Facebook marketing

[Gmehat]

Hello Ive been running an hot tub business for a year now I get my customer purely from spamming Facebook selling sites in my local area. I have a Facebook page with 1500 likes but I don't post content on it and only use the page so customers can leave there reviews.

The service I provide is very competitive In price for what I offer. I'm looking for help and assistance in finding another method/s to fill more bookings. I've paid for adds before on Facebook with other products but they turned out to be a waste of money for me. This may be because I'm not using it correctly

 

[AllUpHere]

What price range are your hot tubs? Are you selling them or hiring them out?

 

[Gmehat]

Hi I, hiring them out and hires start from £75 just just hot tub for the weekend (Thursday - Monday) but often give the hot tub for the full week at that price free of charge.

Another package is £180 for the weekend but same again often give it them for the full week Monday - Monday

 

[Needl Analytics]

Are you using Google Analytics at all? Understanding your traffic is probably the first place to start before spending cash..maybe FB isn't the best driver.

 

[Nochexman]

Hello Ive been running an hot tub business for a year now I get my customer purely from spamming Facebook selling sites in my local area.

Do you have your own website?

 

[Bob Philpin]

Great question. Firstly, who are you selling to? Facebook is a great ad platform for 35 - 55yr old customers - you could run an ad offering a discount coupon in exchange for email deets, for example. You could then follow up with email reminders (automated) encouraging those people who signed up to use their coupon before a certain date. That way, you also get to build your list too. Hope that helps.

 

[ChrisRM]

For ads you need to employ some form of direct response offer.

Think of a decent offer that will appeal to your audience. Say, 1 free day with a weeks hire. It would be a great headline, 'FREE hot tub for the day*'. The * represents the condition that they need to book it for a week (or what is best for you).

Then promote this offer on FB. Target people within x miles of your location/town. Maybe target people with birthdays coming up. Or an anniversary. Something special, to spoil themselves.

Then A/B test to see what works best. Run two ads, one with a different image and see which works best. Then change the headline, see which works best. Then change the offer, see which works best. Unit you have a wonderful, profitable, advert.

 

[Deleted member 244558]

Before anything else, who is your target buyer? Are you targeting the right buyer when setting up your ads? Spend lots of time on this then spend lots more time making sure you know who you're talking to!

 

[columbo]

As Guy has said you must know who you're marketing to.

Do you have a persona map in your head of who you're typical buyers are?

Eg. Persona A - like golf, business people who buy a lot of home fitness equipment.

Persona B - People who have retired in the last 18 months.

Persona C - People who frequent health spas

Facebook is amazing for this type of precision targeting.

Secondly, you have to remember a hot-tub is a very emotion-based purchased. You're Facebook ads need to convey the luxury of sinking into a hot tub after a long day in the office...Have you got a high quality camera to take photos of recently installed tubs? Better still could you get hire some models / good looking people to act as models in your tubs?

Lastly, don't be focussed on Facebook too much. Have a high-quality website which collects email addresses. Remember I might be in the "thinking stage" of buying a hot-tub but in 6 months time I might be in the "ready to buy" stage. That is when email marketing becomes so powerful. You will have been sending me emails over the last 6 months and guess what your company is first on my list to call when I am ready to buy.

Example of this American-based hot-tub company using email marketing.

http://recpoolandspa.com/free-buyers-guides/

 

[Deleted member 244558]

^ What he said...
Thats a much better explanation than my big picture useless mind on a saturday night.

Good Job.

 

[ChrisRM]

Lastly, don't be focussed on Facebook too much. Have a high-quality website which collects email addresses. Remember I might be in the "thinking stage" of buying a hot-tub but in 6 months time I might be in the "ready to buy" stage. That is when email marketing becomes so powerful. You will have been sending me emails over the last 6 months and guess what your company is first on my list to call when I am ready to buy.

Example of this American-based hot-tub company using email marketing.

http://recpoolandspa.com/free-buyers-guides/

This is great advice!

 

[LSG Creative]

Hey GMEhat

An appraoch looking at multiple sales channels and "spreading your bets" is a much better way to get consitent leads. Utilising social media, running competitions to harness email addresses and a good quality website alligned with Googles expectations and requirements is the best place to start.

We worked with hot tub company for 12 months who were on The Apprentice and got them highly on page one, however adwords and Google shop seemed to generate a good quanity of leads - but this approach can gobble up budget!

 

[StevePoster]

I've paid for adds before on Facebook with other products but they turned out to be a waste of money for me.

It seems that the Facebook ads that had been paid was only wasted and it is because I think that the person who implemented the campaign doesn't even know how paid ads really work in the related field.

 

[Gmehat]

Thanks for your feed back guy. I'm in process off having a website built with my first draft come in before the weekend so hopefully once this is built I'll get traffic from somewhere else other than Facebook

With my target audience all I currently know is that it's mainly female aged 25-50. Other than that I don't really know anything else hence why Facebook ages are useless

 

[ChrisRM]

Thanks for your feed back guy. I'm in process off having a website built with my first draft come in before the weekend so hopefully once this is built I'll get traffic from somewhere else other than Facebook

With my target audience all I currently know is that it's mainly female aged 25-50. Other than that I don't really know anything else hence why Facebook ages are useless

The beauty of Facebook Ads is that you can do things in small 'batches'.

For example, you could run one advert targeting women aged 25-35. This would contain images, copy, and offer relevant to them. E.g. images of women of their age so they can relate. And have copy that refers to issues that they face.

Then you can run another advert aimed at women 36-50. Have different imagery, offer and copy which relates to them, but not the younger crowd'.

Say you'd spend £100 on one advert, now spend £50 on two. At no extra cost, just a bit of time.


And please don't rule out Facebook traffic as it be good traffic. But it has to be done right. You need to be mindful of peoples intent.

On Facebook people are looking to consume content. Pictures, statuses, videos, articles, etc. They are not there to buy from you. They're generally a harder sell but by no means impossible, it needs to be approached correctly.

Whereas Google is different, they are actively looking for what you offer, they'd search 'hot tub to rent'. Getting in front of them there is good too as their easier to sell to. But you're competing with everyone else.

For example, with Facebook you could run an advert for people who's birthdays are coming up. I wouldn't be surprised if you can advertise to family of those who have birthdays coming up. Publish and promote a bit of content (because that is what they're here for) about having a hot tub for a birthday weekend. Maybe a short video of people having fun. An article about how fun it is to have a hot tub for a birthday weekend.

Then Facebook tracks and lets you target people who viewed this content. These are people who are a bit interested in your services. They haven't actively searched for it, but they have taken the time out of their day to consume content about it.

Now you send these people an offer. '1 day free with 4 days hire' or 'free bottle of Proseco with a hire'.

Having written that, I'm curious if it would work. PM me if you'd like to discuss some more.

 

[japancool]

Before anything else, who is your target buyer? Are you targeting the right buyer when setting up your ads? Spend lots of time on this then spend lots more time making sure you know who you're talking to!

This is the best advice you'll read on this thread.

Once you know who your customers are, you can sell to them properly - otherwise, you're wasting your money.

 

[japancool]

Thanks for your feed back guy. I'm in process off having a website built with my first draft come in before the weekend so hopefully once this is built I'll get traffic from somewhere else other than Facebook

With my target audience all I currently know is that it's mainly female aged 25-50. Other than that I don't really know anything else hence why Facebook ages are useless

OK, now you've worked out WHO your audience is, next work out WHY they're buying.

A hot tub isn't something you just wake up one morning and decide to buy. Something spurs you on to buy it. What is that?

Is it maybe something people might buy when they move to a new house, for example?

 

[Gmehat]

Yeah very true - from my experience it's mainly kids birthday party's then also anniversaries / girls night in / something to treat the gf.

But how do I use this information to target the right people

 

[japancool]

Facebook allows you to target your ads at people with specific interests.

 

[tranhtheutnc]

What is your website? You need a dedicated marketing team to analyze user behavior and analyze competitors

 

[Nochexman]

Thanks for your feed back guy. I'm in process off having a website built with my first draft come in before the weekend so hopefully once this is built I'll get traffic from somewhere else other than Facebook

With my target audience all I currently know is that it's mainly female aged 25-50. Other than that I don't really know anything else hence why Facebook ages are useless

Hope you are going to share a link to your new website with us, Gmehat?

 

[Deleted member 69011]

You can target an audience quite specifically in Facebook. Do you have the email addresses of your current customers? If you do then you can upload them to Facebook and create a 'lookalike' audience to find and target similar people.
If you have the email addresses, I'd be happy to explain the steps to this here for you.

 

[natalieporter]

You can use facebook app link. It's a powerful marketing tool.

 

[Chris Needham]

Go to Google Planner and see what kind of traffic is generated for your main keywords. If your price is as good as you say then you could do very well.

 

[Gmehat]

Hi guys I have a few email addresses not many although.

My website is
Www.hottubsdelivered.co.uk

My Facebook page is:
https://m.facebook.com/burntwoodsale/

(Wasn't allowed to change Facebook page to website name)

I'm trying to think in which is the best methods to gain more customers and interest. Or get people talking about my services more

 

[ShyFish Designs]

Hey,

It's great news that you have actually started using Facebook Ads for your business. However, you need to make sure that all Facebook demographic options are being used in full force.

BIGGEST NO.1 THING IS THE LANDING PAGE!!!

You need to target a specific "type" of person on Facebook and then you HAVE TO make sure that you then send those "type" of people to a relevant landing page with an offer (e.g. a discount on the rental if they use a 'discount code' that can only be received if they sign up to your mailing list.

I would strongly advise getting a mailing list for any rental business. I have a mini digger rental company as a client who use a mailing list to keep reminding local builders (anyone who signed up) about their services, you could do the same with your hot tub rental business.

Have you ever looked into Google Adwords?

If you haven't, I would strongly suggest looking into it for generating new enquiries. It's by far the best platform for 'service' type business (in my opinion) because your potential customers are actively wanting to buy or rent a hot tub or they wouldn't be searching for it. Make sure you bound your Ads to specific locations (with location names - city, town, etc) in the Ad title for best results.

Sign up for a Google MyBusiness account and get your free promotional code if you want to have a play around before putting a lot of your own money into it.

If you have any questions, please ask and I'll be happy to help!

Regards,
Jack

 

[Gmehat]

Thanks for the reply yes I just had the mailing list thing installed on my website although I haven't been making an active effort to get people to sign up to the mailing list. I'm doing blogs and stuff also although I'm currently paying someone £350 a month to handle my social media and blog posts I'm running into the second month now

 

[Boxchilli John]

Once understood, Facebook can be an effective tool for both awareness, increased likes and more sales!

I do find there are other areas that also can help (and while this is not what you have asked in your question, it may be of use to you):

Areas to consider:

Leaflet drops. Still a great way to advertise in your industry. Also goes along with door knocking, to try and increase the success rate.

Make sure you are on all online and offline directories (Yell, Google, G+, LinkedIn, Foursquare, etc.)

Email marketing. You can purchase a list for homeowners or something like that and target them. Again, as with all things content, it is advisable to get a pro to take care of this for you.

Website, SEO and PPC. It's important to have great online presence as your industry is a very competitive one. It is advisable to get a professional to take care of this side for you, due to the technical difficulty and time required to really get good results.

Facebook campaign - Increasing page likes (gives you a wider audience to target for free, although Facebook's algorithm does prevent you from being able to advertise to this whole group for free - think more like 5% reach). Increasing website traffic from Facebook. Posting relevant and interesting posts. Boosting certain posts. Content is key here. Be interesting, engaging and relevant. Sometimes it helps to have a "professional" take care of this for you at the start.

 

[TheConsulter]

I think your marketing would get better results if you used Google Adwords. It's perfect for businesses like yours. When people search for your products and services on Google, you will be on the top of the search results if you use Adwords. Many people who have used Facebook marketing have complained about bad results.

 

[Mike_Cartwright]

Do not spam and you have to write/produce content. Read somewhere that today we are in the age of the informed consumer. Because they have access to information via the internet, consumers' buying decisions are different. Don't just do it to sell. Do it to build trust around your brand/product and create relationships with your prospects.

 

[Shahid Awan]

I won't write a long paragraph to help you but some useful tips

• Create your own website
• Get its SEO done by professionals
• Run your campaign to social networks etc Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and many more

The above few tips can boost your business and if you want to know more and complete explanation on how to do this you can pm me !!

 

[rf-harris]

There are large number of buy/sell groups on facebook, many of them are lacation based like buy/sell products in New York etc. You can post your products in these groups but do it slowly as facebook may block you if you post too many posts too quickly.