Why I Will NOT Run Paid Social Media Ads

Since it is January, I am feeling a resolution coming on. I have determined that my New Year’s resolution for 2019 will be that I, Margaret Rice, will NOT run paid social media ads. There I said it! And you all heard it. So that means it has to come true right?

Back Story

My name is Margaret Rice and I am addicted to trying to run the best paid social media ad. OK maybe I am exaggerating… actually I am definitely being dramatic. A better way of saying it is that I frequently get sucked into thinking that if I can create one, just ONE, amazingly awesome Facebook post my business will grow overnight to Shark Tank status.

In order to reach that mega viral status, I spend hours creating videos to try to achieve this goal. Here is how it starts:

Step One: I am scrolling through Facebook and see a silly marketing ad that has millions of views and I think “I can do that to sell my XYZ product”.

Step Two: Spend hours creating the perfect photos and video.

Step Three: Post to Facebook and wait for it to go viral with my regular “fans”.

Step Four: Be disappointed when I check every hour and have only one like after 12 hours.

Step Five: Pay to boost the post.

Step Six: Obsess over checking on the Facebook pixel stats.

Step Seven: Run ad for several days. Ad ends and I ignore it for awhile because I am never that convinced it did much.

Step Eight: One week goes by and I do my usual, regular FB scheduling routine of my posts.

Step Nine: I scroll through Facebook and see another viral video, hmmmmm maybe I can do that for my XYZ product.

Step Ten: Return to step Two.

END RESULT: My best guess after checking Pixel stats until I am blue in the face, the Facebook ads generate a few more sales, maybe a few more email addresses are collected but they don’t come close to comparing to my sales from my email list.

SOLUTION: Play the lottery instead of running Facebook ads. My odds are most likely better.

Current Experiment

Obviously I am being sarcastic and I am not a betting gal, so instead of playing the lottery, I am choosing to use my time much more wisely in 2019. Therefore, I am giving up the Facebook ads except possibly one type (more on this later but I can’t go cold turkey).

Currently, I am spending about 10 minutes each morning sharing viral type videos to each of my three Facebook pages. This is a WIN WIN set up. First of all no money is being spent. Second of all, 10 minutes per day equals 70 minutes per week. I was probably spending 8 hours per month creating videos to try and gain Facebook traction. That is close to a 50% savings of my time.

Results of the Current Facebook Experiment

Now, I need to check if it is working. Here is what I have found out so far across all three websites for the last 7 days by sharing 1-2 posts per day of other content besides my own (so basically 20% other content 80% my content):

Facebook page views were up 63%, 100% and 150% across the three websites.
Page likes were up 36%, 100% and smallest page stayed the same.
Post engagement was up 117% on one page, 436% on another and staying the same on the smallest page.

I am liking these stats better than during paid advertising. Now I may try sharing even more content from others after one more week of 20 them 80 me. I do know that most people recommend 80 them 20 me but I can’t bring myself to do that overnight. Baby steps.

What I Have Learned from NOT Running Paid Social Media Ads

Here is what I have learned from NOT running paid social media ads:

I am not obsessively checking pixel stats so saving time!
I am not wasting time creating the “perfect” video post for Facebook so saving time!
That sharing other people’s content is FREE and gets me more page views.

What I have Learned from Running Paid Social Media Ads

The ONE type of ad I may consider running again, where I felt like I might have cracked the Facebook code without much effort was a lead ad. In 3 days I was able to get 68 new email leads with a photo and a freebie I had previously created at $0.75/per lead. Right now that price is too high for customer email acquisition on that website but I like the potential.

Other than that, I personally waste way TOO MUCH TIME on trying to find the perfect solution to social media ads. My time is much better spent by focusing on SEO and direct leads. This has been proven to me when I compare my three websites.

By far, my most profitable website gets the majority of its traffic from organic search. Therefore, my goals and efforts are going to focus on increasing traffic from organic search and stop obsessing over social media traffic.

If you have had success or epic fails running social media ads, I do want to hear about it. Send me an email or even better comment on Facebook so I can increase my engagement for FREE – hahaha!

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