5 ms·

I'm running an experiment with Facebook Ads for my Tumblog

12 points by ivankirigin 17y ago

ivankirigin 17y ago
If anyone here has any thoughts on something else to tune or play with, let me know. Overall, the experience of buying an Ad on Facebook was far better than my very limited experience with Adsense.
- AndrewWarner 17y ago
  Ivan, maybe try different text in your ad and see how that affects conversion. Also, I know it's old-school, but I wonder if email newsletters are worth testing.
  - ivankirigin 17y ago
    I'm going to build http://kirigin.com http://kirigin.com into a proper blog. This is a kinda half ass experiment because Tumblr is so limited. For example, I could have "sign in" for accounts, using twitter or facebook connect. Then the "tweet this" link could be push-button, not the links to http://twitter.com/home?status=some_manual_posting_bs http://twitter.com/home?status=some_manual_posting_bs RSS subscriptions that can also power email newsletters are certainly in the mix. What text would you suggest? Obviously the title of the blog is pretty bad for the intent here.
- JayNeely 17y ago
  Currently it looks like the only keyword you're targeting is "tumblr". If you're going that general, why not try "blogs", or even "RSS"? Another tack, since it's a personal blog, is to target people based on similarities to you, rather than interests. "Founder" as a keyword targets 22,000 people in the U.S. "Robotics" targets 13,700. "Startups" + "startup" targets 4,700. If you add age-targeting on top of this, I bet your conversion rate from click-through to follow / RSS subscription would rise.
- yeabuddy 17y ago
  I've been playing around with FB Ads doing some affiliate marketing stuff the last few months. 1) I think your target demographic, looking by the # of impressions. Try to go a little bit broader than just "tumblog". Try "tumblr", "blogging", "rss", .etc to reach a bigger audience 2) Your CPC is way too high. With FB it's best to go below their suggested bid, and gradually up your CPC amount until you start getting the desired impressions. 3) I'd gather a lot more data before making any kind of analysis on the data you're gathering. 4) Your CTR looks to be on the right track, although still probably not enough data to tell if it's stable yet. 0.1% is alright for a display ad on a social networking site. I'd still try split testing a couple different versions of your ad to see if you can up that. You always want to be split testing, constantly cutting the weaker performing ads, and making a variations of the better performing ads.
  - ivankirigin 17y ago
    I started at $0.10 CPC, but bumped it up to see more traffic faster.
sfphotoarts 17y ago
I don't think the content on your tumblr really has enough meat to it to get you startup advisor roles, or public speaking engagements. Start another company that has a successful exit and then go the route of EIR and you'll end up in advisor roles, board seats and speaking at SXSW...
- sopu 17y ago
  Yeah, I think I agree. Investing / advising looks fun and interesting, so it is a long term goal of mine. The funny pics I sometimes post on Tumblr are largely unrelated. I need to build a blog. The comment there is really about others I've seen who, imho, aren't that talented, but get attention before they are good bloggers.
  - ivankirigin 17y ago
    Lol, I commented from my sock puppet account.
EGF 17y ago
Hi Ivan, It would be interesting to see what would happen if you turned on comments for your blog. You also mention creating a "proper blog" which I think would bring something new to the mix as you build your brand. Right now your Tumblr theme is limited to what you want me to focus on at that moment, with little ability to get to your archives or see what you are all about (tumblr view) vs. a blog or RSS readership will know who\what they are subscribing to. I think there is rationale to keep both, but you should try to build RSS audience at the blog vs. followers and tumbularity on Tumblr.
- ivankirigin 17y ago
  Tumblr is social. I don't really care if it stays really small. Opinions are more valuable the more people read them, so I'd like a "proper blog" to grow. The reason to keep both is to keep things properly categorized. Pictures of cats -> Tumblr. Thoughts on a market -> blog.
gojomo 17y ago
I had no idea Tumblr even had its own 'follow'; I would be much more likely to subscribe via RSS.
aw3c2 17y ago
Hey, your site would be much better to read if you made the text non bold.
- ivankirigin 17y ago
  I don't like the theme. It was built in. I'd like to work with abby to make things better. Feature request #1 is bigger media. The column is too thin.

12 points by ivankirigin 17y ago

If anyone here has any thoughts on something else to tune or play with, let me know. Overall, the experience of buying an Ad on Facebook was far better than my very limited experience with Adsense.

AndrewWarner 17y ago
Ivan, maybe try different text in your ad and see how that affects conversion. Also, I know it's old-school, but I wonder if email newsletters are worth testing.
- ivankirigin 17y ago
  I'm going to build http://kirigin.com http://kirigin.com into a proper blog. This is a kinda half ass experiment because Tumblr is so limited. For example, I could have "sign in" for accounts, using twitter or facebook connect. Then the "tweet this" link could be push-button, not the links to http://twitter.com/home?status=some_manual_posting_bs http://twitter.com/home?status=some_manual_posting_bs RSS subscriptions that can also power email newsletters are certainly in the mix. What text would you suggest? Obviously the title of the blog is pretty bad for the intent here.
JayNeely 17y ago
Currently it looks like the only keyword you're targeting is "tumblr". If you're going that general, why not try "blogs", or even "RSS"? Another tack, since it's a personal blog, is to target people based on similarities to you, rather than interests. "Founder" as a keyword targets 22,000 people in the U.S. "Robotics" targets 13,700. "Startups" + "startup" targets 4,700. If you add age-targeting on top of this, I bet your conversion rate from click-through to follow / RSS subscription would rise.
yeabuddy 17y ago
I've been playing around with FB Ads doing some affiliate marketing stuff the last few months. 1) I think your target demographic, looking by the # of impressions. Try to go a little bit broader than just "tumblog". Try "tumblr", "blogging", "rss", .etc to reach a bigger audience 2) Your CPC is way too high. With FB it's best to go below their suggested bid, and gradually up your CPC amount until you start getting the desired impressions. 3) I'd gather a lot more data before making any kind of analysis on the data you're gathering. 4) Your CTR looks to be on the right track, although still probably not enough data to tell if it's stable yet. 0.1% is alright for a display ad on a social networking site. I'd still try split testing a couple different versions of your ad to see if you can up that. You always want to be split testing, constantly cutting the weaker performing ads, and making a variations of the better performing ads.
- ivankirigin 17y ago
  I started at $0.10 CPC, but bumped it up to see more traffic faster.

sfphotoarts 17y ago

I don't think the content on your tumblr really has enough meat to it to get you startup advisor roles, or public speaking engagements. Start another company that has a successful exit and then go the route of EIR and you'll end up in advisor roles, board seats and speaking at SXSW...

sopu 17y ago
Yeah, I think I agree. Investing / advising looks fun and interesting, so it is a long term goal of mine. The funny pics I sometimes post on Tumblr are largely unrelated. I need to build a blog. The comment there is really about others I've seen who, imho, aren't that talented, but get attention before they are good bloggers.
- ivankirigin 17y ago
  Lol, I commented from my sock puppet account.

EGF 17y ago

Hi Ivan, It would be interesting to see what would happen if you turned on comments for your blog. You also mention creating a "proper blog" which I think would bring something new to the mix as you build your brand. Right now your Tumblr theme is limited to what you want me to focus on at that moment, with little ability to get to your archives or see what you are all about (tumblr view) vs. a blog or RSS readership will know who\what they are subscribing to. I think there is rationale to keep both, but you should try to build RSS audience at the blog vs. followers and tumbularity on Tumblr.

ivankirigin 17y ago
Tumblr is social. I don't really care if it stays really small. Opinions are more valuable the more people read them, so I'd like a "proper blog" to grow. The reason to keep both is to keep things properly categorized. Pictures of cats -> Tumblr. Thoughts on a market -> blog.

gojomo 17y ago

I had no idea Tumblr even had its own 'follow'; I would be much more likely to subscribe via RSS.

aw3c2 17y ago

Hey, your site would be much better to read if you made the text non bold.

ivankirigin 17y ago
I don't like the theme. It was built in. I'd like to work with abby to make things better. Feature request #1 is bigger media. The column is too thin.