For event promoters, advertising on Facebook can feel like hitting the casino. Some days you spend and your ticket sales skyrocket; other times, the same investment nets you … zero. But while casino gambling is entertainment for most people, it’s not what you want to model your marketing strategy on, even if every show you promote seems like a long shot. Facebook gets expensive, especially if you’re guessing.

Wait — you’re guessing? At first, it might not seem that way. You’ve curbed your boosted post habit. You’re using conversion tracking. Stop, though, and look at your campaign. If you’re working with one audience, one combination of creative images, and one version of copy, the fact is you areguessing. It’s like going into a casino and betting, across the board, all night, on black.

In truth, marketing shouldn’t be a gamble. Making money from your ads is about strategy — and skill. Fortunately, by implementing these three strategies in your campaigns, you can stop playing a game of chance and start making more money from your ticket sales than ever before.

Strategy 1: Multiple Audiences

Imagine you go to the casino and play roulette. The wheel is spinning and the dealer asks you to place your bet. What gives you the best odds of winning? Would you spread your chips across multiple numbers and colors or bet it all on black? It’s risky — even foolish — to pin your chances of winning to one random color.

The same is true when you decide who to target with your ads. Every distinct audience is an opportunity. The more audiences you serve ads to, the better the odds of reaching the most buyers. When you work with only one audience, you’re essentially putting your entire bet on black at that roulette wheel. All those unreached audiences represent huge missed opportunities.

Showing your ads to multiple audiences is essential. It goes beyond getting “more eyes.” It’s about anticipating your future desirability and uncovering potential fans. In truth, no one has just one audience. Email lists, Facebook followers, fans in real life — your ads should reach and influence all of those people.

Strategy 2: Test Multiple Creatives

You’re killing it at the tables, so it’s time to see a show. There’s a range of performers you might check out: Cirque du Soleil, Blue Man Group, Migos. While you might find Cirque du Soleil breathtaking, your friends probably want to catch Migos at Hakkasan. Is it possible to say exactly why one person prefers one act to another? No. Your taste for Cirque du Soleil or Migos depends on a lot of intangible factors.

Similarly, people on Facebook or Instagram respond differently to how your ads are designed. The images, videos, and text that make up your ads combine to create a message that drives people to buy tickets to your event. And that message will inevitably evoke unique emotional responses.

Separating the variables is known as A/B testing. By trying out different combinations of creatives (i.e., different pictures or videos), you’re able to see what imagery most appeals to your consumers. A/B Test Multiple Creatives leads to winning engagement and revenue from potential ticket buyers on Facebook.

Strategy 3: Budget Optimization

You’re not leaving the casino without at least one game of poker. You sit down for Texas hold ’em with $100. But what if you knew when your royal flush would trump everything else in play? What if you knew precisely when to raise and when to fold? Imagine if you knew how much to bet on each hand.

The same what-ifs abound with Facebook marketing. If you’ve got that friend making a ton of money with Facebook ads, you’ve probably wondered what the secret is. The answer is, likely, budget optimization.

A study out of NYU’s Stern School of Business notes, “While it is relatively easy to start an online advertising campaign, proper allocation of the marketing budget is far from trivial.”

Enter budget optimization. This practice allows you to shift your money to the right audience at the right time, in turn converting people who are interested in your event. In essence, you double-down on what’s working. Your profit is larger and your marketing dollar goes farther. Budget optimization is like counting cards in the world of Facebook advertising.

You used to have to hire an agency to do this.

In order to optimize your budget, you have to monitor its performance. In order to see which creatives are doing well in your A/B testing, you have to examine which are yielding more purchases. And in order to see the benefits of all the audiences you’re targeting, you have to track their spending habits. That’s a lot of work. It’s more than a full-time job, which is why many of these strategies fall by the wayside.

We built ToneDen to help you do all of these things automatically in an intuitive, user-friendly platform. Every campaign you run comes with multiple audiences, A/B testing, and budget optimization baked in.

Stop gambling and let us help you turn the odds in your favor. Make out like a bandit. It’s time you beat the house.

Start crushing your campaigns today

Ready to win?

Get Started For Free
✔ Free 14-Day Trial     ✔ Easy Setup     ✔ Live Support

Join Spotify Marketing 101

Live webinar on Twitch every Wednesday at 10am PST

RSVP on Twitch

Join the Academy

An invite-only community to conquer music marketing.

Join Academy

Join Livestream Marketing 101

Live webinar on Twitch every Thursday at 10am PST

RSVP on Twitch

Join the Academy

An invite-only community to conquer event marketing.

Join Academy