Welcome to episode 402.
Today we’re going to talk about Facebook. So recently I got a question, I’ve actually gotten a lot of these questions, but one in particular kind of stuck out to me, and they asked me why I was choosing to stay with Facebook, despite all of the privacy issues and algorithms changes and specifically one thing, that kind of riled me up and got me to want to do this episode, was a focus from Facebook forcing pages, and I’m quoting here, “Forcing pages to pay to play.” And so I want to talk about it today. And you can kind of hear me, I’m like right on the edge, it’s a soapbox moment, we’ll get there. But I want to talk about this because I am sticking with Facebook.
As I say that though, I want to be stupid clear, Facebook is not my only marketing strategy, and I’ve talked about his in a past episode. We did a whole episode about why Facebook is not a marketing strategy, I will link to it in the show notes. It is not the be all end all of your marketing, but for my money, and yes, money, it is an important piece, an important tool, in my marketing tool box, and we’re going to talk about that today. Before we jump too far into the episode though I want to remind you that all the best stuff happens Backstage, so join us, and hitthemicbackstage.com. Here’s the deal guys, we are actually going to run through the Rock Star Guide to Instagram, live in June. Meaning we’ll have live calls, we’ll be working through the content together.
If upping your game on Instagram is on your priority list, join us in June. You can grab your access right now, for just a dollar. This month in May, we’re actually working through the Rockstar Guide to LinkedIn live, and together we’ve been doing weekly calls, and we’re actually just rolling out the modules, this month. So module three is out, it came out Friday. We have our call today, Tuesday, if your listening, the morning this came out. If your not then module four goes live on Friday, that will be all of the modules, and we’ll have our final call on May 29th for the LinkedIn Guide. But here’s the deal, then kicking right into June, so June 1st will be the first email about the Instagram Guide. We’ll be dong that, and then the following Tuesday we will do the week one call for the Instagram Guide. So really good time to join us. Again, you can get started, for just a dollar, but I wanted to make sure I reminded you of that.
In the excitement of getting ready to rock out with the Instagram Guide we’re actually going to do an Instagram webinar next week, so stay tuned for more details on that.
Shifting Strategies
With that let’s get into it. Let’s talk a little bit about why I am still hanging in with Facebook. So I know that there have been a lot of changes. We’ve talked about them on a few of the What You Need to Know Episodes, in the last couple of months. There was the Cambridge Analytics issue. There is the evolution of what they’re doing with the algorithm. There are some changes to what is happening with the API. But for my money, Facebook is still a critical part of my marketing toolbox, because it’s still delivering results. It’s as simple as that. And I know that because I watch my numbers. I do the data work to see what’s happening. I went back and forth a lot with running the new live show that we’re doing, Hit the Mic TV on Facebook or on YouTube and here’s the deal, Facebook delivers an audience for me. A lot of it is because I understand the importance of evolving my marketing strategy on Facebook, and that’s something I highly recommend if you’re not currently seeing the results you want to see.
Look at how you’re using the tool, look at what’s happening for you, and what maybe you can tweak. If you look at my page, you’ll see there’s been a major shift to live video. In fact, almost all of the content that goes out on the page now is live video. That’s not like for any sort of mythical reason. They’ve flat out told us with the algorithm changes there’s going to be an emphasis on video. There’s going to be an emphasis on conversation sparking content, and that in most cases conversations happened on video, especially live video, so that’s what they’re going to be putting front and center in the news feed. So I followed that directive, and I made that evolution with my strategy.
And I highly recommend, if right now you’re sitting in a place where you’re not seeing the results you want to see, look at what you’re sharing. I’m also not sharing nearly as much content as I used to share on Facebook. I used to share, and by used to I mean, in the last year, say four, five, six months ago. Two posts a day, every single day, almost always links, but occasionally a video or a photo. Yeah, no, I don’t do that anymore, because it wasn’t working. So instead of ditching the whole platform throwing the baby out with the bathwater if you will, I evolved how I was using the tool.
Yes, you have to invest.
And I made these changes work for me. Again, one of the things that really stuck out in this email, that I got, was this, “Having to pay to play,” and it’s a conversation I’ve seen in countless Facebook groups and Tweets, and I get asked when I’m speaking at events or when people meet me. Here’s the deal guys, we are incredibly entitled right now, as marketers, thinking that our advertising and our marketing budgets should be zero dollars. That’s absolutely ridiculous. Yes, you have to invest in the marketing of your business.
That investment maybe sponsored booths at events, it may be paying to get on a stage, it may be paying for adverting on a platform, or maybe paying someone to do the advertising for you. It may be paying for leads by way of affiliates, but here’s the deal guys. You have to invest in the success of your business. There’s just not another option. There’s simply not another way. That’s just the way it is, and never ever in, the history of the world has there been a generation of business owners that have just assumed that all of their marketing would be free. So let’s put an end to that. Let’s let go of this idea.
Social media is fantastic, and there’s a ton I can do organically, meaning I’m not paying to put it in front of you, but I’m still investing my time. I’m still investing in a team that helps me with these things. I’m still investing in a graphic designer, who created the templates for a lot of the graphics to go out. I still am investing in a photographer, to take great pictures. I’m still investing in equipment, to do really high-quality video. I’m still investing in putting content in front of an audience. There has to be a budget. There has to be an investment. That’s called going pro with your business. That’s called going pro with your marketing. That’s called business. Its as simple as that.
And so I want you guys to really, really let go of this idea that there’s any kind of marketing success without paying to play. All right? If you get nothing else from this episode, take away that.
The final thing I want to talk about, in reference to this paying to play, is never have we had to pay less, because A, part of that investment can be paying a team member or our own personal time investment. But also I can pay a $100 to Facebook ads and know I’m going to be getting this exact ad in front of this exact person. That’s never been possible before. I mean you could put a billboard on a particular roadway, or in a particular neighborhood or next to a particular restaurant. You could run a commercial during a particular radio show, or a TV commercial during a particular television show. Run an ad in a specific part of the newspaper. Invest in a larger ad in the yellow pages, but there was no guarantee that the person who you want to be in front of was going to be down that road or going to be listening to those stations or using a phone book.
Here is the amazing thing, specifically about Facebook, but certainly about investing in our marketing in 2018. I can get crazy specific about who I want to talk to, and yes, some of that has changed. Some of our partner categories are leaving, all of our partner categories are leaving, but there’s still an insane amount of data that were able to use to make sure that we’re talking to the exact right person. There’s an incredible amount of value in that, and I feel like it’s not getting enough attention. And that’s why I love Facebook ads. But again Facebook ads are only as good as our overall marketing strategy. I’m not building an entire business on the back of a Facebook ad. It’s a part of a funnel. It’s speaking then to having a really great landing page, in a nurture sequence, and making the actual, and actually making the ask. Actually showing up and saying, “Here’s the thing to buy.”
I see a ton of people running Facebook ads and neglecting to follow up with that, “Here’s how you buy this,” so make sure you’re making those changes. Make sure you are making those asks because that’s where you’re going to start seeing the value. So that’s why I’m not giving up on Facebook. And that’s why I’m totally okay with having to pay to play.
The final kind of bonus thing I want to talk about is I’ve had a lot of conversations with people who tell me that they’re ditching Facebook, they’ve closed their Facebook account and they’re going all in on Instagram. In case, you don’t know, Facebook owns Instagram, so if you’re leaving Facebook for some crazy moral reason of privacy, they own Instagram. So if you want to truly and completely remove Facebook from your life you have to also let go of Instagram. And for a lot of you, because I know who listens to the show, for a lot of people who listen to the show, it’s going to be a tough day in marketing-ville for you, because those are going to be a big part of your marketing up until this point.
So, again, instead of saying baby bath water I’m out let’s look at how we can adjust our strategy, see results. Set a marketing budget that fits that strategy, and execute on them. And again, support this content. Support this piece with the other parts of our online and offline marketing plans. I know as a social media person I should not be saying, “Hey offline works too,” but it does. But it can work even better when it works together with our stuff that we do online. Just like the pieces of our online marketing work better when they work together, and not in parallel of each other. All right?
All right, that’s it for today, if you have any questions head over to the Facebook page, and if you haven’t yet started watching the Hit the My TV Show Live that we do every Thursday, this will be week two. You can join us over there on Thursday at 2 PM Pacific. This week I’m actually going to be coming from a remote location, because I am attending my friend, Brandy Lawson’s event, she’s got a company called FieryFX. I know you’ve heard me talk about them before, but I’ll be at her event on Thursday. So we will be coming live from a very cool location, in Phoenix, Arizona, all right?
I’ll talk to you guys soon, bye.
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