So you might think you need a boatload of cash or a degree in rocket science to properly grow your Spotify streams with Facebook Ads…
But that is completely untrue.
However…
At the same time, it would be wrong to think that Facebook Ads will be super easy or is the only silver bullet to your success on Spotify.
So before you move forward with Facebook Ads, I want to break down some myths around Facebook Ads and Spotify growth so that you know exactly what you are getting yourself into.
Because although Facebook Ads can be a real pain to get working properly, there is no denying that they are incredible for growing Spotify streams and getting your music in front of real fans.
This is why I’ve put together a completely free course that you can check out called Facebook Ads For Musicians’ Spotify Streams. 🙂
..and now on to the myths…
Myth: Facebook Ads for Spotify growth don’t have an “ROI”
Here is the truth…
You will never see a traditional “return on investment” like getting $3 in Spotify royalties for every $1 you spend on Facebook Ads.
What you can see is growth in your fanbase, increased credibility from successful releases, and increased data sources for further marketing (ie: pixel data so you can retarget your listeners with other offers).
Most independent artists will make small-time money by adding to their back catalog of music over time or by getting a boost of streams from algorithmic or editorial playlists.
If you’re only out here looking to make money… go find yourself a job and you’ll be able to easily calculate the ROI there, my friend. 🙂
Myth: You need a huge budget to run Facebook Ads
Although you can see results faster with a bigger budget, it is still very possible to get great results without breaking the bank.
I personally spend between $100 – $200 CAD per campaign and spend $0 on other tools and services (like music links, mixing, mastering, video production, etc.) each month.
Myth: Your first Facebook Ad is going to get you millions of streams
Properly running Facebook Ads is a skill – and just like any skill you are going to suck at it at first.
Growing your streams with Facebook Ads is about consistency and building momentum, it is not some miracle cash-grab system that takes no effort on your part.
Myth: Facebook Ads are easy
Facebook Ads are a real pain in my ass and if there were a better way… Trust me, I’d ditch Facebook Ads in a heartbeat.
The platform is constantly changing, costs are constantly fluctuating, and it can be hard to target the perfect audience.
Unfortunately… the results that ads are capable of getting are too hard to ignore right now and any artist that isn’t on top of this is getting left behind.
Myth: All you need are Facebook Ads
Finding success on Spotify is not just about Facebook ads or getting on sweet playlists.
It’s also about building a brand, social media, web presence, building momentum (or “buzz”), and most importantly…
Having an active and growing fanbase of real, genuine music lovers that actually care about you and what you do.
Facebook Ads can help you achieve all of that, and even though it is an important piece of the puzzle, it is not the only piece of puzzle.
With those myths out of the way, let’s dive into why Facebook Ads are so effective before going over the best strategy to use them for Spotify growth.
Because after a whole bunch of experimenting with my own music, I found that Facebook ads for Spotify growth is the best solution.
…what about social media?
I noticed that social media posting is not enough because you can’t scale it up easily (you can only post so much in one day) and most people won’t actually click off of the social media platform to check your stuff out.
…what about playlist pitching?
Playlist pitching doesn’t work because your song is only playlisted for so long and the listeners don’t pay attention enough to save the song or follow the artist.
…so why are Facebook ads so great?
Facebook provides in-depth targeting options, flexible budgeting, and has an algorithm that can optimize itself to get the most results possible for the lowest cost possible.
Let’s take a look at the benefits of Facebook ads in more detail:
- There are in-depth targeting options for a very wide variety of interests in addition to basic demographics – interests range from brands to genres to artists to products and beyond
- You can “scale” the ads and control your budget – the more you spend the more results you get but you can still spend as little as $1 per day if you want (in comparison you can only post on social media so many times in 1 day before people get upset)
- Facebook’s learning algorithm can optimize all by itself to get you the most results possible for the lowest cost possible
- You can place people that engage with you into “Custom Audiences” and “retarget” them which means to show them your ads at a lower cost than it took to reach them in the first place
- You can leverage the Facebook algorithm to create “Lookalike Audiences” which are 1+ million people that are similar to your fans inside of those Custom Audiences
All this means that:
- You have the power to send highly targeted listeners over to your Spotify profile
- Leverage the Facebook’s tools and algorithms to find you more of those fans for less
- Increase your chances of tripping the Spotify algorithm to find you even more of your fans for free
This neatly leads us to the strategy you should be following…
The Strategy For Using Facebook Ads For Spotify Growth
Spotify rewards artists by giving them the opportunity to get placed on Spotify’s algorithmic and editorial playlists.
Getting your song placed on one of these playlists means your song will get shown to thousands of new listeners who are similar to your current listeners.
Each time you release a new song, you get the chance to pitch your music to the Spotify editors, have your song get added to the Release Radar playlist of your followers, and have a chance for your song to be added to the Release Radar playlist of Spotify users similar to your listeners.
By releasing a single (1) new song every 28 days, you can maximize the number of pitches you make, how long your song benefits from being in Release Radar, and improve your stream and follower counts month-after-month.
You’re simply going to use Facebook Ads to send highly-targeted listeners over to your music in the first few weeks of its release to try to trigger the Spotify algorithm.
The more often you release music, the more you’ll get better at optimizing your Facebook Ads, lowering your costs, tripping the algorithm more often, and increasing your Spotify streams.
Be consistent and persistent with your work ethic, and you may even catch the attention of the Spotify editors and see massive growth.
Now, if you ready to actually get your hands dirty with Facebook Ads, check out my completely free course on Facebook Ads For Musicians’ Spotify Streams. 🙂
Otherwise, we will now dive into some troubleshooting you can do if you are running into problems with your Facebook Ads performance.
What should I do if I am not getting streams but I am getting Facebook conversions?
It is completely normal to see a drop off of 40% – 60% from Facebook conversions to Spotify streams.
For example, some Facebook users may click your ad and then your ‘Listen on Spotify’ button but:
- Navigate away because the page loads to slow
- Get distracted and click something else in Spotify or on their phone
- Get distracted in real life and walked away
If much less than 40% off your Facebook conversions are turning into Spotify streams, here is how to fix this issue:
1. Open up your Facebook Ads Manager, select the ‘Country’ breakdown (under ‘By Delivery’ option), and view the results in the ‘Amount spent’ column
2. If you find that there is a country (or 2) that is completely dominating the ‘Amount spent’, duplicate your ad-set and remove those countries from your targeting locations
3. If this fix does not improve your results after running your campaign for another 2 – 3 days, repeat this process but this time look for unusual numbers in the ‘Amount spent’ column for breakdowns for ‘Placement’ instead of ‘Country’
If 0% of your Facebook conversions are turning into Spotify streams:
Definitely complete the steps above but there are also may be a more general issue with your setup.
Make sure to test your conversion events, double-check your links, double-check the options you’ve selected in your Facebook campaign, and make sure you’ve properly set up your Facebook pixel, verified your domain, and configured your standard conversion events.
Why not target all countries or at least all countries that Spotify is in?
You want to avoid countries that have bots and click farms at all costs – these will make your numbers great inside of the Facebook ads manager but will not translate into actual streams inside of the Spotify For Artists dashboard.
Although you can experiment with other countries, you need to carefully watch this to make sure you are indeed getting streams from those countries – otherwise Facebook will optimize around those countries and only spend your money in those countries, leaving you with no streams and no money.
Why not send listeners directly to Spotify?
We send listeners to a Smart Link first for a few key reasons:
1. Sending potential fans directly to Spotify greatly increases the chances of the Facebook algorithm optimizing around bots and click farm accounts instead of real fans
2. When a potential fan hits your website, you can track them with other tracking pixels (ie: Google ads, YouTube ads, Spotify ads, Snapchat etc) so that you can expand your advertising efforts beyond Facebook in the future
3. Sending potential fans to your website first increases the steps the fan has to take, but also increases the quality of that fan because they have taken more commitments to you
Why not just use Story placements?
The more placements that the Facebook algorithm is allowed to place ads on, the more it has to work with to optimize your conversions to get you as many as possible for the least amount of money.
Facebook may very well send almost 100% your traffic to Story placements, but at least it has the opportunity to serve an ad to a listener using a different placement if it thinks it will get you a stream for a lower cost.
Basically: using as many effective placements as possible (aka all but Audience Network) will get you more streams for less.
