Dennis Yu

Is an hour of your time on Facebook worth $1.80?

If you’re an author, speaker, or coach, here’s the math on why you should LOVE or HATE Facebook advertising.

Let’s say you have a decent video that has an average watch time of 20 seconds (the average on Facebook is 6 seconds, so your skill gets people to stick around longer.

And because you know your audience, you get a high Relevance Score of 10 and a high view-through rate, so your cost per view is a penny.

That means an hour of attention is costing you $1.80.

Two days ago, I gave the opening keynote address at a conference of 1,000 people. My hour talk generated 1,000 hours of attention.

Those 1,000 hours would cost me $1,800 to generate on Facebook.

Granted, not all 1,000 people in the ballroom were paying attention nor were they in the right audience for my topic. But the same is true on Facebook.

So while I’d generally say that the 1,000 hours of attention from 1,000 people in one-hour chunks at the conference is worth more than the fractured attention of 100,000 people in 20-second chunks, there are a couple of key differences in social:

– I’ve assumed that 100% of my Facebook traffic is paid. If my post is awesome, I might get a 20-30X multiplier in organic reach/engagement. I explained how the Russian hackers could have reached 70 million people with just $100,000: thedailybeast.com/russias-facebook-fake-news-could-have-rea….
– Your video might suck. If your average watch time is the normal 6 seconds and you have an average 3-cent cost per view, then you’re looking at about 10X the cost– so $18/hour.
– But Facebook counts views at the 3-second mark, so many of these were accidental and not long enough to make an impact, despite “research” that 3 seconds is long enough to influence people.
– At a conference, you get to meet people, and being on stage is a far higher authority than being a talking head on Facebook. We all know that deals get done in person– not because of a tweet or like.

But rather than argue “great taste, less filling”, why not enjoy the benefits of both?

If you’re a speaker, keep speaking, but choose only the best conferences. And amplify video snippets of your talk to that conference’s audience. For example, I speak at Social Media Marketing World, so I boost my posts to fans of the conference.

Yes, you need a videographer to be at the conference if they don’t provide this for you– and you need someone to edit.

If you’ve been able to advance from being a free speaker (that’s easy to get) into being a paid speaker, consider using your speaking fees to pay for boosting your posts.

That way, your conference travel is self-funding your lead gen and brand building.

But this assumes you have a funnel– a lead magnet, book, consulting package, and so forth.

I’m fortunate to know many of the professional speakers like Robert Scoble on the circuit. And we want to help them monetize attention.

The demands of travel on folks who don’t have a support team behind them means they are generating awareness and fans, but aren’t converting that attention to consulting packages and courses.

I’d estimate conservatively that if you’re selling consulting services, then the value of your audience’s time is north of $50/hour.

So if you can buy attention from the right audience, have compelling content, and have a funnel to capture it, then every time you’re on stage or post on Facebook should be moving your people through your funnel journey, putting money in your pocket.

Would you spend $1.80 to get back $50?

Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu is co-author of the #1 best selling book on Amazon in social media, The Definitive Guide to TikTok Ads. He has spent a billion dollars on Facebook ads across his agencies and agencies he advises. Mr. Yu is the "million jobs" guy-- on a mission to create one million jobs via hands-on social media training, partnering with universities and professional organizations. You can find him quoted in major publications and on television such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and LA Times. Clients have included Nike, Red Bull, the Golden State Warriors, Ashley Furniture, Quiznos-- down to local service businesses like real estate agents and dentists. He's spoken at over 750 conferences in 20 countries, having flown over 6 million miles in the last 30 years to train up young adults and business owners. He speaks for free as long as the organization believes in the job-creation mission and covers business class travel. You can find him hiking tall mountains, eating chicken wings, and taking Kaqun oxygen baths-- likely in a city near you.
I'm a member of Blitzmetrics Academy and a friend of Dennis to boot. Not only is Dennis highly intelligent and full of great and creative ideas, he's also incredibly generous with both his knowledge and his time. Success couldn't come to a better guy. Thank you for all that you do for the world, Dennis! 🙏

Michael Pacheco

Marketer

Thanks 🙏 for being shining light in this industry. Love what your building for works overseas too network for jobs so innovative. Dennis helped me navigate having bad experiences with marketing agencies and doing dollar a day marketing which has helped my personal brand tremendously. Highly recommend.

Eric Skeldon

Founder at Kingdom Broker

Working with Dennis has been a delightful experience. After meeting him in 2015 I got to collaborate with him on countless occasions. His understanding for state-of-the-art marketing, his implementation, and his leadership put him into the top 0.01% of marketers and mentors.

Jan Koch

Ihr kompetenter Partner für innovative KI-Strategien.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Dennis for my podcast in 2021 and since then we have maintained a friendship that grows with each interaction. I have seen Dennis' devotion to his friends and clients firsthand, and our conversations often result in us talking about how we can provide more value to the people around us. He is someone whom I can ask questions on a technical level, and look to on a personal level. If you have any hesitancy about hiring him, get over yourself and do it!

Isaac Mashman

Help scaling personal brands.

Geez, where do I start recommending Dennis? First, he is an absolutely brilliant marketer who understands where marketing is today and where it's going tomorrow. He also has an incredible passion for the International Worker community. The lessons he has taught me from his almost 20 years of experience hiring International Workers have been immense. Most importantly though. Dennis Yu is someone who wants the absolute best for you and is willing to tell you the truth. Dennis sat with me at a point in my business where I was floundering but did not want to admit it. He asked some very straight forward questions to get me to admit my issues, highlighted the issues, and then helped me create a roadmap to success.

Atiba de Souza

International Keynote Speaker | Video Content Superman | Superconnector |

Dennis, which I had the pleasure of working with is one of the most giving, honest and tell you as it is person I ever know. The knowledge this man has is remarkable and he just gives it out freely. He is not pretentious and always entertain anyone big or small in the industry always willing to help. If you ever get a golden opportunity to work with him or mentored by him say YES!. You will notr regret Dennis, which I had the pleasure of working with is one of the most giving, honest and tell you as it is person I ever know. The knowledge this man has is remarkable and he just gives it out freely. He is not pretentious and always entertain anyone big or small in the industry always willing to help. If you ever get a golden opportunity to work with him or mentored by him say YES!. You will not regret

Nixon Lee

The PR Whisperer

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