anyone have experience running facebook (IG story) ads?

okay now I've spent $2 and got 1 click. lol. I think I need to change something up here.

the ad is a video with sound but it's just a static image so maybe people don't realize that there is sound and that is the problem here? maybe I could add some text at the top that says *turn volume up*

I would def keep running straight up ads funneling to my music if I could get the cost per click down a lot lower but I need to figure out how to do that either with better targeting or better 'creative' (a better video) or both I guess

okay the ad that said to turn the volume up isn't performing any better than the original ad but I'm going to leave it up longer so that there is some more data just to make sure that it doesn't work better.

ad #3 is going to say for fans of three specific bands, and then to get targeted for the ad the person is going to have to show an interest in Spotify and show an interest in metalcore and show an interest in one of the three bands that I listed. on this third ad I decided to optimize for link clicks instead of unique reach so hopefully that helps me get more link clicks. will report back the results of the third ad tomorrow night when I get off work.

I have ad blockers and ignore ads. I'd mute an ad with sound right away without listening to it. 

You could try to put yourself and your work out there by making a blogging on tumblr or Mastadon. You can discuss your processes your influences etc. Build a presence and get people curious about what you're working on.

Don't bother with paid ads. CPM is way way too expensive for that.

cost per click on ad #3 is down to $0.74 per click. probs still not good enough but a lot better than $2 per click lol

From what I've seen, the "indy" artists that use paid media strategies usually have really well-done / high budget-quality (or would appear so) music videos, and they spray and pray as someone else mentioned above for YouTube ads.. I've actually caught a few good tracks / discovered good local artists this way where I will legit Shazam the track while it's playing. I guess those artists can claim a success in conversion when I do that. I'll usually be in bed or on the couch watching some documentary on YT or creator video I follow, and then this 3-5 minute ad pops up that is a music video clip and right before I click skip, if the song/beat/visuals manage to hook me, I likely will watch / listen to the artist's ad and in some cases as I said will "convert" with a Shazam (unbeknownst to the artist likely, unless they're mining data from their YT ad stats and their Shazam artist stats).

IG really isn't the place for artist conversion. You need to use paid and more organic strategies to build up your artist/brand awareness, if not you're literally throwing $ away, but you live and learn, and this shows you seem to be serious about your music career / hobby. Pay to be featured on a blog, or one of the local scene IG pages that promote new music, new artists. For rap/hip hop locally (I'm in Canada), I notice that a lot of the local artists get "put on" through Snapchat ads. Seems there's a lot of "shady" "influencers" that live on Snapchat and target that youth, highschool / early adult demographic and their costs to post are usually cheaper. You need to find a way to create a viral buzz if you're trying to "blow up" at least locally at first. That's how you need to strategize. Again, I have no idea what genre you're into, or even if you're any good, but yeah.

I'll also mention that as others mentioned, playlists & algorithms. That's how anomalies happen in this highly saturated and subjective and bias-filled industry. There are ways to game the algorithms, but with TikTok now, this is easier than ever. Depending the genre you're in, or depending on your level of skill set, there are many strategies. From doing covers, remixing popular tracks / beats and throwing in your own lyrics, targeting niches, etc. but the main one is the songs / beats need to be "catchy" enough to generate that TikTok trend or buzz. I'd say stick to doing your TikToks, the more the better. Upping the production value there, investing your $ there. Investing your time studying what / how others are doing it, the formats, the layouts, the lengths, the templates or copy they use/follow, etc. I see a lot coming from the "#ArabTikTok" world of TikTok where they'll remix/sample really catchy Arab beats (Middle Eastern/Mediterranean music in general is very upbeat, catchy, gives off "happy" vibes since people might be used to those tracks from happy engagements such as weddings, etc.) and they add their English lyrics over them, and boom some NJ/NY Middle Eastern American-born kid gets his moment of fame.

I'll end on the playlists. There are people in the States especially that act as middlemen / brokers to playlist "owners". Spotify cracked down hard on this at some point (we got burned $ doing this in 2019. Started off great, but then the playlists we were landing the artists on got flagged or whatnot, Spotify was able to identify who was "paying to play" and we ended up refunding the artists that didn't get their end of our contract. We were guaranteeing plays basically and amount of top playlist appearances and for what timeframes, etc. and it was working well. We were marketing it in a way that the artists were also recovering some %/$ of the capital invested, as expenses, etc. On our end, we had found a few solid of these "main" brokers from L.A mainly and were repackaging their services and adding on our own fees, "white labeling" the service essentially.

The main guy we were using ended up ghosting us, and after going through different channels, realized he burned a bunch of people since Spotify started cracking down and flagging/striking these artists, their plays, etc. and this guy burned all the cash, and like a house of cards, this came down quick, but because my partners and I have a level of integrity and a reputation locally and are involved in many wide-ranging business ventures, we without hesitation refunded the affected artists. Was a lesson learned of "stick to what you know" mainly lol, but yeah, fun times.

I remember having come up with alternative strategies at the time of how to make this "business" more efficient, less prone to these types of interventions, reinventing the way it was done, etc. but decided it wasn't worth my time and moved onto other projects, but I'm sure a quick few google searches, Reddit posts, artist breakthrough-type groups or Discords, etc. would reveal the new ways people can "pay to play". I think the playlist "operators" market also became more efficient, and there are much more streamlined processes of collaborating with them or getting put onto these lists at this point.

Good luck. But because I've dabbled in this over the years, and the city I live in is a "hotbed" for up and coming (although trash) artists, I'll try to be as polite as I can be, but if there's dissonance in the quality of your work, and you are disillusioned, I'm not saying to give up, but don't overthink / throw so much hard earned $ or get into debt over your aspiring music career. I've seen way too many people, young people, lose stupid amounts of money over the years (and here's the catch.. I can't even tell you their names because I just don't remember - that's how insignificant this industry can make others feel) because I happen to have friends who run production studios, are really good beat makers, have video production studios, run social media (IG, blogs, Snapchat) pages, are artist managers, music marketing, etc. and all these dime a dozen younger people usually just keep lining up to pay exorbitant amounts investing in their craft and the real winners here are the people I mentioned above, who will not refuse the work or tell you how it really is, tell you if it's worth it for you to keep pumping in $. They'll always be there to gladly take their fees. It's totally okay to not be considered "good" when it comes to artistic fields. You can either be too early as we've seen so many times in history, or what is more likely, misunderstood. And if your work is misunderstood, that is also fine, and eventually you might find or appeal to some niche. If it makes you happy and this isn't consuming your life, your time, without seeing any progress or "fruits of your labour", keep at it by all means, but just know this industry is beyond cut throat.

There's no nepotism (in most cases, but even then, it's very rare to recall any wildly shitty artist that blew up because of Mommy&Daddy's connections and investments and remained famous or trending beyond the initial breakthrough), there's no top x school, no gpa, none of that. Every parameter that matters, every assumption needed to guarantee any type or form of success in your "model" is entirely tied to subjectivity, bias, luck, and qualitative factors beyond your control.

And to get back to your original question, it's fine if you're throwing tiny amounts into IG/FB ads, to familiarize yourself with how the ads platform works, the metrics, etc. but I wouldn't expect any real value to be drawn from this at first and especially at those budgets. Focus on perfecting your craft, crafting a story a narrative around your brand your persona, build an organic audience with TikTok, IG, get involved with the local scenes, get to know the local influencers and indy artist managers, the events, your peers, etc. That experience alone is priceless and a great opportunity for growth.