On the last day of Social Media Marketing World, Facebook continues to be one of the most popular trending topics of discussion. With plummeting organic reach, continuous algorithm changes and the necessary realization that you have to “pay to play,” Facebook is on everyone’s brain. A common theme amongst speakers at the conference in response to Facebook backlash: Don’t build on rented land. With that, Amy Porterfield, Social Media Marketing World Speaker, strategist and co-author of the book, Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies, says we all need to have a major mindset shift.
“People don’t like Facebook right now. Facebook isn’t free anymore and it changes all the time,” says Porterfield. “Gone are the days when you could post on your page without a strategy. But we need a mindset shift. If you start to look at Facebook differently, you’ll make big strides. I challenge you to have a mindset shift that Facebook is now an investment, and if you’re open to Facebook ads in a new way, you’ll get excited about what you can do.”
Porterfield then walked the audience members through her personal Facebook ad strategy that she says generates at least $1,000 per every $200 Facebook ad spend.
Gain Engagement
“Here’s how Facebook algorithm actually works,” says Porterfield. “If you’re not in the news feed, people aren’t seeing your posts.” Porterfield suggests posting to Facebook 2-5 times a day, however you can post more or less depending on whether your audience is engaging with them. “It’s not how often you’re posting, it’s what people are doing with your posts.”
Only about 1-2 percent of Facebook page fans see your posts and only a few of them may actually engage. Porterfield says she understands why people are so frustrated. “This isn’t going to go away,” she says. “So we need to be smarter.”
How does Facebook determine engagement? Likes, comments, shares and clicks.
The more engagement you get on your posts, the more likely they’ll appear in the newsfeed. Porterfield emphasized that in order to gain engagement, we need to post more “native posts,” that are non-intrusive and show our fans we’re “one of them.” Posts that are “all about you” won’t garner many clicks, Porterfield states. “Know your audience’s trigger points, let them behind the scenes,” Porterfield says. “In the next 24 hours, check out your last 10 Facebook posts. Do they interrupt or join in?”
Have a Strategy
Here’s Porterfield’s strategy for a creating a successful Facebook ad + email:
A) Create an irresistible giveaway or offer. The giveaway should be whatever your audience will love and will work for your business, states Porterfield. In her example, she used a 60-minute live webinar.
B) Create an opt-in/lead page. Like Melanie Duncan, Porterfield is a huge proponent of using LeadPages to create compelling opt-in pages.
C) Set up a targeted unpublished news feed Facebook ad for that giveaway.
D) Deliver the goods aka the offer. Porterfield suggests teaching a lot for free and selling a little. She gives a live 60-minute webinar for free, and then plugs a $97 item at the end of her webinar. “I definitely sell because I’ve earned it,” says Porterfield, “But you also have to give your audience what they want.”
E) Follow up with a series of emails. “Deliver the giveaway and use email marketing to seal the deal,” says Porterfield.
Use Facebook Graph Search
“It’s important for one main reason,” says Porterfield. “To find out where your audience is spending time on Facebook.” Porterfield suggests using the Facebook Graph search function to find the pages that your audience members like and engage with. How? Simply type in the search box, “Pages liked by [your business name or competitor here] fans” – or – “Pages liked by people who like [your biz name here or competitor business name here] – or- “Favorite interests of people who like…” This will give you similar pages, competitors and interests of your fans or people you’d like to target that you’ll want to jot down. You’ll then use this valuable information later when creating a Facebook ad.
“This is so powerful because this is where you’re going to target your ads,” says Porterfield. “Don’t skip this step.”
Create Facebook Ads
Porterfield highly suggests creating unpublished news feed ads (which you can do in the Power Editor dashboard) because everything is clickable, customizable, there aren’t light boxes, the image is large enough to grab attention, and you can change the call to actions. Your unpublished news feed ad should advertise your giveaway, then link to an opt-in form and/or lead page, which will grow and build your email list in the process.
Porterfield’s Pro tips:
These are Porterfield’s guidelines for what to expect to spend on a $97 Facebook ad:
1) From fan to lead: $1-$5
2) From non-fan to lead: $3-$8 – “It’s cheaper to advertise to your own fan base,” Porterfield says.
3) From lead to customer: $10-$30. Example: $200 on ads = 10 sales = $20/customer
4) Daily spend: $50 ($10 a day is an option)
Follow up with Email
Porterfield strongly suggests, “sealing the deal” with email. After you’ve created your Facebook ad, gained sign-ups/opt-ins and delivered your giveaway, don’t stop there! Follow up with emails thanking attendees or sign-ups, and other emails. Porterfield says after a webinar, she emails attendees or sign ups up to 5 times after the webinar has happened (but no more than once a week). She sends two emails with a replay of the webinar, a “last chance” email to view the webinar before she takes it off of her website, and another if the recipient hasn’t responded or purchased.
Should you only send emails about promotions or offers? “The more you give your audience something that’s not around an offer, but they find valuable, they more they’ll trust you. Get that value out there,” Porterfield says. If you’re only sending promotional offers, your efforts may be wasted. “When they’re not interested buying, they’ll never look at your emails.”
Have you tried any of these tactics? Let us know in the comments!
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© 2014, VR Marketing Blog. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.
The post How to Effectively Use Facebook Ads + Email appeared first on VR Marketing Blog.
So you have a small advertising budget and are trying to figure out how to get the most bang for your buck. Should you bet your marketing dollars on Google Adwords – the search engine behemoth’s online advertising service? Or would placing a Facebook ad get you closer to your goals?
Dan Golden, chief search artist and president of Chicago-based digital marketing firm Be Found Online, believes it’s important for all businesses to have a presence on both Facebook and Google. Although many people spend their advertising dollars on both platforms, there are some distinct differences that make one option more effective in some circumstances than the other.
Audience targeting
Google Adwords are targeted based on search terms (and sometimes location, for brick and mortar businesses). This is extremely helpful for businesses that offer services that would appeal to a fairly broad demographic – a local restaurant, sports equipment, landscaping services, etc.
On the other hand, if you have a very niche business, you may have better results with Facebook, which allows you to place ads that target a very specific subset of people. For example, you can place an ad that will be viewed by a specific demographic (age, gender, location), and specific interests. You can even use an imported contact list (so people on your email list will see your ad, for example), or target people who are already connected to your business. Facebook also allows you to set a specific advertising goal. These could include website conversions, website clicks, page likes, app installs, engagement on a specific post, offer claims, or even increased attendance at events.
Golden recommends starting with Google first, because it’s demand-based. If someone is actively searching for a solution to a problem, or even looking for a brick and mortar business in their hometown, they’re much more responsive to Google ads.
Indeed, Google will help you reach a large, broad audience who is specifically looking for the solution you offer. Certain industries (especially in business to business) do well with Google ads, because the audience they’re trying to reach is actively looking for companies offering their services. However, the possibility remains that not that many people are looking for you or your offer. They might be interested in your product or service but not actively searching for it. Perhaps they don’t even know it exists. In that case, Facebook may be a better option.
“People spend more time on Facebook than they do searching on Google, so it gives us more time to reinforce what the call to action is multiple times to that person on Facebook,” says Golden. This helps you get ‘found,’ so to speak.
Whether you put the bulk of your marketing budget into Google, Facebook or some combination, Golden has the following tips for you and your business.
Are you using Google Adwords, Facebook ads or both? Which is more successful for you? Share with us!
This post contributed by guest author, Yael Grauer. Grauer is a Minneapolis-based freelance writer and editor. Find her online at Yaelwrites.com.
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© 2014, VR Marketing Blog. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.
The post Get the Most Bang for Your Buck: Google Adwords vs. Facebook Ads appeared first on VR Marketing Blog.
These are exciting times at VerticalResponse! We’re so proud that we’ve just marked our 13th birthday. We never could have done it without our loyal customers like you, so thank you!
Even better, we’re celebrating with a brand-new product! Why? Marketing has changed a lot in our 13 years. When we started, there was no Facebook, Twitter or iPhone. If you wanted to communicate with your customers, you called, wrote a letter, or sent an email, which was most likely read on a desktop computer. Marketing has gone mobile and social, and we need to make sure we’re keeping up by giving you the tools you need to promote your business in the world we’re living in today.
We’ve released a basic version of a new VerticalResponse that focuses some core themes:
This is just the beginning for the new VerticalResponse. We’ll continue to add features and functionality to make sure you can take advantage of all the modern ways to market your business.
Don’t worry, the VerticalResponse you know and love isn’t going anywhere, and you should continue to use your current account. We’ll invite you to transfer your account over when the new VR has all the features you’re using in VerticalResponse Classic (that’s the fancy new name for the VR you’ve been using). Until then, keep enjoying your current account- there is nothing new you need to do.
Thanks again for 13 great years. Here’s to making the next 13 even better!
© 2014, VR Marketing Blog. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.
The post Celebrating 13 Years with a New VerticalResponse appeared first on VR Marketing Blog.
According to the NCAA, 181 million viewers will tune into the three-week basketball bonanza known as March Madness. Brackets, pools, parties and team t-shirts will take over offices all across the country.
We’ve got some email marketing ideas that you can use during the 67-game streak to capitalize on the excitement for your business.
1. Send a March Madness promotional email
You don’t have to sell sporting goods or run a pizza place to cash in on March Madness. A frozen yogurt shop came up with this promotion.
Yogurt doesn’t have much to do with basketball, but the simple reference to March Madness makes it a slam-dunk in the marketing world.
You’ll notice this company didn’t use the words March Madness in its promotion. These coveted words can’t be used for promotional purposes unless it’s an officially sponsored event. You can, however, come up with creative marketing slogan that separates the words “March” and “Madness.” For example, “March Markdown Madness,” is fine. That’s what this car dealer is using to promote a big sale this month.
2. Invite customers to participate in a giveaway
There’s a lot of excitement around March Madness, so try to capitalize on some of that basketball love with a giveaway.
Consider creating an email giveaway that’s tied to the tourney. Pei Wei, a Thai restaurant, did.
The giveaway draws on the madness title while giving away some great prizes. If you plan to run a giveaway like this, make sure you cross promote it on all of your channels. Pin it, tweet it, post it. Do whatever it takes to get the word out.
3. Send email bracket invites
March Madness wouldn’t be madness without brackets. An accounting firm invites its customers, contacts and friends to participate in the company’s bracket competition, which is dubbed Tax Madness.
“It’s a good way for us to interact with both clients and non-clients,” says Paul Herman, founder of Herman & Company. “If a non-client at some point in the future has a need for our services, hopefully they will think of us and also remember that we are an accounting firm that is not just about work.”
The New-York based accounting firm runs a typical bracket pool, where customers try to pick the winning team.
A southern lifestyle magazine took this idea one step further. Rather than running a basketball bracket, Gardens and Guns ran a food bracket. The idea was to name the best southern food. The company emailed customers asking them to participate and vote for favorites on Facebook.
The idea here is to capitalize on the marketing frenzy that is March Madness. There’s no right or wrong answer, only creative ones. If you have an idea, run with it. When you tie your marketing efforts to a current event like this, it’s all about thinking outside the box. (Check out: 5 Creative Topics to Get Your Marketing Mojo Going for other email ideas).
Have another March Madness marketing idea? We’d love to hear about it. Share it in the comment section below.
This post contributed by guest author, Lisa Furgison. Furgison is a media maven with ten years of journalism experience and a passion for creating top-notch content.
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© 2014, VR Marketing Blog. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.
The post Three Emails You Should Send in March to Capitalize on the Madness appeared first on VR Marketing Blog.
