Hot take: TV spots still beat social ads for local brands, and the data surprised me

I run ads for a small plumbing company in Columbus. Last year I pushed hard on Facebook and Instagram because everyone said that is where the customers are. We spent $4,800 over 3 months on social ads and got maybe 12 calls. Then we tried a local cable spot for $1,200 a week for 4 weeks. Total spend was $4,800, same amount. We got 47 calls in that month. I know social has better targeting on paper, but for older homeowners in our area, they still watch local news. I checked the call timestamps and they matched the commercial air times. I am not saying social is dead, but I am wondering if anyone else has seen traditional media outpull digital for a local service business. What is your breakdown between TV and social right now?

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sullivan.spencer18d ago

47 calls from $4,800 on local cable is wild, that would blow up my whole spreadsheet if I saw those numbers come in. I mean, I've been doing social for a restaurant client here and we get maybe 2 calls a week from like $900 a month, so seeing that ratio flipped is honestly kind of jarring. The call timestamps matching the air times is the detail that gets me, that's not a coincidence, that's proof people are actually watching and picking up the phone. Maybe it's just me, but I think a lot of us got sold on social ads being this magic bullet and never really checked if the old school stuff still works. I don't run TV myself, but now I'm kinda tempted to test a radio spot or something just to see if I'm missing out.