I am trying out the facebook targeted ads.. it's my first paid advertising (other than making biz cards, of course, and paying for a website..) and I am SO EXCITED!!!! yay.. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

/bounce

Let us know how that works out..

We wasted $ on a wedding portal site.. and got 1 wedding out of it.. So we're cautious on what we spend now.

Greg

I've never spent anything on advertising. I saw that some people had a lot of success with facebook and you can start really small.. so it's a good way to play it safe.

i'd be interested to know how it works out for you. Keep us posted!

I definitely notice the ads that pop up next to my facebook profile, so it seems like it'd be a good move. Looking forward to hearing how it turns out!

I've been using Facebook ads for about a month and I've been happy with the response so far. I think its a good move, especially if you haven't done much paid advertising. It's pretty low risk.

Kelly, would you mind sharing with me details about your advertising? Even if it's just privately if you rather not share publicly. Like how narrow of a market, what is your budget, etc? I'm just curious what others are doing and what your response rate is. How long did it take to get a response in. It's the third day and I got nothing yet. Boo.

I started doing facebook advertising um, late summer, I think. I've gotten a bunch of inquires and booked 1 wedding so far.

We've been trying it for awhile and haven't gotten anything yet. Started off linking to our site, then tried linking to our facebook page. Didn't notice much of a difference either way. I was hoping a few people would at least add our page as a fan or whatever - sorta to bookmark for future reference, but that didn't happen.

I have also tried putting some ads up for free senior sittings as we don't know anyone in real life to use as guinea pigs to get a senior portfolio started. I got a couple responses from that, the emails they sent were pretty poor quality, i.e., all in lol-speak (I can't believe kids think that's an acceptable way to send correspondance to strangers) and once we replied and gave them the details (nothing scary, basically a free sitting, a free print, no obligation to buy) we never heard back from any of them.

I think the ad targeting is awesome though and I'm going to keep at it for wedding work - maybe I just haven't found the magic wording yet to get people to click.

I've been using it to advertise for weddings. I have done a campaign linking directly to my website and another one to my Fan Page. I found the Fan Page one to be a lot more successful, though.

With the campaign, I offered an incentive (8 free wallet photos with a portrait session) to fans. Some people have added the page for that (they will ask about the wallets at the shoot) and others have added the page for future reference.

Brandi, I just PMed you some info on demographic and budget.

I got your PM Kelly sent you one back!

I have an incentive in my ad (free esession with booking) and I have it pointed to my site. Maybe I should point one to my facebook fan page instead? Maybe that would be more effective..

very interesting. hope everything works out brandi please let us know

Ooo. Could I get some insight as well? PM Sent!

Do you think people really shop for wedding photographers this way? And that things like free wallets are true incentives? I'm curious as to how much $ you're spending, how much time you're investing, and what the pay-offs are.

I'm guessing your $ and time would be better spent taking planners to lunch or doing neat gifts to your existing clients, getting them to buzz about you...

$.02

It's not much money, because I don't have much to spend. I don't have TIME to take people to lunch right now, seriously, so as lame as it is, online is best. And I do often give gifts to my clients. And I get WOM referrals.. but it's just slow going.

hang in there and give it a little time to see if it gets you much traffic! Make sure you have a group and a fan page too!