How concerned should you be about bots when running ads? Do bots come from certain countries? Are there ways to make your ads invincible to bots? In this episode I explore this complex subject.
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Important Points:
Even though it adds an extra step for audiences, Andrew has learned that using ads to optimize landing pages can help filter out bots and attract genuinely interested music listeners.
To run your ads effectively, Andrew suggests avoiding an excessive number of them. Too many ads can clutter your data and make analysis more challenging.
When reviewing your ad campaign, ask questions like what contributed to increased traffic, what music people are listening to, and why certain songs and playlists experience more streams. Remember to consider both Facebook and Spotify landing page data.
Podcast Outline:
[00:15]: Andrew discusses artists’ hesitancy to target specific countries on Facebook and Spotify due to concerns about bots. — Andrew
[00:38]: A lot of people, according to Andrew, believe that a huge percentage of Facebook profiles are bots. — Andrew
[00:56]: Andrew encouraged musicians and artists to do a conversion-based campaign using a Facebook pixel.— Andrew
[01:12]: Campaigns can drive traffic to your page or link clicks to optimize landing page views.— Andrew
[01:21]: Optimizing for landing pages is better than link clicks and should be set as a pixel event. — Andrew
[02:58]: Bots cannot replicate landing page optimization, as their primary behavior is to boost competitors’ ad spending. — Andrew
[03:35]: Based on Andrew’s experiences, the likelihood of bots doing the same for musicians and artists is extremely slim. — Andrew
[03:50]: Facebook’s machine learning algorithm weeds out accidental clickers and triggers. — Andrew
[04:27]: Andrew takes his campaign to the next level by tracking the data that comes through his Spotify. — Andrew
[04:36]: Andrew advised against running too many ads simultaneously to prevent result confusion between campaigns. — Andrew
[04:56]: Andrew analyzes his campaign results to determine factors such as the contribution of ads to save or listen rates and the increase in followers through playlist promotions and ads. — Andrew
[05:18]: Andrew suggests avoiding multiple campaigns for a single song because data on Spotify can’t be segregated. — Andrew
[06:13]: Gaining a thousand link clicks on Facebook doesn’t guarantee streams, as it can’t account for accidental clicks and mechanisms to filter out bots. — Andrew
[06:55]: Andrew is confident in targeting countries outside his market, like Indonesia, Russia, and India, for landing page optimization because it effectively filters out bots. — Andrew
[07:31]: Andrew’s strategy is validated by DMs he receives from these target countries, complimenting his music. — Andrew
[08:34]: Andrew recalls his conversation with Jason from Submithub, where they discussed the majority of bots originating from the U.S.— Andrew
[09:17]: Based on experience, Andrew thinks that even though landing page optimization requires an extra step means — Andrew
Wise Words:
[01:29] Landing pages are better than link clicks. But what’s even better than both of those is using a conversion campaign type. Because the way I do my ads is I send people once they click to a landing page, but the landing page event doesn’t trigger the conversion. What triggers the conversion is, them, clicking the Spotify button or Apple Music button on that landing page, and the reason why this is powerful is because it essentially eliminates all chances of bots. — Andrew
[03:50]: I feel highly confident that the traffic that I’m getting is real because what happens is Facebook learns what types of person triggers that conversion, and it can optimize around that. So it kind of weeds out bot accidental clickers, people with low intent over time because conversion campaigns are based on their machine learning algorithm. — Andrew
[04:22]: And I take this a step further on my own end, and every time I run a campaign, I will make sure that that data comes through on Spotify, and I track it. And I hate nothing more than having data corruption. And what I mean by data corruption is having multiple things running at the same time. To the extent that I can’t determine what my results are for any particular thing. — Andrew
[09:52]: Always be sure to look at the data, have a clear path and understanding of how people get to where they do inside of your ads, and always test anyway. — Andrew
Learn More:
If you enjoyed this episode, you might also like this one I did with Tom DuPree III about music marketing with Facebook ads.
