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I spent $350 in total for 2016 on Instagram/Facebook (same company so you can have them run across both platforms) ads. I had a 1 minute video of each a wedding and sweet 16 running in separate campaigns to specific age ranges and specific towns. The wedding yielded nothing. The Sweet 16 ad brought in 4 inquiries... of which 2 booked for a combined total of $7500 in revenue. Was it worth it... yes technically since I made my money back and then some. Was it as effective as I thought... not really. I did get a lot of click throughs... so people did go to the site, but I guess I was too expensive for a majority of the people as the other 3 that didn't book wanted to spend half of what I charge (thats why I say word of mouth is really the best advertising, because your name is being spread to people in similar financial positions as the people that booked you and are spreading your name). In 2017 I spent $100 and have yielded no results.

Twitter... completely ineffective. I don't know if you can pay for advertisements... but no one cares about that platform anymore. It's only good for celebrities to share news, and for the media to actually report it. Just look at how their stock price is plummeting as a reflection of how popular the service is.

Snapchat... I spend about $100 on this a year to create custom filters for my clients. It's very effective in reminding the guests as to who you are when their using the filter. It also then spreads to all their friends on snapchat who view the post they made with my filter. Have I booked any party directly because of Snapchat.... No. However, it definitely keeps my name amongst that group of people and their friends, as I have had other parties book who mentioned they remember seeing me at one of their other friends parties because of their post on snapchat with my name on it.

Youtube...THIS IS MY GOLDMINE. It's 100% free and EXTREMELY effective for me. People that are looking on youtube are clearly not looking for price, and are looking for something different and want to be impressed. In 2016, 8 events were booked because of youtube... at an avg of $2350 an event, that's $18,800 in income. In 2017 thus far, 6 events have been booked from youtube.. this yrs avg event is $2650... so revenue is $15,900. In 2018 so far 2 events have been booked from it. It typically accounts for around 8-10% of my income... but again... its FREE.

I do not do any weddingwire or the knot or anything of that sort. I focus on making my events awesome and having the guests do my marketing for me. In 2017... a record setting year for me with almost 20% growth (despite me expecting to lose income since I split from the company I was with for 8 years), ONLY 3 EVENTS DID NOT come from word of mouth or being a guest at an event of mine. My marketing costs go to my website primarily and little things here and there like tshirts to give to my sweet 16 clients, canvases for my office, or having a graphic designer update my pricing catalogs and business cards... thats about it. However I still do lots of marketing, but its mostly free, and its directly focused on my existing clientele who follow me online (around 7500 followers between facebook personal page, business page, and instagram).

I spend very little on marketing too and I've been preaching the word of referral for years here.

I've never tried Twitter ads but I have been told they are effective and I don't believe the medium is dead but you would have to be very selective targeting ads. You might be better off buying followers and posting as yourself rather than ads

Snapchat is the next big thing. As you mentioned with geofilters there is so much you can do and you can buy paid ads there too

Youtube is probably the most underused and by DJ's and probably the most valuable. Aside from you Taso and a few others I don't see a whole lot that impresses me from DJ's on Youtube.

Facebook has been my gold mine. I lost count of how many bookings I've taken from there since 2007 but it's a lot. Some I would have got anyway I'm sure but the medium has made it easier. Both of the gigs I did last weekend came from Facebook and one of the ones I diod the weekend before came from a referral from someone who's wedding I did that found me on Facebook 6 or 7 years ago
 
I spent $350 in total for 2016 on Instagram/Facebook (same company so you can have them run across both platforms) ads. I had a 1 minute video of each a wedding and sweet 16 running in separate campaigns to specific age ranges and specific towns. The wedding yielded nothing. The Sweet 16 ad brought in 4 inquiries... of which 2 booked for a combined total of $7500 in revenue. Was it worth it... yes technically since I made my money back and then some. Was it as effective as I thought... not really. I did get a lot of click throughs... so people did go to the site, but I guess I was too expensive for a majority of the people as the other 3 that didn't book wanted to spend half of what I charge (thats why I say word of mouth is really the best advertising, because your name is being spread to people in similar financial positions as the people that booked you and are spreading your name). In 2017 I spent $100 and have yielded no results.

Twitter... completely ineffective. I don't know if you can pay for advertisements... but no one cares about that platform anymore. It's only good for celebrities to share news, and for the media to actually report it. Just look at how their stock price is plummeting as a reflection of how popular the service is.

Snapchat... I spend about $100 on this a year to create custom filters for my clients. It's very effective in reminding the guests as to who you are when their using the filter. It also then spreads to all their friends on snapchat who view the post they made with my filter. Have I booked any party directly because of Snapchat.... No. However, it definitely keeps my name amongst that group of people and their friends, as I have had other parties book who mentioned they remember seeing me at one of their other friends parties because of their post on snapchat with my name on it.

Youtube...THIS IS MY GOLDMINE. It's 100% free and EXTREMELY effective for me. People that are looking on youtube are clearly not looking for price, and are looking for something different and want to be impressed. In 2016, 8 events were booked because of youtube... at an avg of $2350 an event, that's $18,800 in income. In 2017 thus far, 6 events have been booked from youtube.. this yrs avg event is $2650... so revenue is $15,900. In 2018 so far 2 events have been booked from it. It typically accounts for around 8-10% of my income... but again... its FREE.

I do not do any weddingwire or the knot or anything of that sort. I focus on making my events awesome and having the guests do my marketing for me. In 2017... a record setting year for me with almost 20% growth (despite me expecting to lose income since I split from the company I was with for 8 years), ONLY 3 EVENTS DID NOT come from word of mouth or being a guest at an event of mine. My marketing costs go to my website primarily and little things here and there like tshirts to give to my sweet 16 clients, canvases for my office, or having a graphic designer update my pricing catalogs and business cards... thats about it. However I still do lots of marketing, but its mostly free, and its directly focused on my existing clientele who follow me online (around 7500 followers between facebook personal page, business page, and instagram).

Taso, that is very, very impressive. I appreciate you being willing to share what's working for you.
 
I spend very little on marketing too and I've been preaching the word of referral for years here.

I've never tried Twitter ads but I have been told they are effective and I don't believe the medium is dead but you would have to be very selective targeting ads. You might be better off buying followers and posting as yourself rather than ads

Snapchat is the next big thing. As you mentioned with geofilters there is so much you can do and you can buy paid ads there too

Youtube is probably the most underused and by DJ's and probably the most valuable. Aside from you Taso and a few others I don't see a whole lot that impresses me from DJ's on Youtube.

Facebook has been my gold mine. I lost count of how many bookings I've taken from there since 2007 but it's a lot. Some I would have got anyway I'm sure but the medium has made it easier. Both of the gigs I did last weekend came from Facebook and one of the ones I diod the weekend before came from a referral from someone who's wedding I did that found me on Facebook 6 or 7 years ago
Thanks Jeff for making me realize I should have clarified two things:

1. When I said only 3 events did not come from word of mouth or witnessing me in person... I should've also included from any of the above mentioned marketing tools. Those 3 came from generic google searches.

2. Just like you Jeff, facebook in its nonpaid form... is the most effective for me out of all things as well. People add me on facebook from parties, see what I post, see the pictures and videos without having to go to youtube or my site, and can contact me directly. I also create the sense of urgency by posting every time I book a wedding or sweet 16 (purposely only those two events, as I don't want people to think I do other events). In my opinion its a combination of everything coming together... do a good job at an event... people add you on facebook (or instagram or snapchat)... continue to see what you do, and when it is time for their event, they can't help but contact you after following you for months or years and seeing all the awesome things you post. I put that in the word of mouth category though, as chances are they added me directly because of someone else's event or their recommendation.
 
Or in Mix's case...fool me most of the time again and again and again....:sick:

Sorry Mix...please feel free to discuss.
I was just gonna put an ad in this local entertainment paper that comes out every week someone told if I put an ad in there everyone will see it
 
If I was going to get in to big dollar advertising again I would be strictly social media based. Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and Snapchat is where I would be and very targeted. For what TK or WW are charging to be on page 3 I could create a TOMA with a very specific desired demographic and geographic location

This would be especially good for someone like Taso who has great videos to share
I am more interested in using FB right now, I wasnt very clear in my reply, if I were to pay a listing site, but it's not at the top of my list , the top of my list is Facebook .

And I am all about using "The Youtube" and will be if that time ever comes that I have content to post , ha!
 
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