Viral Content + Facebook Ads

by Emp
8 replies
Hi guys, I've recently started a viral content website. Similar to buzzfeed.
Its still very new..

Wanted to give you guys some background on my thought process, and hope to get some opinions suggestions.

So what I do is to first curate and find interesting articles that I feel is engaging and that people will share on FB. I'll re-write them, and post on my own website, quoting the source.

Next I create Ads on FB to promote these post, with the idea to seed them. So that they get the exposure. Ultimately I hope people interact with the ads, by sharing the article, hopefully so it will go viral.

At the moment, I'm trying out 2 different objectives, to see which works best.

1) engagement
2) clicks to website

In terms of countries, I'm also trying split testing.

1) Targeting premium countries like USA, UK, Australia, etc. But the cost per click is very expensive. I'm paying $0.35 right now

2) Target cheaper countries. Specifically I find Philippines very cheap, and the people very engaging. I'm paying about $0.05 cpc now

Separately I've also gone on fiverr to get people with large fan base to share my post.

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After setting this up. I have a couple of thoughts / questions

How do I try to bring down my CPC (especially for premium countries)
Ultimately the goal is for the article to go viral, then earn profit from the adsense on my page. So its kind of like arbitrage. I've heard people getting clicks from premium countries at like very low cost - $0..01 or $0.02 How can I achieve this?

Is there like a number I can reference to, before I conclude this article won't go viral. Then move on to promote another article on FB. For example maybe after 100 clicks to the article and I still don't see any shares. Then I'll stop this campaign, and start a new one?

On FB, to get more shares, or with the objective of getting an article to go viral. Should I optimize the campaign for engagement, or click to website?

Should I concentrate on getting exposure for my articles? Or should I also try to build a fan base (ie run page like ads) If so what kind of budget split should I be considering?

Should I just target cheap and engaging countries like Philippines. And just forgo the expensive countries. Higher chances to go viral? But the incoming traffic would give me cheap clicks on adsense as well.

Are there any other seeding methods that I can try?

Happy to hear your views. Thanks!
#ads #content #facebook #viral
  • I like your initiative and motivation, I'm not an expert but will follow your adventure!
    Do you have any strategy for twitter?
    I also pay a lot for the US.
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    • Profile picture of the author Emp
      nothing for twitter.. I think facebook has the most potential as the newsfeed isn't chronological.. but that said, maybe twitter does have its benefits?

      Originally Posted by Matthieu HermesSoftware View Post

      I like your initiative and motivation, I'm not an expert but will follow your adventure!
      Do you have any strategy for twitter?
      I also pay a lot for the US.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10550253].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author samjaynz
    Have you tried boosting your posts instead of doing regular FB ads? I seem to get much better results from boosted posts than clicks to website ads. I also pick up extra page likes that way, especially using the "invite" feature to get people who like the post but don't like my page to join.

    I'm running a similar setup for a niche targeted site (about a popular old TV show) and using boosted posts I get $0.02 CPC for UK traffic 30-65 demographic at worst .. and I'm going as low as $0.005 at best depending on how "viral" the content goes.

    My guess is that if you're trying to emulate Buzzfeed, then your content probably isn't very targeted and you are trying to cast a very wide net. So many people have tried to jump in this same game, pushing up CPCs and meaning you're competing hard for attention.

    Have you tried just focusing on a specific niche or topic and starting out smaller? E.g. a viral page and site about cars, or even more targeted like "car crash fails" or something like that?
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    • Originally Posted by samjaynz View Post

      My guess is that if you're trying to emulate Buzzfeed, then your content probably isn't very targeted and you are trying to cast a very wide net. So many people have tried to jump in this same game, pushing up CPCs and meaning you're competing hard for attention.
      More broad does not mean more likely to resonate with people hence a better CPC?
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      • Profile picture of the author samjaynz
        In my experience no, because from what I can remember without checking your CPC is ultimately determined by your click/action rate ... with tightly focused interests (but not too focused so as not to have a good size audience) you are probably going to get fewer interactions and therefore pay a higher CPC.

        The success I've had with FB has tended to be narrow interests + broad demographics.

        But I'm happy to be proven wrong on this of course ... I don't claim to be an expert, but I do get results I'm happy with.
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        • Profile picture of the author Emp
          yep agree with broad demographics, targeted interests.
          What do you think of my strategy, even though my site isn't niche...

          But i setup specific targeting to promote each post.

          How long does it take to see the CPC start decreasing?
          Do you limit your CPC, or let FB decide?
          Could you share your CTR for the very low CTCs you get?

          Thanks!
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    • Profile picture of the author Emp
      Hi there, yea.. I've tried a couple of methods.

      1) Boosting Post
      2) Post Engagement Objective
      3) Website Clicks Objective

      So far, option 1 and 2 gives me ALOT of likes. But hardly any shares, and clicks to websites. Option 3 gives me best number of clicks to website (naturally) and most number of shares (though the share rate is still very low)

      I've decided to target cheap countries now, places where they're still English readers. For example Malaysia, Philippines, etc. I'm doing about $0.05 per click to website, and about 1 share in 200 clicks.

      Hey, hows your TV show doing? I was thinking of a similar niche as well.

      Back to my site, yep my content isn't niche. However I create separate campaigns for each post. For example...

      I target people who like wildlife, animals, pets, animal planet, etc.. For a post about animals.

      Then I have a traveling tip article where I'll create another campaign and target frequently travellers.

      Does this make sense?

      I do agree with you, and am considering about starting something more niche. Maybe doing a specific site about health, or nutrition. Then maybe get an affiliate account with say.. iHerb ontop of the adsense.

      But I'm also worried i'm too all over the place, and losing focus. Hence considering I should still still with my current site for awhile before exploring something else. Happy to get your thoughts!

      Originally Posted by samjaynz View Post

      Have you tried boosting your posts instead of doing regular FB ads? I seem to get much better results from boosted posts than clicks to website ads. I also pick up extra page likes that way, especially using the "invite" feature to get people who like the post but don't like my page to join.

      I'm running a similar setup for a niche targeted site (about a popular old TV show) and using boosted posts I get $0.02 CPC for UK traffic 30-65 demographic at worst .. and I'm going as low as $0.005 at best depending on how "viral" the content goes.

      My guess is that if you're trying to emulate Buzzfeed, then your content probably isn't very targeted and you are trying to cast a very wide net. So many people have tried to jump in this same game, pushing up CPCs and meaning you're competing hard for attention.

      Have you tried just focusing on a specific niche or topic and starting out smaller? E.g. a viral page and site about cars, or even more targeted like "car crash fails" or something like that?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10550247].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author MiaSorensen
    Just keep at it! It can be tricky to nail it down to a science. Keep us updated as well as I would love to see how this works out for you. I know a few people who have had great success using Facebook advertisement.
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