A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from Facebook about a gift certificate towards advertising with them. Hmmm. I hadn’t taken the idea of advertising with FB seriously as I don’t usually click on ads very often. But I had recently met with an established author who mentioned that his publicist believed in FB advertising. Well, I thought, a few days of free ads? Why not?
Like many online ads, the cost can be centered around the number of clicks and you can set your daily limit of what you are willing to spend. I set my ad up so that I could spread it over several days to see if there were any measurable results. I have to say, I like the way you can target your ad, change your ad easily, and play with turning it on and off. 
The results, while not staggering, have given me a slight, but very steady uptick in e-book sales. I exhausted my free days and added some paid days. (Clearly this is FB’s transparent but brilliant strategy). While this is not the cheapest type of advertising, based on my modest results, I would recommend experimenting with it for a brief period. If it works for you, do it. If it doesn’t, then cancel when you feel it is no longer cost effective. You should also try different days. My instinct, although unscientific, is that more people/readers spend time on FB on the weekends and nights than during the day while working. Don’t really know if this is true anymore but just a thought.
It’s also time to give a great big thank you to Southern Writers Magazine. They have an informative blog as well as a great print and online magazine. I have recently written a guest blog for them about attending writers’ conferences (I’m a big fan) that will be published in the near future. I am also grateful they featured my novel on the “Must Reads” page of their March/April issue. I altered my FB ad to reflect this and I think it works well (see above).
As always, marketing and publicity is a learning experience! What any writer wants is to put their book in as many readers hands as possible. Happy reading, writing, and selling!
I have used some FB marketig, I do agree there seems to be more response on weekends, and BAD weather days! I am not sure some of what I have done through them has paid off. Thanks for sharing your experience with such candor.
I think you’re right – it doesn’t always pay off. Sometimes breaking even is also acceptable if it puts your book in more readers’ hands. Also, what works one time doesn’t always work a second time. I hear that a lot with things like KDP select, too. Thanks for your comments!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’ve tried a few ads on FB. They’ve been mildly successful. I do believe though the way you state your ad or what you might be offering determines the level of success. I’m going to try one where I give a gift card away and see how it works.
A gift card is a good idea – people love to get free items. Good luck – hope it is goes well!