Facebook advertising, is it worth it?

[jezzaboy]

When I post an event on my bands facebook page, it asks me if I want to boost the event so it can be seen by x amount of people. It usually asks for a payment of £40 odd quid for 7 days which seems like a lot.

 

We have booked a gig for the end of next month, the first time we have actually paid for a venue and we would like as many folk to turn up as possible. Has anyone paid for this boost thing and was it worth it? Also any other tips on how to publicise gigs who be great as we usually get paid to play gigs but I know lot`s of you play your own music and are on the ball re publicity for your gigs.

[Mykesbass]

I used to put very small amounts on FB ads and made a highly focused target audience. Got nothing from it.

There are a couple of bands who I have become aware of due to FB ads - When Rivers Meet are the ones I can name. No idea what they are like as I haven't listened to them, however, I have seen them climbing up the festival circuit bills.

[gafbass02]

I did the same with my books, don’t think it did anything. 
 

[Doctor J]

Print up a load of flyers and hand them out at gigs at that venue over the next few weeks, like the old days.

[casapete]

Although I don’t have anything to do with it, our band has used Facebook quite successfully

for marketing our theatre gigs. We’ve used national newspapers in the past, but have found

using FB is more cost effective and easier to target our demographic. Whether that works

for younger bands / audiences I honestly don’t know though. 

[Lozz196]

In my last band FB was invaluable, the singer utilised it to work really well for us.

[snorkie635]

Why not try it and see? Only cost a tenner a skull for a four-piece. If it works - yayyyyyy! If not - throw it away.

Good luck to you on the night.

[nilorius]

1 hour ago, snorkie635 said:

Why not try it and see? Only cost a tenner a skull for a four-piece. If it works - yayyyyyy! If not - throw it away.

Good luck to you on the night.

Hey snorkie, maybe buy my old Jolana irish bass for 1000e from me, maybe it works for You !

[Cliff Edge]

We usually only play local gigs, and put posts in as many local groups as we can using an image of the poster we give to the venue. Cost, nothing. Seems to work for us. I would never consider throwing money at Facebook. 

[jezzaboy]

1 hour ago, snorkie635 said:

Why not try it and see? Only cost a tenner a skull for a four-piece. If it works - yayyyyyy! If not - throw it away.

Good luck to you on the night.

I think that`s what we will do. There is enough in the band kitty to do this so will give it a shot.

[Norris]

We've found the most effective thing is to post a few days before, including a photo or video. We also post up the events - our followers will see them without us paying. We also have a QR code on stage that takes people to our Facebook page 

[scalpy]

Doesn’t seem to be as effective as it used to be for us. A few years back it was very helpful, the analytics were very helpful. Now, not so much, the same amount of money doesn’t seem to get the same number of people, with meta seemingly inventing categories of demographics to target at will.

[LowB_FTW]

If it wasn't for Fb sponsored content I would never have found Larkin Poe, which is now probably my favourite band of recent times.

Also got stuff from When Rivers Meet as well, so Fb advertising does work, I guess you just have to make sure you are hitting the right demographics in your targeting.

Let us know how it works out for you?

 

Mark

[Mykesbass]

5 hours ago, LowB_FTW said:

 

Also got stuff from When Rivers Meet as well, 

 

Mark

Interesting. It was pretty much saturation on my feed for a while. I'd love to know what sort of budget they had.

[Silvia Bluejay]

From what I understand, Facebook advertising reach depends not just on how much you pay to boost any individual post, but also on what it gathered from your preferences in general. For instance, I'm seeing an awful lot of suggested posts* on my feed, whose only purpose is studying what I click on out of curiosity; once I've clicked, that topic will be stored by FB as one of my interests, and possibly used as one of the parameters influencing the demographic that will see my advert - regardless of what I set up when i prepare and pay for the advert.

 

I've only ever got to the point of setting up an ad - for research purposes - never actually paid for one. I absolutely don't believe in anything that FB tells me, including its own estimates of reach etc., and £40 is a stupid amount of money to waste on something that's almost completely out of your control, no matter what FB wants you to believe.

 

Our band strategy has always been  - create a page, don't pay for followers, just allow it to grow organically, and post nice, well designed posters before every gig. Real followers will actually be vaguely interested in your stuff! Paid-for Likes won't.

Make sure you put ALL relevant information in the poster or in the accompanying post - complete, correct address, entrance fee, parking or train/tube station nearby, good dance floor (relevant for our rock 'n' roll band), etc.

Be part of as many FB groups relevant to your band as you can, post that same poster and info on there a few days before the gig.

Pay for an account on Lemonrock or equivalent in your area. A whole one-year's subscription to Lemonrock is currently only a tiny bit more expensive than that £40 ad we are talking about.

 

Have professionally printed, good-looking  flyers available at ALL your gigs, with social links, a phone number and an email address.

 

All the above, of course, implies starting this work long before the gig, so it wouldn't help if you're in a hurry to promote that particular show, but you can still do some of it if the actual date of your gig isn't too close.

 

 

*Thanks to Firefox, Adblock and Ublock Origin I don't see any "proper" ads in my feed - no multinational companies flogging crap for Christmas/Easter/Mother's Day etc.

[Happy Jack]

35 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

 

Pay for an account on Lemonrock or equivalent in your area. A whole one-year's subscription to Lemonrock is currently only a tiny bit more expensive than that £40 ad we are talking about.

 

I agree with almost everything in that post (natch ... Mama didn't raise no stupid children) but I don't know whether or not Lemonrock is a thing around Glasgow.

 

It's an extremely useful resource/tool in the Home Counties and also in the SouthWest but its coverage elsewhere is distinctly patchy. The 'cut-off' is really sharp, too. Heading North out of London there's loads of bands & loads of venues as you move through St Albans up to the Chilterns; get to Luton and it just drops off a cliff.

 

If you don't have copious Lemonrock coverage around Paisley then perhaps there's an equivalent to look at instead?

 

[Silvia Bluejay]

LOL, case in point: I've just posted a video on FB of our previous performance at a club we're playing again tonight. The automated FB blurb only I can see under the post reads: "Boost this post to reach up to 4571 more people if you spend £42."

HAHAHA!!! Yeah, right.

[wateroftyne]

If you have a specific target audience, it's very much worth doing.

 

Otherwise, it's a bit of 'throw muck at the wall and see what sticks'.

[ambient]

Personally, I wouldn't pay Facebook a penny for advertising. Most people I know simply scroll past them. I don't see them at.

 

If you're going to use Facebook, then I'd suggest you're better off posting in local music groups and on the venue’s page.

 

You also can't beat the old-fashioned approach of physical posters and flyers in the venue.

[Silvia Bluejay]

3 hours ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

LOL, case in point: I've just posted a video on FB of our previous performance at a club we're playing again tonight. The automated FB blurb only I can see under the post reads: "Boost this post to reach up to 4571 more people if you spend £42."

HAHAHA!!! Yeah, right.

 

The same prompt on the very same post now, a few hours later, reads: "Boost this post to reach up to 2580 more people if you spend £42". So they're admitting their initial estimate was a bit wide off the mark. No reduction in the boost price, mind! Considering that there's no guarantee the privileged people who'd see the post would be on the same continent, let alone country, county or town as the gig, this is getting more and more ridiculous. 🤷‍♂️

Needless to say, my credit card is sitting tight in my handbag!

Edited March 31, 2024 by Silvia Bluejay

[Franticsmurf]

My question would be who are these xxxx more people? If they're local to the venue, interested in the genre of live music and there is a realistic chance they could attend the gig, then perhaps the £xx is worth investing. But if they're a bunch of randoms across the country then it seems to me to be pointless. As a general rule I would not pay for FB advertising.

[jezzaboy]

4 hours ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

LOL, case in point: I've just posted a video on FB of our previous performance at a club we're playing again tonight. The automated FB blurb only I can see under the post reads: "Boost this post to reach up to 4571 more people if you spend £42."

HAHAHA!!! Yeah, right.

That`s the type of thing I get every time I post an event!