My Experience Using Facebook’s Promoted Posts
I have a robust Facebook presence for my law firm, Lowenthal & Abrams. The page has just under 1700 followers, which, if I say so myself, is pretty good for a small law firm. There are a variety of ways in which I grow the followers for the Facebook page. One way is to take advantage of promoted posts. The promotions encourage likes, but also encourage reading of the posts that I put on the page. Generally, what I do is write a good blog post, link to it, and then promote the post on Facebook. While the average post may get 100-300 readers, a promoted post will get thousands.
For the most part, people are receptive to my sponsored posts, and the results have been quite good. For example, here is a successful post involving a simple explanation of the requirements surrounding a personal injury case. If you look closely you will see over 4800 people saw the post, 39 people liked it, there were 9 comments, and 2 people shared it.
The costs of promoted posts varies. The lowest fee is $5.00 and it increases from there. Generally I spend between $15 and $30. With the increase in price comes an increase in the number of people who will potentially see the post. I promote the posts to people who like the page, and their friends. This way people who like the page are encouraged to actually read the post, and people who don’t yet like the page might read the post and then like the page, increasing my numbers for the future.
Posts can be promoted for three days. Then the promotion stops. The promotion will also stop if your budget runs out before the 3 days are up.
How Do People Respond to Promoted Posts?
Most people seem fine with promoted posts. Personally, I appreciate the opportunity to see something I might not have noticed, and I have found myself exposed to pages my friends like, but with which I was not familiar. On the other hand, some people don’t like promoted posts. They find them invasive and annoying. I get that. It can be irritating seeing things you don’t want to see in your Facebook feed.
Still, the bottom line is that the numbers don’t lie. People are seeing my posts, and also taking the time to click on them. In turn more people like my firm’s page. Further, some of the people who see the post are then clicking through to my firm’s website. This, of course, is the ultimate goal.
People who don’t like promoted posts sometimes click on the option to block them. I can tell how many people don’t like the posts enough to take the action of blocking them, because Facebook shows me that information. However, many more people view the posts and follow up on them than block them. So over all, the result is considerably more positive than negative.
Controversial Topics
I am not afraid to write about controversial topics if they relate to my law firm. As a result, if someone sees a topic and feels strongly about it, he might comment on the post in a negative way. I am actually pleased when this happens because it brings more attention to the post and gives me a chance to interact with the public. It is, however, extremely important to be prepared to respond to people who disagree with what you wrote.
One topic I addressed was medical malpractice lawsuits. Some people feel very strongly about medical malpractice suits, and one person in particular decided to respond. He was polite enough, so we had a bit of a back and forth conversation. That conversation came to an abrupt end when he asked me if I really believed lawyers didn’t lie and I responded, well, I am a lawyer, and most lawyers I know are quite honest.
Some People are very Rude
On occasion someone will be so irritated by a promoted post that he will comment. Sometimes those people use obnoxious language. Lowenthal & Abrams Facebook page is set to block foul language as spam. So if someone responds inappropriately, other people won’t be forced to have to read it, while I can still view whatever he posted.
Today I am sorry to say an attorney posted in response to a promoted post. He saw the post because he is friends with another attorney who follows my firm’s page. His friend happens to be a friend of mine as well. So I imagine she wouldn’t be too amused with his behavior if I showed her what he wrote. Attorneys should know better. I took out his name and his picture and share the comment here. Fortunately, it was marked as spam automatically by Facebook, so none of the people who read the page actually saw it.
I get that some people don’t like promoted posts. But guess what, Facebook is a business and it has to find a way to make money. Ads drive the funding, and promoted posts are one of the most successful things Facebook has tried. So all I can say is, get used to it.