Facebook, what gives?

by MaryAnn Carroll

Well, I must confess, I have been hearing many complaints about Facebook over the past few months, but had no clue what people were talking about. It wasn't until I was replacing some items in a local gallery, Cinch Art Space, that the owner and I got into a discussion about it.

I decided since I really wanted our first show to be successful, I decided I was going to take some time out to learn about it and run a few trial ads.

I think my initial reaction to the change is that it is not a good thing. As I researched it more, I started to change that opinion. Yes, it is true, Facebook is going to profit from this, but why not? Any of us would want to do the same. They are a business also.

I haven't done much in terms of my business Artisan Beads Plus, but keep telling myself I am going to.  It's like starting a diet..... you know.... I'll start tomorrow!

I have, however, taken an interest in how Facebook can work for Potters for Pets, our upcoming art event to benefit the CNY SPCA. I am, by no means, an expert. Quite the opposite, as I am still in the learning phase.

I have been paying for some ads. I think I have spent about $30 over the course of two months while I experiment. I am hoping that what I learn while doing this will not only bring in more traffic to our actual event at the CNY SPCA, but will also carry over to our Love My Art Jewelry business page when we decide whether or not promoting the page is financially smart.

I have been obsessing about how our page is performing. The more I obsess, the more I learn. There are tutorials online with some short videos that I also found helpful.

Here is a good link to get started - https://www.facebook.com/business/learn

Below are examples of what I use to see how things are going. My current campaign is a post campaign (vs. a campaign to promote the page itself). I have done both page promotions and post promotions. Also, if you don't like how your campaign is going, you can stop it at any time. I have done that a few times.

This graph shows the average performance of people that posts have reached since the page was started on February 10, 2015. You can see those that were reached organically vs. paid.

This graph shows a comparison of likes, comments and shares over two months. From what I have researched, your main goal should be to increase engagement with your fans, the more they are engaged, the more your page might show up in their pages, etc. 

This shows the total reached for all activity over the past two months.

And, most recently, I started to compare how Potters for Pets performs against some other pages that are of interest to me and have some similarities to my page.

I hope this helps you give you an idea of Facebook can work for you.

MaryAnn