Baking a social media ad campaign. Does anybody really know how it works for tickets? I mean, really know?

I know a promoter that has his facebook advertising all wrong. From what he told me and what I see, He thinks its right, he maybe gets some results from it, but from what I have learned it is flawed and very unfortunate to see how much of their budget is probably going to waste. But everyone has to work out what works. If it 'sort of works' like his, then thats not helpful either, and it can be expensive. Definitely costing them anyway.

So Im just preparing for the January and February shows, which have been filling steadily over recent weeks . The five big shows have potentially 1300 tickets to sell in total. . Thats a target worth aiming for so far. Some venues need a bit more attention than other, which is more to do with their location than it is to do with the shows. There is no doubt there are enough people out there to fill them more than twice over, it's my job to find as many as I can and guide them towards it. Looking at the numbers, the approach can be taken in any number of ways. Each show has its own budget for advertising . But spending that early on can end up making the show unprofitable. Fortunately I have the fall back of smaller pub gigs which contribute to the advertising on a monthly basis. The first goal is to make sure everyon gets the fees promised.

Ocassionally a show will sell so fast that it has no need for advertising . It happens. This allows funds to be used to support the ones that need it most.

Then there are the shows that you decide to give more than is healthy and they still dont move. Spending £100 can be good. big reach and lots of eyes on the advert. But at least 5 tickets need to be sold to cover the advertising before any thing starts to show for it. anything less is bad.

I once ran an ad campaign for 5 days, had loads of views, clicks and messages. Noone was buying tickets though. It took a week and at least £100 before I realised I was advertising across the whole of the UK. Which is not helpful. I was annoyed. But now, If I see an advert for a kebab shop from Edinburgh pop up on my feed, I message them to let them know. "hello fellow eejit!"

When it comes to regional and local advertising, Its easy to be fooled into thinking everyone must know about my business and shows. After all I post on the community groups. But unless you are an active engaged member of a group. No-one sees your posts. They rarely have a clue what you do. And many rarely lose sleep if they miss out on a show. , so catching them at the right time is essential. One significant factor that I am acutely aware of is that this week kicks off the silly season and tickets for next year are not a priority . Its a tough time for peoples purses and this will be evident in a slow down in sales

Fortunately there are four weeks after the festivities to get things moving So its not a panic, Ill just get things in place for the 7 day learning phaseto be ready by January 1st. This is the period of time that Facebook runs your advert before it has worked out the targets for your advert to be working effectively. Could it be done in three days? Is 7 days th magic nummber? What I have learned is that it costs money, doesnt always show results and if you amend the advert significantly, the learning phase starts again.

This is one of the social media graphics Ill manually distribute to groups in Beccles and Attleborough . It is quite neat. the reds work well with the off white backgrounds and the images are sharp. This is a show I would go to. no question. I think the addition of the ticket sites is likely to offer some reassurance to those that have used them before but have no idea who Shaft Of Wit are.

I am always putting too many words on graphics,like the one above which I am sure gets Facebook Bots in a flap. Ive put a more simple one together, but this is a new approach and needs a bit more attention to get it right.

This will go out to some groups and will form part of a campaign later, probably with other images and a few tweaks. I have left the website address off to give it a better chance on the social. Its not there yet. Im not a massive fan of black either. Its cool but its too similar to what others are doing and I wont go with that. I know which colour loads quickest on the SEO though, its RED. there you go. You can have that. Now Ill wait to see who starts running red pages to speed up their loading times.

I welcome any suggestions. If im wrong, do drop me a line. Social media promotion is still a mysterious dark art.

A stripped back contrast graphic that looks alright but needs something . The images havent been altered by me, but they do seem sharp and shiny.