Navigating Meta/Instagram Ads as an Independent Artist

Chances are, you've heard of or have at least come across Meta/Instagram ads before. 

Maybe you've even dabbled in using them.

Today, I'm here to break down the essential guide to Meta/Instagram ads for independent artists. 

I'll share insights on how to leverage them effectively, why they're a game-changer for your music career, and which aspects deserve your attention (and which don't).

Before diving into music full-time, I immersed myself in the dropshipping and e-commerce world. 

You can read about my journey from 0-1 million monthly listeners and 80million+ streams here.

Digital marketing has become the bedrock of my growth strategy.

I go into detail step by step in my book (link), where I show you my exact process of setting up ads on facebook business manager which you can copy step by step.

You can grab your free chapter here.

The Art of Experimentation and Optimization

Mastering your Facebook Ads Manager demands continuous attention and fine-tuning. 

In the guide below, I'll walk you through a series of ads I developed to promote a single track. 

Each ad presents my song through various angles, all aimed at generating curiosity and encouraging people to listen to the track.

This is the fundamental process of mastering facebook ads: 

• Develop a bunch of creatives with different hooks
• Share these creatives to different audience groups 
• Set aside a budget and test which ads perform the best (cheapest) 
• Turn off the bad performing ones and re-create the good performing ones 

The ads with blue ticks are the ones that performed well and are therefore active, the ones marked with a black tick are the ones that didn’t perform well and are therefore turned off.

I selected the most captivating part of my song and showcased it in nine distinct ways, leading to the identification of five successful approaches.

Now this is obviously oversimplified and there are a few technical factors you have to consider, which I dive into in greater detail in this blog, and even more so in my blueprint, nonetheless this is the main gist you should comprehend. 

Another crucial point to consider is that Meta/Facebook ads don't perform optimally right away. 

When you first run them, they enter a 'learning phase' which can last a few days. 

During this time, Facebook is optimising your ad to better target your audience. 

As the ad becomes more optimized, it starts performing more effectively and at a lower cost. 

This understanding is vital for planning your Facebook ad campaigns.

The three main things you need to know and constantly be doing when it comes to FB/meta ads are: 

1) Creating the video ad, which involves producing the actual content for your campaign. 

My top three recommendations, which I personally use, are: 

• Use vertical video format. 
• Always Include captions of catchy lyrics from the song part you're using in the ad. 
• Employ visually appealing videography that complements the sound and title of your song.

2) Testing different versions of the video, a process where you experiment with various edits or formats to see which resonates best. 

These creatives are from my latest release, "In the Dark." 

For this song, I chose a calm vibe and focused on creating ads with a darker, night-time theme, as you can see. 

This approach helped establish the mood of the song.

I then specifically selected the catchiest lyrics and highlighted them in the creatives by using various fonts and colors. 

I highly recommend trying a similar approach.

3) Finding the right audience and controlling your budget. 

This is where you identify the target audience for your ad and manage how much you spend on reaching them.

Regarding the breakdown and identification of your target audiences this is something I talk about in my blueprint.

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You can buy my blueprint here.

If you already have purchased it, please leave a review.

If you want some really useful freebies as an independent artist which i spent ages creating for now charge, snatch them up here.

Until next time,

Nico