Monday, September 21, 2020

Facebook For Creatives (The Good News and the Bad News)

 So...Facebook...

Am I right?

It’s the 800-pound gorilla in the Social Media room. It’s the main way we communicate with our families, because truly, they don’t use YouTube, they don’t Instagram, and they don’t Tweet (I'm not sure who still does). 

They “like” things. Oh they’re getting married. “Like!”  👍

Oh they’re having a girl. “LOVE!” 💓

Oh look at that crazy picture of Dave. “HAHA”. 😀

And that’s what we are working with while trying to build our professional, important, creative brand on Facebook.

Now, it’s not the the fault of our family or friends that they are on Facebook looking to “like, love, and haha" things. It’s the way they stay connected.

But WE are trying to MARKET ourselves! 

WE are serious here! WATCH OUR VIDEOS! ATTEND OUR ONLINE LIVE EVENTS! 

THIS IS OUR CALLING!!!!

And it’s not that they don’t care. They will may give you a LIKE. Maybe even a LOVE! Maybe a nice comment. Possibly share it, “bless your heart”.

See, these aren’t the adoring fans of your art you were looking for (waves hand like Jedi)... these are friends and family. But guess what, like it or not, when you are just starting out they ARE your fans.

So let’s talk about marketing your creative brand on Facebook. It’s kind of a good news/bad news situation. And it really reads kind of like a fairytale.

Good News - Facebook Pages

About tenish years ago, Facebook decided to give businesses a Page that was separate from their personal FB page which let them invite people to become “fans”, and later to “like” your business or whatever you made the page about. 

It was beautiful. You kept your personal stuff on your personal account, and you put your links to you songs, your art, your videos, your events, and your store pages on your FB Business Page.

It was the perfect social media dream...

Bad News - Back to Family & Friends

Then FB pulled "the old bait and switch”. Suddenly, a few years ago, and almost literally overnight, they changed the rules. They wanted to be all about friends and family again. They wanted Facebook to be the friendly place, safe for families and friends again to see your cookouts, your wedding pictures, and your crazy hilarious dances.

The selfish reach of your business page was severely dealt with, by not dealing with it at all. Ha, we just won’t show it to people. Unless of course, you want to advertise....

Good News - You Can Reach the World with Ads

Here! Just “boost” that post and like magic they will come to the business world you have built! Add strangers to your business reach, and keep reaching any audience you want...with more ads of course!

Bad News - You Have to Reach the World with Ads

Put a post up, especially one with a (gasp) link to your YouTube video, and...crickets. But we have a solution, just run an ad and we will happily push your people and even strangers to any site you want. Even our dreaded adversary Google/Youtube! (Boo! Hiss!)

“But I can’t pay the rent!” 

“But you must pay the rent!”

And so it goes...but like a knight in shining armor, Facebook provided the answer.

Good News - Keep people here (especially with video) and we push your stuff!

Video is the new darling of all social media. Instagram (IGTV and now Reels), Tik-Tok, and especially Facebook. They love video! They want to be the “new YouTube”. Upload all the video you want and we will show it to everyone. 

Bad News - We’ll show it to people for THREE seconds. With the sound off.

And better yet, we’ll make a HUGE deal about how many 3-second “views” you get. You’ll get hundreds of three second views. Now pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Yes the 3 seconds are the time it takes them to scroll past and maybe PAUSE to see a video start with no sound before they keep scrolling. But HEY you wanted to be seen! There ya go!

And so it goes with Facebook for creatives and brands.

Yes, they will show the videos you slave over to hundreds, maybe thousands (with ads). The caveat of course, is that 90% of those views are 3 second pauses as they scroll. Never mind that the average Facebook view time of a 3-4 minute video is :10 seconds. TEN SECONDS.

Oh, and please broadcast live with your video...that really brings people in and keeps them there to see what you're going to do. Once a week please. Please stay here. Please.

Your Aunt Margaret will really LIKE this one!

The Good News and Bad News Bottom Line.

Good News: You can get traction. You CAN get eyes on your work. 

Bad News: But it has gotten harder since they changed the algorithm. 

Good News: You can add to your following by running ads and let everyone who likes your page and even strangers see your content.

Bad News: You’ll have to buy ads and boosts to get most business page posts seen and pushed to strangers.

Good News: Video works! Upload as much as you like! We will show it to everyone!!!!

Bad News: Most views will be 3 seconds long as people pass by the video on the timeline. And do not even ask what the average watch time is...it will just hurt your feelings.

So should you use Facebook to promote your creative brand? Probably. You really can't afford not to. And most everyone does, except of course those creatives with thriving YouTube channels and videos.

Those folks just use Facebook for their wedding pics, cute baby shots, or hilarious pictures of Dave.

Have a great week!

EC
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Eric Copeland is a composer, arranger, producer, and is now doing a video version of this blog you can now see on video at Cre8iv.TV (a plave for creative video.)

Come on over, watch, subscribe, learn. Did we say video?

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About the Author

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Eric Copeland is an author, producer, keyboardist, songwriter, and president of Creative Soul Companies. What is Creative Soul? Our main goals are to inform, encourage, and assist Christian creative folks in ministry, no matter where they are in their journey. Thanks for reading! Find out more about us at http://www.CreativeSoulOnline.com