Well folks, a few weeks ago we filled you in on Using Dark Posts (Unpublished Posts) in Your Advertising.  Afterwards, I went ahead and tried out said post.  Let me start by saying that I fully intend to do another dark post later this week.  I also fully intend for this next dark post to be much more successful than the first.  Here’s why: the first post failed.  

Don’t be overly concerned, it didn’t crash and burn or anything.  It just sort of quietly fizzled out.  Equally sad end result.  It was my own fault really.  I targeted the post to a very specific group: small business owners in my area.  I also limited myself to newsfeed only visibility.  Results?  Well, I set aside a budget for Facebook to spend $50 on this post.  But, since you only spend money when someone actually clicks -Facebook was only able to spend $0.85 of that budget.  Yes, you read that correctly.

So, Dark Posts – How Not to Fail

Don’t:

– Set your unpublished post to show for one. day. only.

– Don’t narrow your visibility to only newsfeed placement

– Over target your audience because it will kill your post.  Yes, you don’t want it to be too broad.  But you also don’t want to be looking for the only purple lion in Africa hoping that he clicks on your ad.

Do:

– Create a unique graphic/infographic to accompany your post

– Use creative wording

– Leave the post up for several days

Good luck! And wish me luck in round two…