I'm experimenting with a variation on John's video targeting strategy. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you really should take John's course on Facebook ads. The basic idea is that you pre-qualify potential subscribers with a video. For example, you post a video on Facebook, and then target Facebook ads only to those who have watched a good percentage of the video. 

Here's what I've been doing for the last week, and I'm getting the most inexpensive subs I've gotten in years.

1) I did a promoted post that I knew would get a high response rate. In my case, I promoted a post about me reaching #22 on Billboard. There was a link to where they could hear the song that was charting. I targeted people who are interested in my "soundalikes." As expected, I got a lot of "likes" and "loves" and "OMGs"!

2) I went on the iPhone app and invited everyone who responded to like my page. I like using the iPhone app for this because it automatically sorts the "likers" in reverse chronological order. A good percentage of those I invited ended up liking my page.

3) I targeted my ad to those who liked my page, but were not subscribers. Again, you should take John's Facebook Ad course if you don't know how to do this. Basically, you upload your email list to Facebook, and then set your targeting for those who like your page, but aren't on your email list.

Here are my results:

1) I spent $22.67. This includes the cost of running the pre-qualifying promoted post and the ad itself.

2) I netted 43 subscribers

3) That's $0.53 per subscriber

4) If my subscriber value holds, I plan to ramp that up.

It seems like my subscriber value should hold. However, I added some South American (non-English speaking) countries to my targeting, so I'm not sure how adding that variable will play out in the long run. Since I play instrumental music (jazz), I am cautiously optimistic that language is not an overwhelming barrier. They could obviously understand enough English to respond. Perhaps income might be an issue, but those who responded obviously have smart phones or computers. Regardless, I think the general idea is worth experimenting with.

One thing that is encouraging this early in the game is that people are responding with emails after they hear the music and they are sharing my ad. That means there is something they like! 🙂

Final thoughts: my target audience has seen social proof (i.e., a post that has lots of likes and describes my accomplishments), maybe heard some music, has liked my Facebook page, and then has been directed to my squeeze page. Again, I don't know how this will work for you. It just seems like it might be worth trying? or maybe come up with your own variation? Comments, John?