i beat submithub at meta ads!
Well, not really. But that’s a fun title!
I’ve been dabbling with Meta Ads to push audiences to my Spotify profile for about a year. One of my biggest obstacles has been finding the right landing page that leads to conversions. I absolutely refuse to pay monthly for platforms like ToneDen and the like. I don’t know why. Maybe because I only have finite resources, but also…come on! How many subscriptions do I need to sign up to as an independent artist who is not making a profit of her music (yet!)
Anyway, when SubmitHub announced their Submithub Links for FREE I was ready to bite.
ad number 1
I decided to use their lowest package offer which was their Starter Pack. This cost 120 credits which in human money is like $95 and around £87. This gives you 70 credits for 10 days of Meta Ads. (If you’re wondering how I have a spare £87 to throw around, I have a budget I saved up from my earnings at my day job that I put aside for the release of this upcoming album and I dip into it for things like this when I can afford to.)
Now I’m usually a control freak when it comes to my visuals around my music but I wanted to see what SubmitHub offered so I let them do everything. I think I just uploaded the artwork for my track and left them to it.
One week later I received an update:
Hey jaymoussamann,
The first week of a Meta ad is all about the "learning phase." Our goal is to see a steady improvement as Meta finds the right audience for your music.
Here's a quick update of how your ad Jay Moussa-Mann - Honey You Shrunk This Kid is doing:
Impressions: Meta displayed your ad 16,251 times
Clicks: 641 clicked on the ad, with 61 following through to Spotify (a "conversion")
Conversions per credit: Over the last 48 hours you have averaged 1.0 conversions per credit, which is around average, with room to improve
From our perspective, these numbers are a bit lower than where we want them to be. The first week is typically the slowest, so there's no need for concern just yet. We're keeping a close watch, and I do expect improvement over the next week. If not, we'll make some adjustments as needed.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. And thanks for working with us!
- Jason & Tilly
A bit depressing. After a little detective work and discussion with my partner in crime we decided the ad had probably been targeting the wrong audience. Then I happened to see the visual ad SubmitHub had made for me for the first time. Lol! Not really catching the vibe.
The ad SubmitHub designed for my song (:D)
ad number 2
So I decided to run the same ad again. But this time I would take control of the visuals and targeting.
In the first ad, I had just allowed the campaign to choose the genre based on how I uploaded the song to SubmitHub: Synthpop, Alt Pop, Downtempo.
Downtempo was questionable to begin with but I did believe Synthpop and Alt pop reflected the music production. However, after some thought I realised it possibly didn’t reflect who I am. And in advertising the story of who you or your product is matters more.
I am a lyric based story-driven songwriter, much closer to singer songwriter and folk, no matter how my music is produced.
For my second ad I chose these genres, because this was the audience I believed would be drawn to who I am as an artist: Singer Songwriter, Folk Pop, Alt Pop.
I also added influences this time, which the first campaign didn’t have. Here they are: Taylor Swift, Bleachers, Japanese House.
For the visuals I used 3 of my own videos I had created for Spotify Canvas and TikTok. I was dolled up but essentially me being me, dancing and miming like a nutter to my own song. And one was a clip of the visualiser I had shot in my room, a bit more high end with lighting and fog machine. (That’s not the one that did well by the way, the best performing was shot on my phone in window light)
2nd Ad Visuals that I created myself (my best dolphin impression!)
the Results
Today is April 10th. My 2nd ad has been live for 7 days and as you can see, is already doing considerably better than the original one which ran for a total of 10 days.
1st Ad
Ignore the conversion per credit in these images it is appears to be an error vs the reports
2nd Ad
I wanted to document this case study for 2 main reasons
1) For anyone debating whether to try SubmitHub Meta Ads. Hopefully this will allow you enough insight to make your own decision. I would also recommend you watch Andrew Southworth and Two Story Melody on YouTube. They regularly run ads, teach you how to run them and go into far more depth.
2) To bust the myth that advertising is wrong or somehow selling your soul to the devil. It’s not cheap and it’s unfair. If you don’t have the spare funds you can’t really experiment and I hate that. BUT I also think there is so much mystery and suspicion around advertising in general. So many artists still have the belief that if they are good enough, if their song is good enough someone, somewhere will choose them. I don’t want to wait. I’ve always been of the mindset that I can do whatever a label does if I try, just on a MUCH smaller scale. Meta Ads are a proven way to grow real followers, unlike play listing which doesn’t always equal real listeners who stay. My Spotify follows have finally after FIVE YEARS started to creep up after this campaign. Super small increase, but I’m not chasing numbers. I want to draw audience who will get me and my songs, even if thats just 5 new listeners.
Here is the email update I received from SubmitHub after a week of my 2nd campaign:
Hey jaymoussamann,
The first week of a Meta ad is all about the "learning phase." Our goal is to see a steady improvement as Meta finds the right audience for your music.
Here's a quick update of how your ad Honey You Shrunk This Kid is doing:
Impressions: Meta displayed your ad 5,149 times
Clicks: 435 clicked on the ad, with 75 following through to Spotify (a "conversion")
Conversions per credit: Over the last 48 hours you have averaged 1.9 conversions per credit, which is really strong, among the top 25% of similar ads
From our perspective, these numbers are looking quite solid. We're keeping a close eye on performance, and I expect improvements over the next week as Meta further optimizes delivery.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. And thanks for working with us!
- Jason & Tilly
CONCLUSION
I can reliably turn strangers into listeners with a repeatable formula through Submithub Meta Ads.
Now it won’t always work this well because of course that will depend on the song and visuals but - it does work and it is repeatable.
Formula: Great hook. Great visual. Appropriate targeting.
I like SubmitHubs Meta Ad option and would use them again. It’s easier than using Meta Ads through my Facebook account, their link worked and they give me all the information I need to learn and develop. Having used Meta Ads in the past meant I could see what they were doing and to me it’s very transparent and helpful to indie artists.
What’s Next?
So what is the long term plan? I can’t run ads forever. If I were to run an ad on this single for an entire year at say as little as £2 a day it would cost me £730 a year. That’s a lot.
From this campaign:
5,149 impressions
435 clicks
75 listeners
Let’s say: 10–20% stick in some way
That equals 8–15 real fans from this run
If we did this again with 3-4 singles over a year (£340) and it went well, I would have gained 60 real listeners.
If you’re already scoffing saying the return on investment isn’t worth it, tell me: How much did it cost you in petrol, snacks, rehearsals, outfit and parking to play at that live show? And how many of the audience became your true listeners?
It’s probably a worse ROI but you don’t see it that way.
If done correctly, running ads like this can lead to real listeners who become true fans who then become real supporters emotionally and financially of your music and artistry.
It’s not a replacement for in person and connection, but I get a bit tired of the mystery and artist to artist judgement around it, when actually it could be good for you.
That said, please, please don’t waste money on advertising. You won’t get the money back from Spotify plays. My goal is to attract true listeners who move into other avenues of my music, merch and shows. Only do this if you have some spare funds to test. You will likely not get great results when you start.