From Likes to Leads: TikTok vs. Facebook vs. Google Ads for Your Photo Studio
Hello there.
I'm Reed Hansen, the Chief
Growth Officer at Market Surge.
Today we're doing a deep dive into
how paid advertising, which includes
TikTok, Facebook, and Google can
transform your photography business.
If you're tired of chasing vanity
metrics like the likes and the follows,
you're really in the right place.
We'll get to the hard data.
Ads aren't just optional extras.
They're an essential part of a
well-rounded marketing mix that
drives real bookings and revenue.
So why do ads matter?
First, let's establish
why ads are indispensable.
Now, organic reach is great
for community building, but it
alone rarely pays the bills.
It's a long burn.
It's a long tail of, leads that
are cultivated, quite slowly.
According to the consulting firm,
McKinsey, only 12% of consumers
convert immediately after
discovering a brand on social.
That means 88% of potential clients
slip away unless you have the ability
to retarget them in some form, and a
paid ad is a great vehicle to do so.
Ads really let you control your reach.
They allow you to pinpoint
exactly who sees your message.
By age, location, interests
and behaviors online.
It allows you to capture intent, so Google
search ads catch people actively searching
for wedding photographer near me.
These, tools help you to scale rapidly.
They allow you to test different
creatives at the same time.
They allow you to try different
budgets and timing and audiences,
practically in real time and then
emphasize what works and allocate
budget and resources that way.
Without ads, you're essentially
phishing with no bait.
Your content might be stellar,
but if nobody sees it.
Or they see it too late, you'll miss the
bookings that keep your studio thriving.
So let's look at the landscape and the
platforms that are the key players.
Now TikTok has over 1.2
billion monthly active users.
And that's as of Q1 of, last
year the average watch time is
95 minutes per user per day.
So if you think of billions of people
occupying over an hour and a half, that
is practically full engagement on mobile.
So Facebook, obviously the big
player, still very dominant, 1.96
billion daily users.
Its ad platform offers very
granular targeting by demographics,
interests, and behaviors.
So if you wanna go
super specific, meta is.
An awesome tool to use.
Now, Google handles 5.6
billion searches every single day.
Many searches include the, addendum
of near me or specific services,
which is ideal for local studios
that focus on a specific genre.
Now those numbers aren't just impressive.
They do represent some real opportunity.
So for Reach, TikTok builds great
buzz for your nurture phase.
Facebook generates and warms leads.
And if you want to convert, Google
captures the high intent searchers.
You can play with that mix, but
consider that for different phases.
You may want to use specific platforms.
When you integrate all three of these,
you create a seamless funnel and you
can create awareness to lead to booking.
So let's do a deep dive into TikTok ads.
A photography studio ran a behind
the scenes top view ad showing the
entire setup for a bridal shoot
and booked eight mini sessions
at $350 each within 48 hours.
Now, why is that?
Because TikTok users aren't just
scrolling, they're glued and very engaged
and well placed call to action drives
them off the app to your booking page.
So the key details of this campaign,
the audience and engagement were
60% Gen Z, millennials with a high
watch time, and the ad formats
were an infeed video of 15 seconds.
Uh, these were quick tips before and after
reveals, and the average click through
on this photography content was 1.75%.
There's a top view format that has a 20%
view through, versus the standard format.
Now, the metrics to watch is
you want to stay under $10, to
$20, cost per thousand clicks.
So a key metric to watch is a cost per
thousand of under 10 to $20, and a click
to booking rate of about, one to 2%.
So some best practices for TikTok ads.
You want to do authentic storytelling,
skip over, high production ads
and show your real process.
You wanna use trending audio, and that's
easy to find in the TikTok interface,
but use sounds that have millions of
streams to boost discovery, that's a
way many people are finding content.
You wanna hook quickly in
the first three seconds.
So something shocking like a
physical movement, or a shocking
statement, or a shocking graphic.
Um, you wanna hook people very
quickly and a clear call to action.
Swipe up to book your mini
session today, for example.
Now remember, TikTok is
your awareness engine.
It warms audiences and primes
them for your deeper messages on
Facebook and nudges them to search
on Google when they're ready to book.
Alright, let's jump to Facebook and meta.
Now Facebook, a photographer
launched a free 10 minute
photo mini session carousel ad.
They showcased venue shots, portrait
samples, and final prints, and they were
able to actually double their email list.
Their click to reservation
rate soared to 12% up from 4%.
That's the power of Facebook's
targeting an ad variety.
So key details.
As we know, Facebook has about, uh, 1.96
billion daily active users.
Um, it has carousel ads that showcase
multiple facets of your services.
Um, it allows you to embed lead gen
forms that reduce friction and then
they collect the info without leaving
Facebook Dynamic ads retarget visitors
with the exact package they viewed.
And, uh, the metrics you wanna look
at is a cost per click of less than.
97 cents cost per lead of $8
to $15 and a form to booking
conversion of about three to 5%.
So here's a few advanced tactics that
you will want to utilize in meta.
So the lookalike audiences.
Now use your top performing client
list to find similar prospects.
Meta is great at this and it will
cut the cost per lead by a quarter.
To 25%.
Now, video retargeting is great.
You can retarget people who engage
with your videos, like watched 50%
of your TikTok or Facebook videos,
and then the limited time offers,
they are like a 24 hour flash sales
drive that inspire some urgency.
They worry they're gonna miss out
and, act and, fill out forms quickly.
Facebook sits squarely in
the middle of your funnel.
It turns buzz about your brand and
product into leads you can own.
Nurture and Convert.
Alright, let's jump into Google Ads.
Old standby a photography studio,
layered performance max campaigns
on top of their existing search
ads and cut their cost to book.
From $35 to $28 while boosting
total monthly bookings by 25%.
That's really magic.
So some key details.
As we mentioned before, there's 5.6
billion searches performed a day,
and many include the words near me.
Now, the ad formats include search ads,
obviously it's text ads that appear in the
search, especially high intent searches.
And the average professional
services conversion is 4.4%.
Now the Performance Max ads format,
they automate across search display.
So that would be like, different
websites that have, display
embedded YouTube and Discover.
And they're often 15 to 20%.
Lower cost per acquisition
than search only.
So keep an eye on performance Max.
Now, the cost per click on these are,
you wanna keep them less than about
$2 and 70 cents, and the conversion
rate should be about four to 6%.
Um, cost per conversion.
Uh, and then you, you will want to
keep an eye on cost per conversion.
So some best practices here, just
simple, keep tight keyword lists.
Focus on service plus location.
So an example would be
engagement photographer Austin,
boudoir photographer, uh, St.
Louis.
Now next you'll wanna
use the ad extensions.
So you'll utilize call outs.
Site links and location
extensions for extra real estate
in the, um, the ad display.
And it'll be descriptive and it'll
feel like the client is getting what
they're looking for specifically.
So, uh, utilize all the
extensions you possibly can.
Now conversion tracking is helpful
and that's where you can link your
booking or market search CRM system
directly to Google for real time data.
Now Google captures prospects
exactly when they're ready to buy.
It completes the funnel by
turning leads into bookings.
Now let's talk about data and reporting.
So this is really your North Star.
We've covered TikTok, Facebook,
and Google, but none of it
matters if you're flying blind.
Reporting and data are your compass.
Relying on gut instinct alone is like
driving at night with no headlights.
So you wanna define some key
performance indicators, KPIs.
So at the awareness phase, you wanna
look at video views and your reach,
cost per click, cost per lead, and
form fills at the consideration stage.
Also cost per click and conversion
rate and cost per acquisition.
At the conversion stage, you'll want
to use unified dashboards, tools like
Google Data Studio or your market
surge CRM dashboard can pull all
three channels into a single view.
They can embed, reports from each of these
channels, so you can see the full funnels.
Now, you'll wanna set a regular review
cadence, weekly checks for early
insights, monthly deep dives to identify
trends and allow you to pivot quickly.
You wanna run the AB test.
So that is where you're running
the same campaign with a single
variable, and you'll see what works
and then you switch your resources and
budget to the one that works better.
But you want to test one at a time
and let your data, not your gut,
not your ego drive those decisions.
So a photography studio noticed
their cost per click on Facebook
was drifting upward after two weeks.
They wanted to fix it, remedy it, and
they dug into the data and discovered
one carousel image was underperforming.
They swapped it out, and if you can
believe it, they lowered their cost per
click by 15% from day one to day two,
and improved their lead quality greatly.
So data told them where the friction
was and where the opportunity lay.
So here's the quick comparison one more
time and I'll embed this graphic and
you can see that there is, uh, there's
different utility for different platforms.
You may wanna consider a 20%, 30%, 50%
budget split and reallocate every two
weeks based on cost per bi, cost per
booking, the single most reliable metric.
Now, paid ads are non-negotiable.
It's a part of doing business
directly to consumers.
They're the backbone
of your marketing mix.
TikTok warms your leads.
Facebook nurtures your leads.
Google converts and
data guides every step.
Are you ready to transform ad spend
into a predictable pipeline of bookings?
Click the link below in the show
notes to book your free 15 minute
strategy call with market search.
Let's turn your likes into leads together.
Thanks for watching, and don't
forget to subscribe and hit the bell
icon for more actionable marketing
insights and we'll see you next time.
Creators and Guests

