OK, right off the bat, you're probably thinking, "Derek, what's up with the Kanye West picture on the left?"
And the answer is that this was the ad I used to kick-start my DriveTheLine Fan Page on Facebook.
I obviously had some fun with it and I suggest you do the same.
Take a look at virtually any commercial on T.V. and you will see that they never sell the actual product!
They sell happiness.
They sell being cool.
They sell hanging out with bikini-clad girls at the beach (at least in the case of beer commercials ;)
But they hardly ever say, "Join ABC Fan Page because it will do this, this, and that for you." (Except for drug commercials and all their scary side effects -- YEESH!)
B - O - R - I - N - G
(As a side note, you probably DON'T want to use this method for Google Adwords -- make sure they know exactly what they will be getting when you use Adwords, or you'll make the "Google Saurus Rex" very angry)
But Social Media is about having fun, right?
Let your personality shine through!
This is Network Marketing after all -- it's all about you and your personality and you don't have to worry about some corporate suit looking over your shoulder (at least that's one of the things I LOVE about working for myself).
Think about why people get on Social Media sites.
A lot of times, they are at work bored to death -- dreaming of doing something, ANYTHING else (I'm talking about you, Jeremiah ;)
Don't worry about offending people (unless you have political aspirations ;) -- you're only looking for people who are looking for you. If you spend your time trying to please everybody, you'll never have time for anything else.
I'm not saying to go out and offend people on purpose, I'm just saying to be 100% yourself.
I know I'm doing something right when I tick some people off.
Think this doesn't work? Go ask Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh.
The last thing people want to do is hang out with some dry, boring, "professional" on a Social Media site -- no matter how successful you are.
(Here's another little tidbit -- don't TALK about your success (YAWN) -- hint at it through personal and professional photos, through all the comments you get from your "entourage," etc.)
Develop your online persona. I'm not saying be fake, but self-edit -- show your BEST self.
Think of yourself as the PR person for a famous celebrity, because that is what you will become, in a sense, the more successful you become.
Also, think about who you are targeting with your ad.
If you look at my example, the first thing you might think of is younger people -- they have to know who Kanye West is to get it, right?
I was also capitalizing on the buzz around "The Taylor Swift Incident" at the time.
Even the president was talking about it!
I probably attracted a lot of Rap and Kanye West fans, as well -- even though I didn't necessarily try to. (BTW, I have all of his albums -- sorry Taylor :(
Heck, I probably attracted some people who like to laugh, too -- welcome aboard!
Now onto some more technical stuff.
I'm going to give you a case study of what can be accomplished with very little (and in a relatively short period of time) with a Facebook Fan Page and $50.
Don't have $50? No problem, log into your GoDaddy account and see if you have a $50 Facebook Ads Credit.
That's what I did because I was still unsure of what getting people to a Fan Page could do for me.
For example, I originally tried to pay for ads on Facebook that advertise this website.
To my surprise, my ads were rejected because of a Facebook policy against advertising home-based businesses.
Well, even though DriveTheLine.com doesn’t actually do that (as you already know, it is designed to help people currently in a home based business become successful), it was still rejected on these grounds.
So I found a way around this – I advertised our DriveTheLine Fan Page, instead. (Facebook found this perfectly acceptable.)
Here's how to get your Facebook Ad Credits:
- Login to GoDaddy>Click 'My Account'>Click 'Advertising Credits'
- Then sign up for your credits and save the coupon code to use for your Facebook Ad
Now go to Facebook to Redeem those credits! (I'm assuming you already set up your Fan Page)
- To create an ad, go to your Fan Page and click on 'Promote with an Ad' at the top left of the page
Now you will see 'Step 1 -- Design Your Ad'
- The first 2 fields will be filled in for you
- Then you will need to fill in the 'Body Text' section
Make sure you use some copywriting principles because you are limited to 135 characters.
(For example, I wrote, "In Network Marketing lingo, "driving the line" is what happens when a distributor is doing so well that they. . .")
I made them click the ad to continue reading.
- Lastly, you can upload an image. (Remember Kanye? This is the time to upload him to the ad)
Here's an example of what my first ad looked like:
Now you want to make sure and target your ad (Narrow it down as specific as possible):
- First, choose your location (I'm going to go ahead and stick with the United States for now)
- Then you can choose what age you want to target (I'm going with 18 to 'Any' -- working age people)
- You can even choose to target people on their birthdays or even narrow your target by gender (In this case these choices are not applicable to what I am looking for, so I'll leave them alone)
- Now it's time to choose some keywords.
You can choose some general terms (Networking, MLM, Network Marketing, Home Business, Entrepreneur, etc.).
Or some specific companies (NuSkin, Xango, Zrii, etc.).
You might even want to "think outside the box" and target some different professions that can use your knowledge and expertise (but you also might want to try a different ad that will appeal to different groups of people).
As you're typing these in, Facebook will even start to suggest some keywords for you (so make sure and take a look at the suggestions).
- Then you can choose to target people based on their education level, workplaces, relationship status, and who they are interested in dating (None of which really applies to what I'm looking for at the moment, so I'll leave these fields alone, as well)
- Language is important, however, so I'll choose 'English (US)'
- You can even target users who are connected to certain Pages, Events, Groups, or Applications (I'll leave this alone for now, but this is a way to target, say, fans of industry "Gurus," companies, or products)
- Then you can make sure that people who are already fans of your Page won't see the ad by entering the name of your Fan or Group Page into the next box (So I'll enter 'DriveTheLine.com' and 'Drive The Line' here)
- Lastly, you can use some social proof by targeting users whose friends are already connected to your Fan Page or Group -- this will show up in the ad by saying something like, "Derek Alvarez is a fan." My friends would then see this and think to themselves, "Well, if Derek is a fan, then it MUST be cool." (But I'll go ahead and leave this alone for now, as well)
Here's a cool feature, Facebook will tell you how many people you could potentially reach as you are typing these things in:
In this case, I can reach 217, 020 people with my ad. Even if they don't click, I'm increasing my brand awareness.
Finally, you're going to want to set a budget:
- Create a new campaign name or choose an existing one
- Set a daily budget (Hey, why not see if you can spend your $50 in one day)
But in all seriousness, set your budget to whatever is comfortable to you (In my case, I set it to $50 and it took me 2 days to spend it).
- To make sure you don't overspend your budget, click 'Run my ad only during specified dates' and choose a specified time period
- They will ask if you want to 'Pay for Impressions (CPM)' or 'Pay for Clicks (CPC)'
Paying for impressions would be good if you just want to increase brand awareness and it will cost you less per impression.
But I prefer to get people to click on my ad and actually go to my Fan Page, so I'll choose that.
- They will give you a suggested bid based on your competition and I usually go on the low end of the suggestions (or at least somewhere in the middle)
- Finally, they will give you an estimate of how many clicks you can get in a day if all goes well
- Click 'Create' and it will take you to a page where you can complete your order (Don't forget yo enter your coupon first)
Now for the results! Remember that $50 budget? Well, here is what happened:
As you can see, I went a little over (by $2.66 -- please forgive me).
I got 165,523 impressions.
Of those impressions, 78 people clicked on my ad.
Which resulted in a 0.047% CTR (Click Through Rate).
(At this point, Google Adwords pros are probably like "WTF!" But I don't think people on Facebook click ads very much -- I know I sure don't.)
And my average CPC (Cost Per Click) was 68 cents.
(Try to see if you can get that kind of CPC as a beginner on Adwords -- it's hard to do unless you do some really good keyword research.)
Of the 78 people who clicked, 56 became fans -- at a 72% rate.
Now for the ROI, or, How I Turned a $50 advertising budget into over $10,000 in sales over 3 months:
I'm not sure if these are exactly "typical" results, but they are our results. (Go visit our disclosure page if you get any funny get-rich quick ideas.)
Here's how we did it:
- We accomplished this by building relationships with our fans and continually marketing to them through our autoresponder and Fan Page.
- We've also invited fans in the Tucson area to our Meetups.
- We've updated our Nerve Center daily.
- We've updated the Fan Page daily.
- We've worked a lot but we've seen a nice return on our investment and some of those sales are monthly subscriptions.
But the really cool part about this whole thing is that our Fan Page has grown through word-of-mouth (friends of friends see it and join).
What do you think? Have any Facebook success you would like to share? Think I'm full of baloney? Let me know in the comments below:
P.S. Make sure to hit the "Retweet" button at the top the page to let your friends know about this. Heck, you can even share it with your Facebook buddies by clicking the little Facebook icon below.
Related posts:
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- Setting Your Facebook Fan Page Up For Success Share Today, I’d Like to Show You Around My Facebook...
- Promoting Your Facebook Fan Page Through Apps and Widgets Share In order to make it in this business, you...
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Hey Derek,
First off, I would like to say Merry Christmas to all of you.
And Derek, Dude awesome job! I really enjoyed your “flow”… I usually am a video or audio man… But reading your stuff is like I am in a conversation with you… GOT ME PUMPED!
Hey, I know your already put in a lot of work into this BUT I think it would be worth the time to change the “Facebook Credit” from GoDaddy to the Visa App.
Here is a video I made for my membership site, that shows anyone w/ a Facebook Account how to get $100… JUST FOR JOINING THEIR GROUP!
This way if they don’t have GoDaddy they can still get it & they get $100 instead of $50.
$100 In Free Facebook Advertising
**I tested this 2 times so far and the most recent one I got OVER 1⁄2 MILLION IMPRESSIONS!
Other than that Derek I wouldn’t change a thing because the content is awesome, the “flow” of your writing is great and it really gets your “pumped” and in the mood for “TAKING ACTION!”
Kindest Regards,
~Kevin
Great info! Thanks a zillion.
Thanks for starting this thread Dereck. There is much that can me learned here..that is for sure. I love Facebook for generating leads and building relationships. Yet I still have much learn regarding Fan pages and Groups. In fact, I’ve put off starting my Fan page because I do so well with my groups and personal page. Yet..the Fan page info I’ve gathered from this thread is quite compelling…Hmmmm…more things to add to the growing list of imperatives. ;)
Merry Christmas to everyone!
Hey Guys,
I am so sorry!
I made those videos accessible by “guests” BUT access to the “Video/MP3 Gallery” was not changed!
That is totally my fault and I apologize sincerely. It has been corrected. Again I’m so sorry because I would never do that intentionally (send you to a page that requires membership).
Please enjoy the videos as I think they will be a huge help.
~Kevin
Kevin…great FB tips…thanks!
Hey Karen,
Anytime! I love being able to help others.
~Kevin
kevindasilva wrote:And Derek, Dude awesome job! I really enjoyed your “flow”… I usually am a video or audio man… But reading your stuff is like I am in a conversation with you… GOT ME PUMPED!
Thanks Kevin — That’s great to hear! I think I’ve come a long way, because my first blog posts weren’t quite “flowing” — that’s for sure.
kevindasilva wrote:Hey, I know your already put in a lot of work into this BUT I think it would be worth the time to change the “Facebook Credit” from GoDaddy to the Visa App.
Here is a video I made for my membership site, that shows anyone w/ a Facebook Account how to get $100… JUST FOR JOINING THEIR GROUP!
This way if they don’t have GoDaddy they can still get it & they get $100 instead of $50.
Hey, that’s a great idea! Thanks, I didn’t even know about this. I’ll go join and get some more free advertising (LOL).
dtcb wrote:Thanks for starting this thread Dereck. There is much that can me learned here..that is for sure. I love Facebook for generating leads and building relationships. Yet I still have much learn regarding Fan pages and Groups. In fact, I’ve put off starting my Fan page because I do so well with my groups and personal page. Yet..the Fan page info I’ve gathered from this thread is quite compelling…Hmmmm…more things to add to the growing list of imperatives. ;)
Deborah, I’m glad you’re finding this useful! Might as well ad it to your arsenal…
kevindasilva wrote:I am so sorry!
I made those videos accessible by “guests” BUT access to the “Video/MP3 Gallery” was not changed!
That is totally my fault and I apologize sincerely. It has been corrected. Again I’m so sorry because I would never do that intentionally (send you to a page that requires membership).
Please enjoy the videos as I think they will be a huge help.
That’s hilarious, Kevin — I was wondering what happened when I clicked on the link!
MLM COOLNESS
MLM is not always cool to do. I love what you have done here. Many people in mlm target internet users and who know the most about the internet? YOUTH! Who do most people recruit?
I love how you have made MLM cool. I also do the same thing I target the entertainment industry. I have a lot of LA Rock bands in my MLM by making it cool.
Thanks for the tips =)
Respectfully,
Chris Brown
http://prostarprofits.com
New tagline?
Hi Chris, That’s pretty funny. I’m thinking of using that as a new tagline: “Derek Alvarez — making MLM cool” (LOL)
Recruiting rock bands is pretty genius! They are already Alpha Leaders with huge followings.
Everybody needs to find their niche. I know a guy who successfully recruits wake-boarders, for example.
Hope you had a great Christmas!
Sincerely,
Derek
A great topic…thaks for getting it started…just what I wanted, thanks, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, regards Jim T.
Hey Guys,
To all that said thanks… No Problem! Thats what we are here for is for adding value and I am just happy for doing my part.
Derek,
Yeah that’s my bad. lol When I realized it I felt so bad!
As for the $100 in Free Facebook Ads… Its Instant, It Works and You Should Get At Least 300 – 400,000 Impressions…
Here is a couple of tips for the Facebook Ads I picked up and worked for me…
1. Keep “Bid Price Per Click”… LOW!… BUT “Daily Budget”… HIGH!
I realized that when you have a “low bid per click price” AND “low daily budget” you get “few impressions”… SO INSTEAD OF “raising the bid price” just RAISE the “Daily Budget” and keep the bid price “LOW”
I usually start off at 30 – 40% of the “Suggested Bid Price Per CLick” and keep the “Daily Budget” at like $50.
2. Don’t forget to add “Magazines, Movies, etc”…
For us entrepreneurs these would include… Wall Street (movie), Entrepreneur Magazine, etc…
This is an awesome post guys and I am glad to have met you all and bonded with you guys. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Let’s make 2010 the Year of Success for all of us.
Kindest Regards,
Kevin DaSilva
Mass Sponsoring
kevindasilva wrote:1. Keep “Bid Price Per Click”… LOW!… BUT “Daily Budget”… HIGH!
I realized that when you have a “low bid per click price” AND “low daily budget” you get “few impressions”… SO INSTEAD OF “raising the bid price” just RAISE the “Daily Budget” and keep the bid price “LOW”
I usually start off at 30 – 40% of the “Suggested Bid Price Per CLick” and keep the “Daily Budget” at like $50.
2. Don’t forget to add “Magazines, Movies, etc”…
For us entrepreneurs these would include… Wall Street (movie), Entrepreneur Magazine, etc…
Kevin, Thanks so much for all the input! 2 more great ideas…
Monday, I think I’ll talk a little about some of the cool analytics a Fan Page has that a Group doesn’t. Stay tuned…
Derek.Hi!
You are looking very professional…Derek.
Very good information. Your site looks excellent.
Be well,
Roger Aburto
Hey Derek,
Awesome dude! Let me know and I will “tweet you out” to my followers and on my blogs!
Your Friend,
Kevin
great stuff Derek
Thanks for this detailed description how Facebook Ads can work. Thanks to the Keywords you can target exact to your most responsible Target Market.
I just started with Facebook Ads, but the results are great.
thx
Hansjoerg
If it ain’t fun…
Cool beans Derek,
Great article! I’ll be sure and keep an eye out for more of your posts…
Funny, I was just commenting on Tom’s video and talking about how branding and selling yourself with the ‘You,Inc.’ model is the only way to go.
You hit the nail on the head and drove home your point about having fun. I’ve always said, “if you ain’t havin’ fun, than you’d better find something else to do.”
Life’s way to short not to find you ‘WHY’ and live with passion and purpose.
Thanks again and Happy New Year,
Your friend,
Mitchell Dillman
http://mitchelldillman.com/partner-with-mitchell/
Building Relationships Through Facebook (Part Two — Facebook Ads
Hi Derek,thanks for very informative article.I will concentrate on the niche building part.
Happy New Year
Hollis
so helpful derek, thanks!
so helpful derek, thanks! …i didn’t even know i had credits at GoDaddy either. ~melissa
Thanks!
Great post Derek!
Hello, my fellow Facebook enthusiasts!
@Hansjoerg, Glad to hear you’re doing well with Facebook Ads, too! (I’d love to hear what is working for you — are you doing anything different?)
@Mitchell, “if you ain’t havin’ fun, than you’d better find something else to do.”
Great words to live by — you only get one shot at life (unless you’re a Buddhist, I suppose)
@Hollis, Glad to hear you’re getting some value out of my ramblings!
BTW, My wife really enjoyed being on your show a few weeks ago. We’re looking forward to working with you more in the future. Keep up the good work!
@Melissa, I’m glad I could be the one to tell you about the GoDaddy credits. We Networkers have to stick together and use every angle ;)
Edutainment WINS BIG !!
Wow Derek…
Cool…fun…valuable…
As always GREAT information and training…
I am dubbing YOU the “King of MLM Cool”
You and Monique are having FUN…
Your team is having FUN…
And that’s the MAGIC of this awesome industry !!
Long Live “King Derek” and his “Queen Monique”
You guys ROCK !!
Overwhelmed by generosity
Thanks Rose — you’re the best!
Long live “Empress Rose”!
Sincerely,
Derek
Genius lies in the unconventional thinking
Bravo Derek, Bravo! Truly this is thinking outside of the box. I a perplexed thinking of ways to make stodgy scooba diving crazy sexy cool at our website, http://www.k2scuba.com
I would be tickled if you could point me in the direction of making home based mlm more rockstar exciting.
Great article and Happy New Year
Tevis
Nice site
Hi Tevis,
I checked out your site and the pictures definitely got my attention!
The only thing I could think of is it would be cool to have some good scuba diving stories.
You know, get people excited to create their own stories. You could even post the best ones you get from customers…
Happy New Year to you, too,
–Derek
I’m Blushing…
Rose–
I love this word “Edutainment”!
You are so right, we are having fun!
I’ll remind Derek to call me Queen :)
Here’s to Rocking 2010!
Monique Alvarez
FaceBook Ads
Derek I thoroughly enjoyed reading that especially as it was such a fun way of advertising that’s what I call ‘attention catcher’ thanks very much for that I look forward to your next sharing topic
Very cool
Thanks Derek for the great tips. I always enjoy reading your stuff.
Susanna
My Pleasure
Thank you both!
Nice to meet you, Sallyan
and nice to see you again, Susanna.
BTW, Susanna, you’re doing a great job with your blog –
I’m glad to see you’ve taken such quick action!
Pure genius
Derek
Congrats. The work of pure genius
KIm
Great Stuff
Derek
Thanks for the information and I will use your suggestions.
Charles
Awesome idea to use Godaddy credits. I love finding untapped resources and putting them to work. I’ll keep you posted on my ad campaign results.
Yes, let me know how it works out for you.
The same goes for everyone else!
Remember to give it some time — it takes time to build relationships…
Having Fun At Work!
That’s what it’s all about, Enjoying life even when your working Or trying too! Ilike it!
http://www.socialurl.com/mrwillan
Yes, exactly!
Work isn’t work anymore when it’s fun!
i learn some new every day!
Thanks, I had no idea I had any fb ad credits in Godaddy, I checked my accounts and sure enough there were some in there!
I don’t recall ever clicking on any fb ads myself, in fact I never really notice any ads at all. Are all those pics of nubile young ladies ads then? *LOL*
Anyways, thanks for the free money, I’ll go put your great article content to some good use.
Ollie
Free Money
You are most welcome, my friend!
BTW, you can see how they are targeting you with those pics of nubile young ladies.
I’m assuming you say that you are single and looking for women?
For example, I never see those ads because my profile says I’m married.
Looking forward to hearing some results!
Building With Face Book
Hey, Derek. I enjoyed your valuable article. Very creative. Your tips just turned on those light bulbs and gave me some ideas. Thank you so much. All the best!
How many Dereks does it take to turn a light bulb on?
Glad to be of service, Derek — you’re very welcome!