At RebelMouse, our mission is always to give you back your organic growth. Still, we know the idea of pay-to-play on social media, especially on Facebook, isn't going away anytime soon. As of 2018, the average user spends 27 minutes a day on Facebook and 80% of marketers are investing in social ads in 2017. So having an allocated budget for Facebook is a near-mandatory strategy for content distribution.
We often get questions about what's the most efficient strategy for paid traffic on Facebook. Even in 2019, we believe the most valuable thing you can do is spend on posts that are already doing well organically on Facebook. Also, if you already have viral hits on Facebook from previous posts, you can make custom and lookalike audiences based on those who interacted with them. Creating lookalikes off of any email lists you may have is good to experiment with as well. Lookalike audiences are new people that may be interested in your business because they're similar to your best customers. And if you have a few key phrases you're interested in, spending on some search tests can be good, too.
The key takeaway is that you don't want to spend via brute force. Instead, spend where something is already hot to send it over the tipping point and get the most out of its current momentum. We often see people spend on slow days and on content that is not performing well, and that's a very expensive approach.
The good news is that you can make your dollar stretch on our platform. Whether you've already implemented a robust spending strategy for Facebook, or you're just getting started, here's a tip to try:
Spend Less, Frequently
Spending too much on Facebook is actually a real possibility. For example, if you're targeting under 10,000 people per post and spending $500, you'll only fatigue your targeted audience.
Instead, try spending less money, but more frequently and to different audiences. See how it impacts your CPC compared to similar, repetitive ads that run for longer periods of time. Here's how it works:
→ Spend $10–25 on promoted posts
→ Every 24 hours
→ Choose only desktop and mobile as placements
→ Promote native video or super-engaging content only
Watch your CPC turn into fractions of pennies.
Case Study: Only Good News
Only Good News — powered by RebelMouse — promotes positivity with engaging content that does most of the viral work for them. They spend small monetary amounts (usually between $15–25) on promoted posts every day. The results usually end up in video views around $0.003 and plenty of engagement and reach.
A snapshot of Only Good News' average CPC:
This promoted post has a reach of 40K with only $11.41 in ad spend so far, and a total budget of $15:
If you want to give this strategy a try, don't forget to:
✓ Mix up your targeting every time — whether it's by interest or experimenting with custom and lookalike audiences
✓ Differentiate your content — promote posts that appeal to different groups
✓ Try promoting an unpublished post, or "dark post," to reach untapped audiences and experiment with content dynamics
If you want to grow on social and optimize your ad spend, request a proposal today and let's start working together. If you're already publishing on RebelMouse, email support@rebelmouse.com for more information on this topic.
