In this article i’m going to share how i’ve used Facebook ads to get over 1.5 million streams on Spotify. Using this method i’ve built my Spotify profile up to over 7,000 followers and 40,000 monthly listeners. I want to preface this article by saying that Facebook ads is an incredibly deep topic, and results vary based on song quality, genre, video quality and even time of year. This is a surface level look at how these campaigns are setup.
A lot of people new to the idea of using Facebook ads cringe because they think Facebook ads is a dying platform for old people, but the reality is there are more than 2 billion monthly users and Facebook ads includes running ads on Facebook, Instagram and even Messenger. Ads can show on feeds, stories, marketplace, news articles on Facebook and even on websites and apps (although I avoid websites and apps).
The general idea behind this type of campaign is that we’re going to use a conversion objective that utilizes the Facebook Pixel. We’re not going to run a traffic campaign and send people straight to Spotify because there is zero tracking, and you’re likely to end up with a bunch of meaningless bot clicks that get no streams on Spotify. With conversions we can filter out the bots and set up retargeting audiences so you can run ads to people that converted at a later date for other purposes.
This means we need a website where we can install our pixel code and fire off ‘events’ when people click the Spotify button on the landing page. I most often use a service called Hypeddit to do this, but you can also use ToneDen’s free plan as well.
Note that as of May 2021 and the introduction of IOS14 from Apple, you must use a Business Manager account on Facebook and if you want to track conversions you must use a verified domain. This means you have to own a domain name, I use Domain.com but you can also use GoDaddy and many other domain name providers. You don’t need a website on the domain, just the domain name itself which runs about $20/year typically.
First lets talk about campaign structure if you’re completely new to this. There are three levels to a Facebook campaign: campaign, ad set, and ad. The campaign level defines the objective of the campaign, in this case we’ll be using conversions. The ad set is where you define the audience and the placements, like what countries they’re from, if the ad runs on just Instagram or on Facebook and Instagram, and what music they’re interested in. The ad is where you choose which Facebook page and Instagram page the ad runs on, as well as the video in the ad and the text of the ad, and the link the ad goes to (your Hypeddit or ToneDen landing page).
Facebook Campaign Setup
Let's dive into the campaign setup. First we’re going to create a new campaign with the conversion objective.
Next we’re going to set up the campaign level to turn on Campaign Budget Optimization and set our daily or lifetime budget. Campaign budget optimization is a feature that lets Facebook put your money where its getting you the cheapest cost per conversion.
If you’re using ToneDen you’ll use the View Content conversion event, if you’re using Hypeddit you need to set up a custom conversion using their custom event. Also with IOS14 you have to add this event in Aggregated Events Measurement inside of Events Manager.
Next we’re going to choose what countries we’re running this ad to. You’ll want to make sure you’re only putting countries where Spotify actually is available, and to be safe i’d start with richer countries first until you know what you’re doing. For ages i’d select your core demographic but widen it up a bit on both ends. For detailed targeting we’ll set Spotify, narrow further by one or more artists whose fans are likely to enjoy your music. I typically run with Detailed Targeting Expansion turned on to widen the audience.
For placements i’d run on FB / IG story and feeds. Avoid Audience Network and I wouldn’t bother with Search or In-Article either. You’re also looking for placements that support videos and not just images, which excludes Messenger Inbox and Facebook Right Column.
Next I want to point out the structure of this campaign. In this case I have 7 different ad sets, all targeting different audiences. Inside of those ad sets I have 2-3 ads using different parts of the song. Each video ad is 15 seconds long and vertically sized, but cropped to 4:5 for the feed placements.
In the ad section of our campaign we’re going to upload the video, set the Primary Text to something captivating (sometimes nothing at all can work just fine, but good text will help), link to our Hypeddit or Toneden page, and choose the Listen Now call to action.
In the case of this campaign I just did a lip-sync of the song. Remember it's only a 15 section chunk, and I use multiple ads with different parts of the song.
Need Help?
Facebook ads isn't easy, and the nature of using it to promote music on Spotify makes it even more complicated since we can't put a Facebook pixel on Spotify itself. To make the process as easy as possible I created a course called Spotify Growth Machine with over 4 hours of video tutorials and a private Facebook group to ask questions.
The course is regularly updated with my most recent best practices and includes all of the IOS14 updates. Click here to learn more.
I also do one-on-one Zoom consultations which you can find here. I will warn you though that my calendar is often full, and I would recommend you try this stuff yourself first so you can get the most out of the call.
You can also of course watch any of the free YouTube videos on my channel here, and ask questions in the forum.
