A How To: Facebook advertising & marketing solutions in Pittsburgh
Over the last 10 months Randy Strothman & Associates has been experimenting with social media and Facebook marketing and advertising strategies for clients in the Pittsburgh area: Master Remodelers and The Park House, both of whom we had built marketing websites for in the past.
Previously we posted a blog titled “Social media drives better prospects to websites: the quality-of-visit-difference.” This one is a sequel in our adventures in the dynamic world of social media.
Perhaps your business can take away some marketing success strategies from our initial, no risk experiments for a neighborhood pub and an upscale remodeling contractor in Pittsburgh.
While Randy Strothman & Associates has developed many more traditional marketing and branding solutions—print advertising, websites, blogging, signage, trade shows, etc.—the world of social media presents a fascinating opportunity for marketing. We’re experimenting and are seeing some interesting results in Pittsburgh.
Some Facebook ad benefits
1. First of all, the ads are so easy to create; the first one will take you maybe 15 minutes. After that, maybe 5 minutes per ad.
2. Plus, they can be targeted to specific demographics: age, geography, sex, personal interests, etc.
3. The ads feed back good data about what’s working… and not.
4. You only pay when someone clicks, i.e. takes an action you want.
5. Facebook now has nearly a billion users worldwide!!
Lets look at a couple of Facebook advertising examples. Plus, at the end of this blog you’ll find two bonus 2012 white papers by experts on Facebook for business and the ‘State of the Social Universe!’
Park House case study #1: one Facebook ad for friendly pub
We began last January with one Facebook ad for “Pittsburgh’s oldest & friendliest tavern”—with no discounts offered, just the usual pricing and offers. We targeted it to specific demographics, a budget of $100, and only paid when people clicked to the website. It took about 6 weeks to run down the budget. The stats from the campaign included:
• 211,142 Impressions on Facebook
• 3,706 Reach on Facebook
• 89 Clicks to the Park House website
• $100 total cost
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Some definitions:
• Impressions—# of times the ad was displayed
• Reach—# of individuals that saw the ads
Did Facebook advertising work for The Park House? We know it brought 89 people to the website, perhaps mostly new visitors. We believe that is true because, according to the owner, on one Friday night alone 5 couples who had never been there came and spent at least $100, based on the ad they saw on Facebook. Likely there were more than those 10 new customers showing up and eating and drinking over 6 weeks.
Park House case study #2: five ads
Five days ago we created a new Pittsburgh regional campaign with 5 ads, with 5 different hooks, and slightly different targeting for each each ad.
(NOTE: Facebook recommends creating several ads to see which work best.)
It’s very early to predict the outcome, but after 5 days here are some results:
• 19,825 Impressions
• 6,935 Reach
• 6 Clicks to the Park House website
• $4.63 total cost so far
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Another case study…
Master Remodelers: six Facebook ads for upscale contractor
On September 26th we launched the first 4 of 6 new ads; two more came later. Five ads drove people to the website, one to their Facebook Page. A month after launch here are the results of the campaign:
• 179,196 Impressions
• 18,396 Reach
• 42 Clicks: 25 to website…17 to Facebook
• $43.36 total cost so far
Is this ad campaign working for Master Remodelers in Pittsburgh? On their Facebook page they’ve got 8 new “New Likes,” up 100% from last month… “Post Views” are up 32%… “Monthly Active Users” are up 19%.
For their website—where 5 of the ads were directed—they got 49 Facebook referrals in the last month, three times as many as the next referring site. These visitors stay 2 minutes longer on the website and view 1.5 more pages than the average visitor. For us its about the quality-of-visit difference.
Master Remodelers has an active Facebook page too
Starting a year ago we built a Facebook page and began posting for them—about 20 to 40 posts per month. (plus an occasional blog) Our strategy has been to provide information that we think potential customers would find valuable in their decision making process about their homes—consolidated from a variety of e-newsletters we’ve subscribed to. We don’t do much obvious hucking of their services (usually only when it relates to another piece of information—i.e. tips, ideas, new products).
For this high end remodeling contractor—we’re talking kitchens, baths and additions more than $100,000—only a few upscale followers can be of great value. Even one sale makes this social media effort more than worthwhile. Here are their Facebook Page stats for the past month:
• 5,506 Post Views
• 112 Monthly Active Users
• 82 Lifetime Likes
• 65 % female followers
• 59% 35-64 years old; 17% > 55
At this moment we’re OK with these stats, although we’d like more followers (and the ads seem to be adding followers). But if we turn one or two into customers, Master Remodelers will be very happy with this modest investment. They’re not selling thousands of $10 widgets, but rather high end home remodeling projects.
Bonus & Update: In 2011 this Pittsburgh marketing client saw a 55% increase in revenues and won 2 awards! We also provide Master Remodelers with a monthly internet marketing activity report.
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Bonus 1: Hubspot offers a good, detailed white paper called “How to use Facebook for business: an introductory guide.”
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Bonus 2: Silverpop offers a good 2012 white paper called “The state of the Social Universe” with insights from 4 experts.
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We can help energize your marketing with social media and other marketing and PR strategies. Find out how: contact us.
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