A curious experiment with Facebook advertising to promote carols

November 24, 2010 in for Churches, Outreach

I’ve been experimenting with Facebook advertising for my church’s upcoming ‘Carols under the Bridge‘.

These four advertisements ran at the same time, to the same audience, for the same budget.

The campaign performed well – but one advertisement received all of the clicks!

Can you guess which one?

Extra points if you can explain why that one advertisement performed so well!

Advertisement 1.

Advertisement 2.

Advertisement 3.

Advertisement 4.

  • http://kirribillikim.blogspot.com KIM

    What’s the answer?! I’m on the edge of my seat!

    It seems a bit to obvious to say #3 because it’s the different one — less busy for the eye to look at and therefore draws more in? Or perhaps it’s #2 because it mentions kids? Or #4 because people know they can sing along? I’ll guess it’s not #1 …

  • http://nwbingham.com Nathan W. Bingham

    Advert 2? Mentions clearly it is a free event. Also, “jazz” catches attention for those who may not be interested in “carols” or “the true joy of Christmas”.

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    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Steve Kryger, Verlene Filippelli, Webs for Churches, Valda Mettig, Irina Green and others. Irina Green said: Ministry Tech: A curious experiment with Facebook advertising to promote carols: I’ve been e… http://bit.ly/ijjNyn @churchwebs [...]

  • http://www.joannamuses.com/ Joanna

    My guess is number 4 because there is a bit of a wow factor for doing something on Sydney Harbour. Since the others just say under the bridge it could be any bridge anywere.

  • http://cafedave.net/cafedave cafedave

    I’m going to go with number 4: the people clip will win out over the “joy” clip-art, (although “joy” probably has better cut-through), and it has “your” in it, and “Sydney Harbour”.

    It’s the least Christian-y, the most reader-centric, and doesn’t mention “community”, giving the impression that it’s going to be a slicker, more professional offering, so I think it will win.

    Am I right? Not even close? Nice experiment!

  • http://frontlinethought.tumblr.com Rex Barrett

    I’m guessing number two. Reason is the mention of jazz and stuff for the kids.

  • http://davidould.net David Ould

    #2 for me, too. Same reasons.
    Free
    Jazz
    kids

    3 absolute winners for us Lower North Shore yuppy types.

  • http://itsonlybarney.com Andrew

    I personally think that it is #4, mainly because of the fact that it says that the event is on the banks of Sydney Harbour, and it is probably the least Christian as well.

  • Jonathan

    I’m going to go ahead and guess 3. My reasoning is that assuming that we’re seeing the actual size of the ads, the picture in the other 3 is just too small for me to tell what is happening. It wouldn’t even catch my eye. I would notice “Joy” and would probably be curious what it’s all about and want to know how to get joy. The description gives few details, and I didn’t notice the title, so I would be curious enough to click on it to see what the ad was all about.

  • http://itsonlybarney.com/facebook-advertising/ Facebook Advertising | Itsonlybarney

    [...] 25, 2010 in News with 0 Comments Steve Kryger has run/is running a FB experiment using the advertising that is located down the right hand side of Facebook.  He was testing out [...]

  • Anna

    I think the joy one. No body is ‘looking’ for ads on Facebook. If I see a cupcake, it catches my eye, any image that is blurry dark or whatever, I don’t read the text. Joy jumps out to grab, and then the text explains.
    Just my subjective thoughts :)

  • http://www.thedavidhensley.com david

    Has to be number 2, kids activities brings all the parents out!

  • http://www.waynefield.com Wayne

    I’m with Jonathon and Anna … number 3.

  • Steven Kryger

    To all who guessed advertisement #4 – you guessed correctly!

  • http://www.tuesdayschurch.org.au Glenda

    The big question is who replied and who was your market.
    Any ideas as to who and why?

  • http://www.gontroppo.blogspot.com David McKay

    My minister says that Number 4 appears to say that you are offering a free harbour cruise and so thought that was the one people clicked on.

  • Marcus

    I think it’s # 4 because it mentions the harbour. Simple but also provides the greatest “catch”.
    Just my 2.2c (GST inc)

    When do we find out? What do we win?

  • http://pastorjohnpartridge.blogspot.com/ John Partridge

    I would guess #4 was successful because its the only one that mentioned a *place.* All the others are generic and internet users are so accustomed to ads that they ignore them unless they “click.” If the “place” was nearby or convenient, then they might be interested enough to click for more info.

    That’s my guess anyway.

  • http://kirribillikim.blogspot.com KIM

    do you know the “right answer” as to why??

  • http://www.matthias.org.au Dani

    We’re using facebook advertising for the first time (also for our Christmas Carols) and are hoping to see if clicks turn into visitors on the actual day. I’d be interested to know your ad stats (especially how many clicks you received and the click through rate %) if you were willing to share?

  • Steven Kryger

    Hi Dani, great to see you’ve been getting into Facebook advertising! I’m planning on putting together another post on the lessons I’ve learned about advertising on Facebook, so stay tuned! What lessons have you learned so far?

  • http://www.facebook.com/wayne.connor1 Wayne Connor

    I reckon the first 3 adds smell like a free churchy event, the have the word ‘Christmas’ in them, 1 and 3 have ‘true joy’, but the last one looks more like a Sydney event with no relationship to Church.