Over the years I’ve been continuing to experiment with social media from a business perspective, to see if all the talk is really worth the bucks.
In most cases, the answer is no, but recently, I’ve found the answer can be yes.
Several years ago I bought several hundred dollars worth of advertising on Facebook to promote my photography business. This was inspired by workshops at the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International convention I try to attend in Las Vegas, Nev. whenever I can get to it.
Much of it was a bust. I even gave away a free wedding, including a $1,200 album, as part of a Facebook promotion. “Get your friends to like my page, and win your $2,500 wedding package for free if you have the most likes attributed to you” was how it worked. It did not work out as planned (which is my own fault). It did not lead to further business. In the long run, it was a bust, as were several other series of Facebook ads. It did boost my page “likes” somewhat, but most of those people in the future would not end up being potential clients, and I imagine most of them eventually tuned me out.
The little ad on the right side of the Facebook page proved utterly useless to me.
In the meantime, Facebook has changed its strategy. After years of pushing businesses to push their business pages and build followings, they changed their algorithms. If your page had 1,000 “likes,” for instance, maybe 200, maybe 130, maybe as low as 91 might see any particular post. You had to convince your likers to take the further step of hitting the “follow” button. You thought you had built up a dedicated hoard, but it turns out that is no longer the case. Unless you pay for it, you can no longer reach all those people.
At least, you weren’t accessing them for free.
Facebook’s strategy changed to a “boosted post.” More on that in a minute.
A few weeks ago, out of the blue, someone ordered a metal print of one of my drilling rig pictures. In recent years I have shifted from weddings and sports to oilfield commercial work. I think I am one of the few people in Canada who focuses specifically on that, and has the safety certifications and experience to do the work on leases. It turns out someone found my page and wanted a very nice picture of a rig for a Christmas present.
That gave me an idea: I’ve photographed well over 12 drilling rigs in recent years. What if I did a “12 Rigs of Christmas” campaign online, highlighting a different rig each day?” Posting it on my blog on www.zinchuk.ca and on Facebook, I would offer a coupon on prints if ordered directly from my website before the Dec. 8 shipping cutoff.
Instead of just posting it normally (for free) and getting no traction, I would try a boosted post. For a few bucks a day, it would go out to many times what my meager following on my Facebook page was. It would also ensure that my whole following would see it as well, not just a sliver. Also, I tested posting it at various times of the day, including after midnight. It didn’t matter when I posted it. When you are paying to boost a post, I found, Facebook makes sure it gets seen.
Did it work? You betcha it did. It was, by far, my most effective marketing project to date. The only thing that came close would be having a booth at the Estevan Chamber of Commerce’ Showcase.
My 12 Rigs of Christmas led to a one-third increase in my likes for my page. More importantly, all of these were people who had a keen interest in my work and products. Rig workers would find their buddies in the pictures and forward them on. Several went on to place print orders. Another booked a session. One person, who had inquired about my work months ago, was reminded of it and that is shaping up to be a large project for the future. Even after the campaign ended, the calls kept coming.
Here I was, getting increasingly depressed about how the declining price of oil will cause a similar decline in my pocketbook, and one little campaign turned that around, at least for the short term.
The key takeaway here is finding a strategy that is directly in your target market. If you want to reach farmers, most farmers read the Western Producer. Saskatchewan oilpatch? Try Pipeline News. Local people? Your local paper. Not every strategy will work, but hopefully, eventually, you will find one. You just have to keep trying.
— Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at [email protected].
