After you watch this video, you’ll do one of two things:
- Never pay for a promotional post on Facebook.
- Never pay for a promotional post on Facebook, again.
This is one seriously eye-opening video. A video that every social media manager for churches, ministries and nonprofits need to see before wasting any money on Facebook:
[tentblogger-youtube oVfHeWTKjag]
[YouTube]
You’ve been warned.
Thoughts?
[via YouTube]
Joanna says
I don’t know that I would go as far to say never pay for a promoted post (although the system has its problems for sure). Some people still report decent results so success still appears to be possible. I think the video does though serve as an important reminder a reminder to not spend more than you can afford, learn about the pitfalls and constantly reevaluate if the ads are meeting your goals.
Eric Dye says
Yes, I suppose it would depend on how one measures Facebook success. 🙂
Dustin says
Simply disappointing by Facebook. Thanks for sharing this and keeping the community informed.
Eric Dye says
Sure thing, man. Goes to show that organically building things, while difficult, is the best way to go.
Josh Burns says
I can see the problem with this if you’re running a business page, but I’m not sure that churches should ever pay for “Likes” anyways. I’m not sure what the purpose would be.
I do however affirm that churches should be willing to pay to promote posts to the fans they have already organically grown. Which is why I will always stand behind my mantra that producing valuable content for your audience consistently and frequently is going to be the best way to grow your church’s social media presence and engagement.
Thanks for sharing, Eric. It’s definitely helpful for those running a business.
Eric Dye says
That’s the problem, Josh, even when churches, ministries and nonprofits pay for promoted posts, they are getting burned by Facebook’s own system. This isn’t just helpful for those running a business, but these churches, ministries and nonprofits who think they are legitimately promoting conferences, special events or anything else they may be trying to advertise, and getting hurt in the end.
Josh Burns says
Eric, please correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding from this video is that Facebook Pages are only getting hurt if they’re paying for “Likes” and then promoting posts to those fans. Is that correct? It seemed like if we’ve grown our “Likes” organically from people in our community, and then ‘boosting’ our posts to those “Likes” then we should be okay. Is that correct?
Eric Dye says
Grrr! The language on this gets in the way for me. When someone says, “Like”, it can mean one of two things: Liking a post and Liking a Page. Very confusing and I feel prey to it … sort of. 🙂
Promoting a POST shouldn’t get you into much trouble, like you said; even though I think it’s scummy that they charge you to promote to your own fans who have willingly opted for updates (more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9ZqXlHl65g). You are TOTALLY right about that!
However, I would disagree about this not being applicable to the Church. There are plenty of churches, ministries and nonprofits who have paid to promote their PAGE and have been ripped off as cited in this video. I should have parsed the type of Like in the post better, but I do believe this info is important to more than just “those running a business.”
At the end of the day, as you have pointed out clearly, your Facebook Page is going to be a lot healthier if you’ve grown it organically. 😀