Facebook isn’t a magic money machine

Can I be painfully honest with you?

Facebook advertising as all types of advertising has a cost.

The difference between Facebook advertising and running an ad in the paper or on TV or the radio is that you can measure your results.

It’s really hard to get hard numbers on how many people came from a particular ad, but with Facebook you can see how much activity an ad generated.

This can be a curse or a blessing.

The other day I was talking with a client and they were unhappy with the performance of their Facebook campaign.

We were running ads that I was happy with.

According to the numbers, the client was giving me we were getting new people walking into their business for $25 each.

I’m looking at this thinking, you are getting total strangers to come to your business and try you out for $25, that’s great.

After all, if you buy an ad in the paper you can easily spend $1000.

To get a $25 cost from the paper you would need 40 new customers from this one ad.

Most newspaper ads don’t do that well, and TV and radio don’t either.

However, she was unhappy.

What was happening was unrealistic expectations.

I hadn’t prepared her for the reality of Facebook marketing.

She had been reading and hearing about fabulous success stories from people who were getting new customers for pennies.

What they don’t tell you in those stores is that the business has run many ads before that didn’t work, before they hit upon the message and offer that worked.

Facebook isn’t a magic money machine, you know those machines at the bank that spit out cash when you are withdrawing money.

Then again . . .

I was kidding a teller a few weeks ago and asking if she had one of those machines at her house and she informed me that they do run out of money and have to be refilled.

Too bad to hear that…

I liked the thought of a machine that spits out the amount of money I want whenever I want it on demand.

Well with Facebook you have to put money in to get money out too.

It can and does give you a great return on the time and money invested, but you do have an investment.

Depending on your business $25 may seem high for a first-time customer or really cheap.

The point is that your advertisings job is to get people into your business, either online or to your physical store and then it’s your job to get them to come back.

After all, it’s easier to sell to a person who has already purchased one of your items than it is to sell someone who has never purchased anything from you.

Once you have your system working you’ll be able to replicate it and step on the gas harder to get more customers faster.

Set realistic expectations.

Test and get a process that works, and then put the pedal to the metal to get fast results.

What do you want from your Facebook marketing? What results do you consider poor, good, or great? Click HERE and let me know!

Have a great day!

Brian