FACEBOOK AD RESULTS

I recently had a very successful book signing. As part of the buildup and marketing campaign to that book signing, I once again turned to Facebook to try their advertising.

I recently posted the article, Reaching Readers On Facebook, telling you about the experience. Now that the book signing is over, I want to go over the actual results of the advertising campaign. Though I’m dread to use foretelling in novels, here, I can. The results weren’t pretty.

IN THE BEGINNING

As a quick reminder, for those that are new to this site, last year, when Lusitania Gold first came out, I spent a lot of money on Facebook publicity around the book launch. At the same time, I also plugged my previous published novel, Treasure Of The Umbrunna. The total outlay was over $100 and included my ad to first the West Coast, then the entire You Ess And A and finally the western half of Europe.

The result? Plenty of hits (several hundred), a few engagements, three or four comments, one of them nasty (stop sending me ****ing spam), and zero sales.

LUSITANIA GOLD

In my latest article, Reaching Readers On Facebook, I only blasted the local Las Vegas area and a fifty mile radius that included Henderson, Boulder City, Pahrump, Indian Springs, etc.

I spent a total of $21. According to their statistics, I reached 322 people.

1. I got 39 likes, 3 from people I know, 1 from a friend in Holland.
2. 0 feedback.
3. 2 shares.
4. When I personally commented on the promo, THAT generated a few separate comments and likes from friends that already subscribe to my site. However, that was on the separate pages that those comments created (go figure).When I did my book signing at Barnes & Noble, not a single person that bought a book or showed up and talked to me were ones that found me from the Facebook advert.Let me be clear. I had a very successful book signing. I personally sold nine books and that same day, someone bought three other copies but somehow missed having me sign them. To me, that’s a killer day! However, unless one of those three that slipped in a bought without contacting me were Facebook people, I still have to mark my campaign off as a big fat ZERO. FAIR WARNINGON THE OTHER HANDHowever, to draw in new readers, it leaves a lot to be desired.Once they know you and like you is one thing…A BIG issue.
5. Happy writing!
6. Drawing them in is still an issue.
7. I’m just saying.
8. I do most of my news and events through Facebook with my two sites for the books. In that regard, it works well. I also still use my (this) web site. Facebook is a great communicator for letting people know what’s going on. In that respect, it works well to get immediate info to fans.
9. If you’re contemplating using Facebook advertising, all I can say is buyer beware. It may work for some people, but so far, I’ve batted a solid zero after using it twice.
10. My book signing was a success, it just didn’t have anything to do with Facebook or my $21.
11. My $21 resulted in a big fat ZERO.
12. The final result?