This is undoubtedly true. They don't serve up the events much for free because they want you to pay to be seen. But that's the game. I'm wondering if they've tweaked something in the algorithm, because up until very recently ads were a non-starter, as you say. They didn't result in any real engagement, and they didn't put bodies into seats. Maybe enough people noticed that people were no longer using the ads. Hmmm...
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- Thread starter LBS-bass
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Always pays off imho. Do the math. If you dont target the ad properly it doesnt. But... if your band is getting a fixed low rate it doesnt pay to put 50-100$ in marketing. If you are getting a pct of ticketsales/door and bar deal you have to decide the investment risk etc...
JazznFunk
Supporting Member
Even that has to be done strategically. I never did the light/utility pole thing. Around here, they're torn down by the cops and city maintenance as fast as they go up. There are/were city provided billboards for people to post flyers though. Also, plenty of businesses (especially coffee shops, music stores, etc.) would let you post flyers in the window, or on their billboards inside where people would see them while browsing/enjoying their wares. A lot of those places don't even exist now... or at least the billboards don't... but they were the spots where people really would see stuff.
In 1980s Austin we used to just arrive at 6th Street for our evening and walk up and down. The clubs there are all narrow and deep, so the stages were usually in front and very visible from the street. So it worked like a buffet - the entire street was known for live music and you could go up and down and only stop at places where you liked the band. The foot traffic was unbelievable by current comparison.
Facebook's revenue comes almost entirely from selling ads. I read somewhere that it's about 97% of their revenue. They are in this to make as much money as they can, of course, and the best way to incentivize ad spending is to make it so that "free" ads, i.e. unpaid posts from a business or band page, get limited traction.
JazznFunk
Supporting Member
I refuse to pay Facebook for anything anymore after the non-results I've experienced... and for the fact that they make so much money off of every other aspect of the platform. They have reduced its effectiveness and reach even for personal/casual purposes to virtually nothing based on their recent algorithm changes. They are no longer a 'social media' platform.... they're an advertising tool with a limited social media element now, and not a very good one IMO. The things that attracted people to FB years ago have gotten lost in the mix.
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About the only place I see billboards like that anymore are guitar shops, and they're usually stuffed in the back. Mostly they exist so that if someone comes in and says "hey, can you recommend a good guitar teacher?" the staff can point them back to the billboard.
JazznFunk
Supporting Member
Yep. So now all we have are online 'advertising' tools that are more complex than they need to be to yield the results that someone is aiming to get. It's no wonder most bands end up hiring a full time social media advertising manager to navigate it.... but you have to pay them as well to do it. Makes promoting that bar gig a little less attractive after all is said and done.
IMO/IME: FB can work, but it does take a little time and some consideration of how to use the tools offered. i'm hardly an expert* so i always include ~1-minute video "commercial" (rarely a whole tune) with banners, info, rah-rah, etc.
the venue where this is important to us has a reputation for americana, acoustic, duos, and trios with the rare deviation, and we're one of those deviations: 7pc. instrumental jazz/funk/rock. it's a small venue, we pack'em in, it's a love fest, we like it, so we're afraid to change anything!
we spend ~$20-$30, per event, for paid FB advertising at that venue. (we don't need to advertise anywhere else, i.e., where the venue is responsible given its own reputation.)* i'm almost always guessing!
One of the things that I try to do is target a hyperlocal area (just the city where the club is) and limit that to only people who have an interest in music. I figure the odds are better that those people might see the ad more than once, and if they're music lovers I stand a better chance at getting them out of the house.
What has never worked for me is trying to get friends out, and trying to get other people in the band to repost announcements. Some will do it, some just won't. Your friends love you, but unless they're also real music lovers they only have so many favors for you in any given year. If you're playing every three months, you'll see more of them than if you're playing every week, but coming out to see a band should not be an obligation. So my test of success is always how many people are there that I don't actually know.
My BL posts on fazebook. She has almost two thousand followers. It only takes a handful of them to repost, and they do. What really does it for us is having these same people go to our shows and post videos and pictures of people having a good time the next day. We don't pay anybody. They just do it. Also: We are not afraid of over-booking. I"ve got a triple coming up this weekend: Friday night at a little neighborhood club we've played for years--draws an older crowd, and we know just about everybody there; Saturday night at a place with its own following (music six nights a week); and Sunday afternoon at a biker bar. All different crowds. All I can figure is our BL's musical philosophy, "a little bit of everything" must work. Honestly, I don't know how else to explain it. Allow me a moment of self-promotion; I think it will better explain what's going on. If you go to the "Check in here before and after gigs" sub under Bass Humor & Gig Stories" and scroll through page 940, you'll have a better idea of what I'm talking about (If you do look, there's a running joke about "Wholesome Family Entertainment").
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All those things are sensible if a band already has a strong following but we are not in that situation. Our goal now is building to that point.
Another band I am in has a much stronger draw, and I don't see the need to pay for advertising on that one. We always have people out.
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i do the same, and i also target 'friends' by posting the ad on the band member's page/timeline, myself.
agreed!
FWIW: my 'commercials' are to the point, but they're often fun/funny/ironic --- i get regular feedback from folks (directly, or usually from band members) that they saw the ad and had to check the band out for themselves.
I didn't take it that way, and I appreciate you, too!I mean no diss. You are one of the most sensible people on TB.
This band has only played out a small handful of times. Four shows at this particular venue, one show at another venue, and one festival show, all since October 2021. So we're very much in the formative stages. We just added a second guitarist, and this weekend was her second show with us.
I'm sorta connected to the local scene at this point, but the people coming out to see us are mostly not other players, so those connections aren't really helping much in that way. I have some visibility, but I don't think it helps much.
The squirrel motif is an integral part of our marketing strategy.
He doesn't seem to have any motif than any squirrel that I've ever seen. Thanks folks I'll be here all week, try the veal.
