Using Facebook to improve sales
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Took ages for me to see any sort of benefit from our FB page, probably didn't see any real benefit until we go to around 200 likers. Now it's brilliant and getting our customers involved in what we are doing, publicising new classes/artists/special offers etc.
I actively searched for local pages and was surprised at how many there are - Tadley Mums is one of our best targets as obviously we want children coming to our classes during the holidays; the local community centre has a page so we post things on there, the local radio station, newspapers etc.
I frequently post comments on their posts so that our shop name will appear to everyone looking at their page - if I can manage to sneak something about my shop into the post then I will! I'm careful not to appear too spammy though.
I have the name of our town in my FB page name too - helps other locals find me.
You can join all sorts of promotion pages (Promote My Fan Page, Hike those Likes, Send in the Troops etc) which will get you loads of likes - however it seems like a great idea I personally don't see the point for us when all I want are locals who actually want to shop with me.
I actively searched for local pages and was surprised at how many there are - Tadley Mums is one of our best targets as obviously we want children coming to our classes during the holidays; the local community centre has a page so we post things on there, the local radio station, newspapers etc.
I frequently post comments on their posts so that our shop name will appear to everyone looking at their page - if I can manage to sneak something about my shop into the post then I will! I'm careful not to appear too spammy though.
I have the name of our town in my FB page name too - helps other locals find me.
You can join all sorts of promotion pages (Promote My Fan Page, Hike those Likes, Send in the Troops etc) which will get you loads of likes - however it seems like a great idea I personally don't see the point for us when all I want are locals who actually want to shop with me.
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It's a good way to get your customers involved and update them - I also use Facebook to promote new products, add images of the products, run competitions, add deals and encourage sharing to those who follow my page to like it and share it amongst their friends. There are several different ways to use Facebook, some are more time consuming and some don't work.
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Hey
like others here said, for products , facebook can be very efficent!
in order to sell products, first you need to open a business page in facebook.
the most important thing is to get connected with people and publish your page in relevant groups. then, try that your page will be active, as much as you can - write posts, share them and interest your people.
good luck
like others here said, for products , facebook can be very efficent!
in order to sell products, first you need to open a business page in facebook.
the most important thing is to get connected with people and publish your page in relevant groups. then, try that your page will be active, as much as you can - write posts, share them and interest your people.
good luck
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LOL, from the makers of the Corvair... Yes, it's easy to find people who say that something doesn't work, which just means that they couldn't get it to work.
When you run a test campaign and spend 2K, driving 66K in sales with 33K gross profit, you might tend to think that it can work
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J
josor
LOL, from the makers of the Corvair... Yes, it's easy to find people who say that something doesn't work, which just means that they couldn't get it to work.
When you run a test campaign and spend 2K, driving 66K in sales with 33K gross profit, you might tend to think that it can work
I find twitter works better for me
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I can't get my head around twitter at all - I've linked it to my FB page so that I do Tweet, I even have some followers (though I'm not quite sure why or what to do with them). I can't see who they are, or whether they've tweeted at me, or asked me anything, or ..... well, anything useful really. My twitter name is the same as my FB name - but that's about as much as I know about it.
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J
josor
The thing I find with Facebook is the ones that like my page 60% are already on my friends list.
Twitter I find seems to me to target the clientele that spend with me. But I use both for messages and photo's.
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From what I can gather (although I could be completely wrong of course!), it's either younger people or more intellectual people who use Twitter, whilst the slightly more mature (think middle-aged housewife!) market seems to prefer FB (often having initially got into it as a means of keeping tabs on kids who had gone off to Uni) which suits me as typically that is our target market.
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Hi,
I just had a quick look at your facebook page and can see that it can be valuable. Some good stuff on there, but perhaps room for improvement.
Maybe I'm being thick... but I cannot see any contact details for the shop, No phone number, no website details, no person's name. And no introductory statement that really tells everyone what you do, and what makes you great.
There is a statement that you are situated in some garden and aquatic centre, but no address. There is a map... but, the way that my screen displays it, it looks like you situated right in the middle of the Humber estuary. That is some aquatic centre
It looks like a good initiative though. Good luck with it.
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J
josor
Interesting read; Startup Claims 80% Of Its Facebook Ad Clicks Are Coming From Bots
http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/30/startup-claims-80-of-its-facebook-ad-clicks-are-coming-from-bots/
http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/30/startup-claims-80-of-its-facebook-ad-clicks-are-coming-from-bots/
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No to facebook adverts, but I can imagine it could work well for a local business like yours Doodles.
We've got one, but even when I post up a discount voucher or something it doesn't generate sales. I still like having it though.
Pintrest is meant to be good for generating sales if you sell asthetic products.
On Twitter I laugh when I get a new follower - they are generally unrelated local businesses from my area hoping for a follow back or marketing companies looking to bother me.
We've got one, but even when I post up a discount voucher or something it doesn't generate sales. I still like having it though.
Pintrest is meant to be good for generating sales if you sell asthetic products.
On Twitter I laugh when I get a new follower - they are generally unrelated local businesses from my area hoping for a follow back or marketing companies looking to bother me.
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Never tried the paid for ads I have to say - seems to work OK just using the free aspects of FB really. I always tell customers I think are new that we have a FB page and that I get embarrassingly excited if I get a new like which seems to encourage them to actually like us (which means of course that I can let them know when we have new things, events on, promotions etc). Still hovering tantalisingly close to 500 likes!
I do like Pinterest - just 'cos I like all the lovely things on there, not really using it as a marketing tool to be honest yet.
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I am yet to see any proof that FB paid-for ads offer a better return than Adwords.
Companies are pulling out of FB advertising because of the volume of auto-bot accounts "clicking" on cost per click adverts.
The company is hideously over-valued and I do pitty all those who bought FB shares swept along with the hype.
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I'd love to share you some in-house examples, but NDA's prohibit such.
Instead, how about trying your own campaign and compare Google Display/Content network vs Facebook. See what the CPC's are, CPA and total ROI.
That one 'example' of click-fraud has so far been purely speculative with no actual evidence presented, no corroboration from others, etc. Also, if you don't think Google has click-fraud, then you're mistaken.
Personally, I've found some campaigns do better on one network or another, depending on objective, location, margins, and so on. There are numerous cases where FB outperforms Google, and vice versa.
In fact, Google search network outperforms almost all other PPC, in my testing, except where CPC's are so high that ROI is a loss.
But again, don't take my handful of examples as gospel - test yourself!
Instead, how about trying your own campaign and compare Google Display/Content network vs Facebook. See what the CPC's are, CPA and total ROI.
That one 'example' of click-fraud has so far been purely speculative with no actual evidence presented, no corroboration from others, etc. Also, if you don't think Google has click-fraud, then you're mistaken.
Personally, I've found some campaigns do better on one network or another, depending on objective, location, margins, and so on. There are numerous cases where FB outperforms Google, and vice versa.
In fact, Google search network outperforms almost all other PPC, in my testing, except where CPC's are so high that ROI is a loss.
But again, don't take my handful of examples as gospel - test yourself!
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Replace NDA with "lack of any evidence of aforementioned statement".
I've marketed online for a decade, extensively on Adwords and for a while on FB. I can tell you without any doubt that ROI with FB across my retail markets and those of others who have been happy to share their results is nowhere near that of Adwords.
It's simply a non-starter; and if you think that FB's fraud prevention is in the same ballpark as Google then you are wasting your clients money.
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Putting words in someone else's mouth is not a great way to win friends or influence people, to borrow some lovely cliche, but feel free to continue - it is entertaining.
Just because you couldn't get a great ROI on FB, doesn't mean that the 2 billion spent on it each year (or more) is being wasted, and not turning a profit.
As Search Influence points out, "As PPC manager at Search Influence, I provide these services to our clients but I never realized how truly profitable social media advertising was until I started comparing the conversion rates. The numbers spoke loud and clear Facebook (to my surprise) was generating a high return with a significantly lower cost because of demographic targeting and editorial-like advertisements."
With 2bil annual ad spend, there might even be a couple more people out there who have also had success on facebook ads.
We've all known people who've failed at Adwords, yet there's little doubt that it CAN be very lucrative. The same is true of Facebook ads, provided of course you're not using a decade of Adwords experience and trying to use the exact same techniques on social advertising
Just because you couldn't get a great ROI on FB, doesn't mean that the 2 billion spent on it each year (or more) is being wasted, and not turning a profit.
As Search Influence points out, "As PPC manager at Search Influence, I provide these services to our clients but I never realized how truly profitable social media advertising was until I started comparing the conversion rates. The numbers spoke loud and clear Facebook (to my surprise) was generating a high return with a significantly lower cost because of demographic targeting and editorial-like advertisements."
With 2bil annual ad spend, there might even be a couple more people out there who have also had success on facebook ads.
We've all known people who've failed at Adwords, yet there's little doubt that it CAN be very lucrative. The same is true of Facebook ads, provided of course you're not using a decade of Adwords experience and trying to use the exact same techniques on social advertising
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If you are looking purely for short term ROI, a Facebook campaign is no substitute for an integrated marketing campaign. Facebook advertising isn't a quick campaign, like a week of direct mailshots or a day on the phone cold calling customers. Instead you are community building. Facebook ads definitely take longer to convert than google ads for most businesses, but that does not mean there is no ROI. It just takes longer to materialise.
Too many small businesses that try facebook ads either don't do it right or don't do it long enough, or both, and then give up, thinking it doesn't work. This is ironic as I think facebook is particularly well suited to small local businesses that can reach local buyers with highly targetted ads using demographic targeting.
You can absolutely use facebook to drive and track new leads and sales, increased frequency of purchase from current customers, both very hard business metrics, but this will not happen overnight. I have seen results with clients within six to nine months. Yes, it's risky for a small business to put much time and money into marketing without a guarantee of a return, but I would say that Facebook ads will generate good returns for most small businesses if they are able to build and maintain a community of engaged prospects around their brand.
Too many small businesses that try facebook ads either don't do it right or don't do it long enough, or both, and then give up, thinking it doesn't work. This is ironic as I think facebook is particularly well suited to small local businesses that can reach local buyers with highly targetted ads using demographic targeting.
You can absolutely use facebook to drive and track new leads and sales, increased frequency of purchase from current customers, both very hard business metrics, but this will not happen overnight. I have seen results with clients within six to nine months. Yes, it's risky for a small business to put much time and money into marketing without a guarantee of a return, but I would say that Facebook ads will generate good returns for most small businesses if they are able to build and maintain a community of engaged prospects around their brand.
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That's never been my intent
It's always a bit like walking against the wind when discussing against a clearly marked vested interest; but I do suspect you would gain more credibility with your audience to acknowledge that social media PPC can help contribute towards overall brand awareness and sense of brand community if done alongside the usual social media activities.
But as a pure cost per customer analysis would undoubtedly reveal in the vast majority of cases, FB PPC is low yield and expensive compared to Adwords.
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We use Facebook for both our businesses. Our coffee shop and photography studios.
We promote all the new foods we are introducing, along with our menus. And the photography we promote all the shoots we do by tagging clients into pictures, which then shows our work to many more people.
Facebook is a wonderful tool, but you need to know how to use it to its full potential. There is still much to learn from our side, but currently doing very well with it.
We promote all the new foods we are introducing, along with our menus. And the photography we promote all the shoots we do by tagging clients into pictures, which then shows our work to many more people.
Facebook is a wonderful tool, but you need to know how to use it to its full potential. There is still much to learn from our side, but currently doing very well with it.
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A (very) brief flirtation with a personal fakebook account resulted in my account being hacked, constant friend requests from dubious sounding foreigners and sweet fa else. Not worth the bother IMO, it seems to be populated by a load of nutters (present company largely excluded, of course).
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Interesting how different the opinions on here are towards social networking sites like FB & Twitter. I suppose it has something to do with the type of business you are trying to promote and how you hope to portray that business to the public.
My shop is in a small town/large village and, although we are quite specialist and will attract some customers from out of our area because of that, I am realistic enough to know that the vast majority of our customers will come from our local area.
As such, I want people to see us as warm & friendly, interested in their art/craft projects and creations and get people interacting with us on a chatty, friendly, informal basis. To see us as a neighbour not just a business. This is why I feel FB works for my shop.
I guess if you are, for example, an undertaker, it would be inappropriate to post photos of your latest creation ("Look who we've embalmed today LOL") or to plug your latest range of coffins or headstones.
My shop is in a small town/large village and, although we are quite specialist and will attract some customers from out of our area because of that, I am realistic enough to know that the vast majority of our customers will come from our local area.
As such, I want people to see us as warm & friendly, interested in their art/craft projects and creations and get people interacting with us on a chatty, friendly, informal basis. To see us as a neighbour not just a business. This is why I feel FB works for my shop.
I guess if you are, for example, an undertaker, it would be inappropriate to post photos of your latest creation ("Look who we've embalmed today LOL") or to plug your latest range of coffins or headstones.
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R
Richierutter
I agree with Colin, I also think an important aspect of social media is consistency and if you don't have the time to "socialise" your brand through multiple social media channels then less, is more.
Eg. Its better to say have Twitter account that is updated frequently and of which all the posts are consistent with your brands and interesting. Than having say Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and LinkedIn with updates being sporadic, inconsistent and uncaptivating (especially if you are time limited or operating with a small marketing budget).
Eg. Its better to say have Twitter account that is updated frequently and of which all the posts are consistent with your brands and interesting. Than having say Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and LinkedIn with updates being sporadic, inconsistent and uncaptivating (especially if you are time limited or operating with a small marketing budget).
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