Today’s picture shows you a screenshot of my Tauer Perfumes Facebook page, the way I see it. I see different things there than you. Let me share some insights about the facebook mechanics, and why you might have seen “promoted” content there coming from tauer, and why there are no free samples.

If you look closely, you may see that at the bottom of the picture there’s a bar with two numbers: 2288 and 6161.  These are the numbers of how many people have seen this post about the perfume in a soap in their feed. They see it because they liked Tauer Perfumes’ page.

2288 were organic views, meaning: I would have gotten these views anyhow.
6161 were paid for views, meaning: Without me paying these views would not have happened.

As a page owner, you have to pay to get out there. It is like paying by providing free samples to make draws with blogs, something that I have stopped completely. Why no free sample draws on blog? Because, and many of my colleagues could tell you the same, it has zero effect on sales. No return. Zero. Nada. Nothing.  Furthermore, there, on the blogs, you talk to a closed circle. I could go into details but won’t. Just take my word for it. Zero effect. Totally useless. Except for the fact that you might make some folks happy because they get a free sample.

Thus, as a facebook page owner, you have to pay for exposure. This why you might see promoted content. Now, of course, the next question is: Is it money well spent?. The answer: Yes, it is.

My five cents: It is an example of the shifts happening; 10 years ago, it was a different world and the (few) blogs had some importance as intermediary to an interested and focused public that bought. These days, well, there are many more blogs and they talk to circles that are overlapping to a large extent and they are talking to a public that does not buy selective (artisanal limited distribution perfumery) niche, at least not in the extend they did in 2007; for many reasons that go beyond this post. And some of the blogs out there talk often in a confusing way, comparing artisanal with LVMH, expecting mass market esthetics in artisanal perfumery, pricing like in a drugstore, or in the contrary applauding 400$ fragrances, not understanding any of the market’s mechanics, without questioning what is happening, mixing opinions and facts, in a fake news way. Very unprofessional many of them. Hurting more than helping.  Sorry.

Tauer Perfumes is a one show,  mostly, with a creative director (me), a producer (me) and nose (me) and a marketing responsible (me). The marketing guy says: Hey! The world has changed: Let’s talk on facebook and pay to get noticed.

Of course, I can never pay and promote like all the Esthee Lauder brands: Malle, Ford, Le Labo, or other brands owned by big international groups, Byredo, Dyptique, and all the others.

But at least I can try to get noticed and make a statement: I am one of the few remaining truly independent and am still moving.