Facebook ad

In putting together a marketing plan, I realized my biggest challenge: reaching a global demographic on a shoestring budget. I have 5,650 followers on Twitter and a Sew Darn Simple fan page on Facebook, but that is not enough.

After doing a little research, I found that Facebook ads have a low click-through rate, but a high impression rate and the potential to reach millions.

I ran my first ad campaign on Facebook from March 10 through March 20. I targeted 25 to 64-year-old females in the United States, or more than 39 million people.

The first ad consisted of my logo, which includes my tagline: Custom Sewing for Your Home and More...Purses, Accessories, Home Decor. The logo was a hyperlink to my website (http://www.sewdarnsimple.com/). The verbiage below the logo read: 100% cotton purses, wallets, cell-phone cases, lanyards, accessories and so much more. Custom orders. Global shipping.

Because Facebook has a low-click-through rate, I chose to pay up to $0.68 per click, not to exceed $5.00 per day. During that 10 day advertising campaign, my ad had 86,778 impressions and 21 clicks, for a 0.13 percent click per thousand (CPM) rate, and a 0.024 percent total click-through rate (CTR). My average cost per click (CPC) was $0.53 and my total campaign cost $11.17.

Although I do not track how customers hear about me, during my first Facebook campain I had 4 new customers, 8 total customers, and 10 total sales. My average sale is $9.00, not including shipping.

I began my second Facebook campaign yesterday (March 20). I substituted the logo with an ad that has pictures of my merchandise. I kept the maximum pay per click at $0.68 and the daily budget at $5.00 And I kept the verbiage below the graphic, but changed the hyperlink to go directly to my Etsy landing page (www.etsy.com/shop/SewDarnSimple), where I sell my merchandise. I already have had 60,630 impressions and 10 clicks.