Pro Tips for DIY Social Media Marketing

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2019

As a small business owner, you’ve probably heard a lot about doing social media marketing. A lot of franchises pay people to manage their social media, but some of you are determined to manage your own social media. We at WMS want to give you some pro tips about how to do it so that you can be successful.

What’s The Point?

Social media marketing can be difficult to understand because it’s different from other paid digital advertising like pay-per-click. With pay-per-click advertising, you tend to pay a lot of money, but you expect to see conversions directly from it. That’s because pay-per-click advertising tries to capture customers who have already decided that they need cleaning services and are searching for someone to provide that service. Social media, on the other hand, advertises to potential customers earlier in the purchasing cycle and helps to push demand and improve brand recognition.

Think of social media marketing as the new age of billboards. If you pay for a billboard, you don’t expect people to call you from their cars immediately after seeing it. Billboards are effective because they put your brand in your future customer’s minds. That way, when they do need carpet cleaning, you’re the first company that comes to mind.

These days, people don’t look at billboards. Instead, they stare at their phone screens. Hence the beauty of social media marketing.

Chem-Dry Phone Billboard

Make Posts You Want to See

People are busy and they go on social media platforms to relax, not to shop. Does that mean that your marketing efforts on social media are doomed? No! It means that if you want people to take time out of their busy day to look at your ad, you need to earn their time, not steal it.  

Think of a Facebook ad that resonated with you. What was it like? How did it make you feel? What did it make you want to do? Why was that ad relevant to you where other ads weren’t? People are constantly bombarded with marketing and advertisements that seek to push them to do something that they weren’t planning on doing. Because of this, people have an inherent aversion to ads.

So how do you make ads that make people put their walls down? Make it a post that they want to see. How do you know if they want to see it? Well, start by asking yourself, “If this post showed up on my timeline, would I look at it?”

Use Pictures That Touch An Emotion

People love visuals, and so does Facebook. According to sales and marketing software maker Hubspot,

Visual content is not only treated more favorably in the Facebook algorithm, but it's also more likely to be shared and remembered than written content. The lesson for Facebook marketers? No matter what type of ad you create, your image needs to be visually appealing.(1)

Remember when I said that social media is the new age of billboards? That means that the primary point of social media marketing is to have people remember you. To do this, you need to make people have an emotional reaction to your ads.

FUN FACT: While the process is still not fully understood, it is believed that the hippocampus and two amygdalae regions in the brain play key roles in processing both memories and emotions and that interactions between the two may reinforce the link between memory and emotions. (2)

That being said, choosing a good picture can be challenging. How do you know if your choice for your post’s photo is good? You need to choose a photo that causes an emotional reaction. Your picture doesn’t need to make your viewers sob uncontrollably, but it does need to make your viewers feel something if you want any chance of them remembering you.

Here are five questions you can ask yourself to decide if your photo is getting the job done:

  • Is the picture cute?

Chem-Dry Dog Pic

  • Does the picture teach you something interesting?

Chem-Dry vs. Steam Cleaning

  • Is the picture surprising?

Dog wearing Glasses

  • Is the picture shocking?

Dust Mite

  • Is the picture satisfying?

Hallway Before and After

Tell Your Customers What You Want Them To Do

You’ve chosen the perfect picture and wrote the perfect post. Now that you have earned your viewer’s attention, let them know what you want them to do. This is called a “call to action.” Without letting your viewers know what you would like them to do, you’re significantly reducing the chance of your ad converting and leaving money on the table.

A nice thing about your call to action is that it doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Just use something simple like “Learn more!” or “Schedule your appointment today!” Remember to leave your phone number or a link to your website so that your customers can know how to act. As long as you give them a clear next step to take, you’re doing fine.

Use Targeting

Have you ever been searching for something on the internet and then it seems like all of the ads that you see on Facebook are about what you search for? That is because Facebook has a disgusting amount of data that they sell to marketers in the form of targeted advertising. I would argue that Facebook's ad targeting is one of the coolest and creepiest things in the world of marketing. Facebook gives you the ability to target who sees your ads by geography and by demographic. So if you’re in New York, people in Florida aren’t going to see your ads and waste your ad spend. This provides the perfect opportunity for you to target people who have the highest likelihood of wanting their carpets to get cleaned. It also makes sure that you are getting the most bang for your buck!

There are obviously a lot of advantages to being able to target your ads so accurately. For example, do you have a city that you just can’t seem to rank in on Google? Well, if you can’t get your customers to come to you on Google, then go to them with targeted ads on social media!

We Are Here for You

Here at BELFOR, we understand that you are hard at work running a successful business. We also know that learning about Social Media can be a bit overwhelming. Our WMS Team provides personalized marketing and Social Media services that can help your franchise. We have different packages that can fit any budget. We can create a Facebook page and Instagram account for your business, design ads that your customers want to see, and target specific demographics within your geographic location. Check out our packages by clicking here.

If you have any additional questions you can also contact our in-house Social Media Specialist, Marquel Thigpen, at marquel.thigpen@hrisupport.com or by calling her at (435) 890-1071.  

References

  1. https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33319/10-examples-of-facebook-ads-that-actually-work-and-why.aspx
  2. https://www.psychologistworld.com/emotion/emotion-memory-psychology

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