Testing is what marketers do and very seldom does a marketer get it right on the first try. Promoting a post and getting success on your third post or your fourth post is a great option for 20 USD.

Friday brings us that much closer to the final days of our 30 days to Facebook Freedom. There are a few more items that need to be covered so stay tuned for the rest of the program, you are almost there and at the end, you will know more about Facebook than most and should see a rise in your Facebook popularity as you continue to use the strategies and tactics outlined in this program.

Missing the other 25 days in our program? Start at Day 1 of 30 days to Facebook Freedom and begin learning more about Facebook marketing and fan page development.

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