Interested to share ideas for both general interest as well as tournaments.

I've done Facebook ads a few time and I'm not sure if they are worth it or not. The Coinbox Pinball Podcast used to talk about a pretty healthy FB ad budget, and that it eventually paid off. I'm running this hobby route on a budget closer to shoestring than healthy and not sure I want to dump a ton of cash into FB ads. Currently sitting at around 216 FB likes, and I would consider 75 of those natural, the rest from ads. Each like I get from an ad is one that I look at the profile and typically I'd believe that it's a real person as well as local based on the variety of pictures around town. However, I think 2, 2(!) of those people have ever liked anything I have ever posted. So while thy may "like" the page, they don't seem to notice anything that gets posted, and even less likely that they are going to any of my 3 locations and dropping in coins.

League is healthy at 35 names/players, but none of them come to regular tournaments aside from a few that have always come to tournaments for a few years now.

I'm revisiting to list a few things I have tried lately.

First, a few weeks ago I made a very simple 15 second video that I ran as an ad on FB twice. I think it was 5 or 7 days both times. The first time I included the 13-17 age group, and went up to 64. In the first day I knew this was not going to have the result I wanted. The goal was to get views from a balanced age range. By the end of this ad run, the numbers hadn't changed. The 13-17 range had over 95% of the 1776 views of that ad.

The next time I ran it, just because I'm still feeling out what I want to see as far as balanced views in all age ranges, I removed the 13-17 age range. The end results were very balanced. Which way is better, I don't know, but with almost no adults viewing the ad the first time around that isn't ideal. Could 13-17 year-olds come play? Sure, but in league non-adults are a very small number and we have zero "kids" play in tournaments.

The big question, did it work? The answer is I'm not sure yet. My monthly coin drop varies quit a bit. Shoot, if I host league at my place or not makes for a ~25% swing some months. So it's hard to track month to month and say that those that saw the ad came in to play. However, to anyone that liked the ad, I was able to invite them to like the page. My ad ran on Facebook and Instagram and I was able to do this on both sites.

None of these likes have come to tournaments, but they have liked some posts I have made since they first saw the page and "liked" to be able to see my posts. This is a huge contrast to the previous 2 ad attempts (my very first ones over a year ago) where I told FB that the goal was page likes. I got page likes, and of the ~175 new likes those people have combined for 3 post likes in 1-2 years. Not value added at all.

So, I will be using this video as an ad again and inviting anyone who likes the video to like the page.

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My friend started the Belles & Chimes chapter in Phoenix. They hold a monthly thing and I think they make 2 seasons a year out of the monthly events. They had a break in July, so she reached out to me and asked if they could do a road trip type of event. She knows that I have posted several times trying to find a lady to start a Tucson chapter with zero responses. She said we could have the event, and also try to get the word out about somebody starting a Tucson chapter.

I email blasted the media contacts I have and got a few interested responses. One was a journalist for a paper from the north-west area of Tucson. We did an interview and she made a really good full page article. That paper gets delivered to everyone in that area as it is paid for with ads in the paper, not subscriptions. I'm fully aware of where this likely ends up for many people. They also have an e-version and a reasonably good web page that shows the latest stories. It was on the front page there for about a week. That was fun. I have a paper copy and will frame it like some of the other stuff that's made it into the paper. Helps me remember who I've talked to and worked with in the past.

Another Tucson business magazine reached out and said they had stories done for months worth of issues, but wanted to do a story on the City Championship as that is in December and were looking for print topics for October/November. I sent them all of that info, so hopefully that happens.

Lastly, we had a reporter come to the event on the day it was held. Not going to get any new people for the event that way, but she filmed and interviewed for about an hour and hung out to see how it all works. Then, later that evening, there was a piece on the news about the event. I didn't get on TV this time (nobody is sad about that) but a few of my friends did with interviews. At least one lady reached out asking about joining something and we talked. She will be joining my regular league to get a feel for things. This is the 5th lady in league at this point, so there might be a way to start a small B&C chapter in Tucson.

So, lots has happened lately. The B&C road trip event made that week almost better than my worst month so far this year. 20 players at that one, but all from the Phoenix group. I got some very good feedback, but then they all went back to Phoenix. 20 players, compared to a 4-7 player weekly event and 15 player league every month. 20 players a week would be so great. It was a little cramped at that, so really don't know it could handle more, but it was a fun event and was nice to see that amount of players. 20 players is a nice comfortable goal for the future...