chapter 11
Learning Lessons from Real Businesses
Maybe you think that marketing on Facebook is only for large businesses that can spend thousands of dollars to make it work. If so, you’re wrong.
Facebook is an ideal platform for small businesses. It gives them opportunities to find new customers and engage current customers as never before.
This chapter provides examples of small businesses, such as Community Coffee and Squishable, that are succeeding in using Facebook, and it explains how they are doing it.
How Real Businesses Are Making Real Money on Facebook
How Real Businesses Are Making Real Money on Facebook
Although Facebook started out as a platform for college students to connect with each other, it’s now a place where real businesses are making money. This money can come from direct or indirect sales.
Successful businesses that use Facebook succeed for two main reasons: their content and advertising.
Content
Instead of blasting buy-from-me-now advertisements all over Facebook and to fans that like them, successful businesses provide rich content.
Think about how you and your own friends interact on Facebook. It’s like a virtual coffee shop or living room get-together — you have fun and just relax. Businesses who share useful, insightful, or fun content that their fans want to receive become part of their fans’ trusted community.
The stories that follow are about businesses that have been able to sell their products and services by being trusted sources to their online customers and prospective customers. Some businesses think leveraging Facebook is only for tech companies. It’s not. Instead of trying to sell on Facebook, focus on your customers and give them an opportunity to share pictures, video, and other information for other customers to see.
Remember, what you post on Facebook is also important. Videos and photos are well received on Facebook. Aren’t those the things you post in your own personal Facebook Page? Your customers are no different.
Advertising
You’ll read in the following stories how companies purchased ads on Facebook and successfully boosted customer engagement or direct sales. Facebook advertising enables any business that knows its customers to find more of these customers online. Whether you decide to directly advertise to them or just get them to like your Facebook Page, Facebook advertising is a simple and effective way to attract more customers.
Every business owner should classify his or her business customers into distinct customer types. Facebook enables you to target your advertising based on the information in a person’s profile instead of relying only on keywords. For example, say you want to target customers of a certain gender, age, and geographic location. You can do this with Facebook, which is why it’s so powerful. But don’t start by just selling a product. Use your money to attract an audience and identify customers who best resonate with your brand or what you are selling. Don’t advertise women’s shoes on sale. Instead, allow customers to post their favorite shoes and win a prize.
Overall, advertising on Facebook is different than advertising on TV or in the Yellow Pages. With Facebook you want your audience to engage with you. This is most important.
Analyzing Case Studies
To show you that it is possible to make real money on Facebook and create very successful marketing campaigns for very little money, I am sharing case studies of companies that achieved success with a little ingenuity and small budgets. Each company outlined in this section had a plan on how it wanted to use Facebook and was diligent in ensuring that its efforts and content remained current and in touch with its fan base. By doing so, each one saw results that can be achieved by any small business that is willing to put in the time and effort to promote its product and brand.
How Community Coffee builds a loyal customer community on Facebook
Who: This 91-year-old company began using Facebook as a way of reaching its niche customer base in the Southern United States.
What it did: Community Coffee used Facebook ads and its Page to build a community around its brand. One way it did this was tapping into fans’ fond childhood memories and asking them if they drank coffee milk (a popular Southern treat) as children. It received overwhelming responses and engagement from fans.
The results: The Community Coffee Facebook Page has become one of the company’s top five revenue generators (see Figure 11.1).
11.1 Community Coffee has over 187,000 fans that it can reach instantly to market its products.
How Squishable used Facebook ads to get more fans on Facebook
Who: Squishable is a company established in 2007 that makes unique stuffed animals for children and adults.
What it did: In 2009, Squishable began running Facebook ads encouraging people to like its Page (see Figure 11.2). Once on the Page, fans could invite friends to also become fans. Squishable rewards fans with coupons when the number of fans reaches certain milestones. This increases the likelihood a user will bring in more fans. Fans can browse the entire Squishable collection on the Page and go to http://squishable.com to purchase a stuffed animal.
11.2 By using Facebook ads, Squishable was able to reach a target audience and bring them back to its Facebook Page and website.
The results: Twenty-nine percent of Squishable’s website traffic now comes from Facebook. Fans continue to regularly post pictures and videos of themselves with Squishable and ask for a new design, which helps to guide product innovation (see Figure 11.3).
11.3 Squishable fans and customers vote on what product they’d like to see next from the company, which truly allows the company to be in touch with what the customer wants.
This example shows the importance of knowing your audience. While blogs and websites are great tools, many businesses are finding that they can rely just on Facebook for a core part of their marketing, depending on who their audience is. Second, it’s not enough to just beg for customers to buy from you or even visit your website. You have to reward them for the action and give them a reason to stay engaged (see Figure 11.4). The competition is only a mouse click away.
11.4 The Squishable Match-o-Matic pairs customers with their “Squishy soulmate.” Engaging your customers, making them a part of your brand, and rewarding them for interaction are key ways to grow your Facebook fan Page and achieve marketing success.
How the company How Fast Time Flies used keyword targeting to boost sales
Who: Mom and entrepreneur Cathy Bennett launched her company, How Fast Time Flies, in 2007. It is an online scrapbooking service that offers a multitude of templates and the ability to share digital scrapbook pages online.
What it did: How Fast Time Flies began advertising on Facebook in 2009 to direct traffic and increase awareness of its digital scrapbooking service. Bennett said this about Facebook: “It’s an enormously popular medium for moms to stay in touch with other moms, so that’s a great audience for me to tap into.” Bennett targeted keywords on Facebook to connect to those users interested in photography and scrapbooking.
The results: Year-over-year sales increased by more than 70 percent. Since the beginning of 2009, the company’s website had received more than 200,000 visits from Facebook users.
How CM Photographics uses targeted Facebook ads to sell more photo services
Who: CM Photographics is a one-man wedding photography business based in Minnesota.
What it did: Owner Chris Meyer used Facebook ads to target his exact client demographic of local 24- to 30-year-old women whose relationship status on Facebook indicated that they were engaged (see Figure 11.5).
11.5 By running Facebook ads targeting a very specific demographic, CM Photographics was able to generate incredible additional income for minimum cost.
The results: Over 12 months, CM Photographics generated nearly $40,000 in revenue directly from a $600 advertising investment.
How Wedding Paper Divas attracted engaged couples to buy wedding stationery
Who: Launched in 2006, Wedding Paper Divas is a haven for elegant stationery products and services (see Figure 11.6). Its main target is people who are in the market for wedding stationery.
11.6 Wedding Paper Divas provides a specific product for a specific group of individuals.
What it did: Facebook ads provided Wedding Paper Divas the ability to target its exact demographic: 24- to 44-year-old women whose relationship status on Facebook indicated that they were engaged (see Figure 11.7).
The results: Wedding Paper Divas realized a 110 percent return on investment and saw a nearly 1 percent conversion rate from Facebook ads. Though the campaign ended, the return on its Facebook ads is still increasing. Conversions continue to occur as Facebook referrals return to complete purchases.
This case study illustrates how Facebook enables you to surgically target your audience across a variety of interests and demographics. The better you target your audience, the more effective you’ll be in ensuring that the people most interested in your product or service see your advertisement.
11.7 By targeting a very specific demographic with a Facebook ad, Wedding Paper Divas saw a 110 percent return on investment.
How Thumbtack uses Facebook tools to sell services
Who: Thumbtack is a 12-employee San Francisco start-up that allows customers to find and secure various services, from artisans to carpenters.
What it did: Thumbtack has used three Facebook tools — Like buttons, an active Facebook Page, and Facebook Facepile — on its site. All have been used as a branding tool, said Sander Daniels, cofounder of Thumbtack. This is “so that people trust us more,” Sanders said. “We’re not a very well-known site, so anything we can do to show that your friends are using our site helps us!”
The results: Facebook helped Thumbtack monitor its services’ rate of adoption (such as what services consumers engaging with the most). Facebook sends Thumbtack a weekly e-mail that includes key stats of all of its profile, such as number of visits, number of likes, and number of Timeline posts and comments. The e-mail also includes the rate of growth or decline for each of those stats. Thumbtack keeps a close eye on whether the number of weekly visitors, likes, and comments rises or falls each week.
How Pretzel Crisps boosted its likes in 36 hours using Facebook coupons
Who: Created in 2004 through a patent for a flat pretzel, Pretzel Crisps was developed by Sara and Warren Wilson, veterans of the snack food industry.
What it did: Pretzel Crisps wanted to drive fan growth on its Facebook Page via earned media. “Our social media strategy is to unite fans of our brand,” said Jason Harty, director of field and interactive marketing for Pretzel Crisps.
The company also wanted to be nimble, cost efficient, and have the ability and relevancy to keep up with the conversation in relation to its Facebook presence. “One of our first priorities was to give value to our fans and use this added value to bring in new fans,” said Harty.
Pretzel Crisps gained fans through a product trial (via coupons), providing fans a more rich experience and rewarding them for being a part of the community.
The results: Pretzel Crisps launched a $1 off coupon on Facebook during the last week of February 2011, and it saw fans grow from 6,800 to 13,700 in two weeks (see Figure 11.8). Since the launch, Pretzel Crisps has seen an 87 percent coupon redemption rate to date.
Then on March 15, 2011, Pretzel Crisps switched the $1 off coupon to a buy-one-get-one-free coupon. In a bit of an experiment, Pretzel Crisps did not tell anyone about the promotion. It wanted to see if it would spread with literally no push behind it — no status update, no advertising, no PR.
Within 36 hours, Pretzel Crisps had doubled its fan base on Facebook from 14,000 to 29,000. It now has more than 251,000 fans on Facebook and has seen these fans remain engaged on Facebook. The buy-one-get-one-free coupon has had a 95 percent redemption rate since it was introduced.
According to data from research firm SymphonyIRI Group, Pretzel Crisps increased its sales significantly in 2011 after this promotion. It’s safe to say that part of Pretzel Crisps’ phenomenal sales growth can be attributed to social media marketing strategy and tactics such as the Facebook coupons.
11.8 Pretzel Crisps launched a coupon campaign on Facebook and saw its fan base more than double in two weeks.
How Sweet Poppin’s gourmet popcorn keeps customers informed using simple Facebook posts
Who: Sweet Poppin’s has a flair for gourmet popcorn of all flavors. It makes over 30 gourmet flavored, chocolate-covered combinations sold in its Kokomo, Indiana, retail store as well as retailers in multiple states.
What it did: Sweet Poppin’s founder Tashia Johnson uses her Facebook posts to share customer news and happenings to her loyal Sweet Poppin’s followers as well as with well-wishers, family, and friends.
The results: Tashia found that her engagement on Facebook has encouraged new sales outside of her Kokomo base of operations. “It’s helped me spread the word about my product,” she said. “I can’t pay for that type of advertising.”
How TicketLeap sells more tickets through Facebook
Who: TicketLeap is a Philadelphia-based ticketing platform that enables event organizers to sell tickets quickly, track sales in real time, and get people talking about events from one unified system (see Figure 11.9). TicketLeap also allows ticket buyers to share where they’re going through social media and see who else is attending events.
11.9 TicketLeap took the time to develop a very interactive Facebook Page to get fans and keep them engaged.
What it did: TicketLeap used Facebook as a key tool in increasing awareness of its services and promoting ticket sales (see Figure 11.10). TicketLeap’s platform is deeply integrated with Facebook, which helps event organizers sell more tickets. Ticket buyers can opt in to post an “I’m going to X event” announcement to their Facebook Timeline which shows up on their friends’ News Feeds and helps turn buyers into promoters or evangelists. In addition, from any event page, ticket buyers can invite their Facebook friends to events and opt in to post comments about the event directly to Facebook. TicketLeap has found that these social tools resulted in seven times more ticket sales, which TicketLeap attributes to the social nature of Facebook and live events. Ticket buyers can also register for TicketLeap events using Facebook Connect, a simplified way to log in to the site using their Facebook login credentials and information.
11.10 Linking back to its Facebook Page on blog posts and using tools like Facepile to authenticate users helped bring new fans to the TicketLeap fan Page.
The results: TicketLeap’s incorporation of Open Graph led to large incremental sales. The decision also provided an analytic opportunity for the business, enabling it to determine the number of shares that lead to increments in ticket sales.
How Framework Media Strategies keeps customers informed with likes and shares
Who: Framework Media Strategies is an integrated communications team serving New Jersey-based clients with social media creation and management, public and media relations, and creative design.
What it did: According to owner Jeremiah Sullivan, Framework Management Strategies mostly relies on the plug-in features. “The tools we use most are the like and share and tagging functions that Facebook currently offers. All have proven to be valuable tools in our efforts to keep ourselves informed, as well as share our content (or viable content that relates directly to our business or clients) with new, yet interested eyes.”
The results: The company’s most successful use of Facebook tools has been strategically leveraging the like, share, and tagging functions to identify and engage elements of target audiences and raise general awareness of its content.
How the organic body care company Motherlove grows with Facebook
Motherlove Herbal Company (www.motherlove.com) manufactures best-in-industry organic body care products and herbal supplements for pregnancy, breast-feeding, childbirth, and baby care. It serves two niche markets — one for organic body care and baby products, and another for its best-selling breast-feeding supplements used by mothers who have low milk supply.
Because reaching any niche customer takes extra effort and because consumer education is key in increasing sales, Motherlove decided in 2010 to focus its marketing and advertising efforts in social media where it could build a community, converse with customers, and support other like-minded communities.
Educating mothers
Motherlove was founded 22 years ago by Kathryn Higgins, who saw the need for specialized herbal products for pregnancy, childbirth, and breast-feeding. The first company of its kind, Motherlove has always refused to accept the status quo, and its products, packaging, ingredients, business practices, and culture all reflect its commitment to quality and safety as well as a love for the earth.
But 22-year histories don’t communicate themselves, and the organic marketplace is more crowded than ever. To reach new moms who are hungry for information about holistic products or have difficulty breast-feeding, Motherlove decided to focus on education first.
Content curation became the cornerstone of its social media approach. Using its Facebook Page, blog, and podcasts, as well as guest posts on other blogs, Motherlove created an online community that understood and valued its commitment to organic ingredients and sustainable practices (see Figure 11.11).
11.11 Motherlove Herbal Company used Facebook to build a community where it could educate fans and customers and answer their questions about breast-feeding and the holistic products it offers.
Motherlove started using Twitter after Facebook and now regularly participates in Twitter parties that provide real-time information. Most recently, Motherlove cosponsored the World’s Largest Breastfeeding Twitter party (#BigBFParty).
Short-term customers
A significant challenge to any pregnancy-based company is the short life cycle of the consumer. Women are only pregnant for nine months, and they might not realize they are pregnant for two or more of those months. Women don’t breast-feed forever, either, so the average customer only buys Motherlove products for a short window of time, perhaps several times as they continue to have children.
Because women don’t immediately seek out products to help them with childbirth or breast-feeding upon becoming pregnant, Motherlove tries to form a connection with the women the very first time they hear about the brand. Motherlove has found social media well suited for forming that connection while educating the consumer and conveying Motherlove as the 22–year-old trusted resource.
Motherlove performed extensive testing as its first phase of social media adoption. It wanted to be confident that it was giving women the information they needed and wanted, and it was important to package that information correctly.
Unlike most brands, Motherlove doesn’t offer samples, discounts, coupons, or freebies. In fact, the company only offers a discount twice a year (World Breastfeeding Week and Mother’s Day). That’s a big departure from conventional Facebook Page building wisdom, but recent studies have shown that Motherlove’s method works better in the long term.
The Motherlove team believes Facebook fans like its Page for four top reasons. First, because it is a community of like-minded breast-feeding advocates, many of whom have struggled to breast-feed or are still struggling. This is different from other breast-feeding communities where a large percentage of moms have either breast-fed easily or are not breast-feeding after returning to the workplace. Mothers also like the Page because they are looking for support or information in real time, as well as customer support and questions about the products. Finally, retailers and breast-feeding experts like the Page for information and to show support for the brand and the women using the products.
Advertising on Facebook
Motherlove uses Facebook ads to promote the Page and let new moms know it’s there as a resource. It regularly tests all varieties of ads to see what works best for the specific product or content, and it changes the ads regularly. Promoted content is written by licensed breast-feeding experts.
Facebook ads are targeted to reach women interested in breast-feeding or buying organic body care products for pregnancy and childbirth. Using a variety of ads at different price ranges and targets allows Motherlove to keep a small daily budget (between $5 and $10) constantly display their advertisement. Motherlove also charts Facebook ad data to better understand what messages resonate with its fans. See Chapter 4 for more information on advertising on Facebook.
Motherlove advertises on websites with active Facebook communities and participates in Facebook chats with other brands. The focus is not on sales or even Motherlove products, but on educating consumers about why they might be struggling with low milk supply and helping all moms meet their breast-feeding goals. The promotion of breast-feeding as the normal way to feed a baby is central to every marketing outreach.
Building a community
Because moms who breast-feed are usually part of at least one online community where they share tips and information, Motherlove supports key communities and information sources. Sponsored Facebook chats, where Motherlove sponsors an independent breast-feeding expert to answer questions for community members about breast-feeding challenges are central to Motherlove’s strategy of building a vibrant and supportive community for all moms, regardless of their breast-feeding goals.
End result: word of mouth
Rather than push sales via discounts, calls to action, or other direct methods, Motherlove has focused on using social media to educate consumers and breast-feeding experts about its products and support communities where moms share information. The result has been a groundswell of brand awareness and word of mouth from moms who have used the products. Recommendations of Motherlove products from mom to mom have increased at least tenfold. Sales have risen dramatically, and the number of new accounts each month has doubled despite the challenging economy.
The future
Motherlove’s short-term social media plans include a new mobile-optimized website, mobile shopping cart, QR codes on labels, and a mobile product information website with videos and mobile-specific product information. Motherlove is also planning to join Google+.
QR codes are quick response bar codes that, once scanned, provide electronic information on a product.
Because Motherlove is a family legacy (as opposed to venture capital acquisition), marketing plans focus on long-term goals.