If you’ve ever heard the phrase:
“It’s the principle of it,” then you can understand why I don’t pay for
Facebook ads.
DISCLAIMER: I’m not saying YOU
shouldn’t pay for Facebook ads. I’m going to write why I haven’t paid for
Facebook ads up to this moment, which is also NO GUARANTEE that I won’t do it
ever. It may happen but I’m not too keen on the idea… here’s why.
Maintaining a Facebook author page is not as easy as it looks and it’s mainly due to the Pay to Play system that’s
implemented. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but as I understand it, it’s
not enough to get someone to like your page to appear on their feed. This can
happen occasionally, but there really is no guarantee. For people to see your
page and your content (and just to be clear, these are people that have already
liked your page), you have to pay X or Y amount to reach your ALREADY ACQUIRED audience
or at the very least have a chance at reaching them.
You see, once upon a time, I
thought that if you paid on Facebook, you’d get to NEW people. That’s still
very possible, but obviously it comes at a higher price. But no worries, it’s a
low investment……. To reach people you’ve already reached…. And who you won’t
reach again or at least have a CHANCE at reaching them if you don’t pay unless
they check your page regularly……..
Which is why I don’t want to pay
for ads on Facebook. I think that for the amount of times I have to block
Bitcoin ads, MMA ads, fitness ads, and countless other things I could care less
about, Facebook could tell its greedy algorithm to show me what I really want
to see from the people that matter to me.
I’ve had people talk to me about
these ads and the low investments I could do, but honestly, it also feels like
too many people trying to make money off me when all I want to do is connect. So
it’s pretty simple, if you see something you like on my page, click like,
share, comment. All that ALSO feeds into the algorithm and doesn’t cost a cent.
For my part, I’ll focus my
Facebook page on offering my very own posts and things I find that are
beneficial to share. From documentaries, to TED Talks, to information that
benefits most people regardless of where they stand on most issues. I’m doing
this because the amount of negativity we’re exposed to on a daily basis is honestly
alarming. So I want to do whatever I can to offer something positive or funny
or fun or helpful, because if we can make an impact, why not make a positive
one?
Cheers
Good points! I might add that it really doesn't lead to any kind of sales and also FB sometimes takes away your likes because of "suspicious accounts" or similar wording that only they understand. I feel I've wasted most of the money spent on FB. The only time it could help is when promoting an article about yourself or your books that you really want to get out there. One thing to note though, they have partner sites they show your ads to. My last ad, I turned off the Instagram sharing and it ended up appearing a lot in the partner networks instead of FB. I think this was good.
ReplyDeleteHappy you share some of the points and sorry for your experience, though you've shared a lot of what works better. It's a shame that you had that result without really planning it, because you'd like to figure things out easier. I do a lot of things and am trying to focus on doing it in a way where I'm happy with what I do regardless of the results and just polishing everything more. We'll see if I finally do ads or if I keep that as my dayjob :)
DeleteI don't pay either, haven't yet, of the future I too am unsure but I hate that I have to pay to reach the people who I am already friends with (like you mentioned) makes no sense right.
ReplyDeleteMakes no sense at all, because it's hard enough to get someone to like your page. Luckily I have a few people who check regularly and I also share to my personal page and that helps a bit, but Facebook is designed to shaft you... even if it is a low investment. Meh. lol
DeleteThank you so much for reading and commenting though ;)
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