Over the past several years, we’ve been working with our clients in the Backyard Recreation industry to promote live events (tent sales, home shows, spa expos, etc.) via online advertising including both Google Adwords and Facebook. Every time we do a show, we go back and look at what we can learn and how we can improve for next time. We’ve learned a lot, and I want to share some of that in this post. I’ll cover Adwords another time, but this post is really focused on Facebook.
First, a few numbers:
- Over the most recent events we’ve done (late July through mid August, 2015) we’ve spent over $20,000 advertising on Facebook.
- On average, our clients are getting qualified leads (name/email/phone) for right around $40 per lead.
- The recommended total investment per show is ~$4,000 (this includes our fee and advertising dollars)
- At the show itself, at least $30,000 worth of product sold is directly attributable to Facebook (and usually in excess of $50k)
How do we do this?
We hear all the time from prospective customers that, “There aren’t any good leads on Facebook” or “Facebook doesn’t convert to real customers”. I think that both of those statements can be true but only because most people don’t build a full lead capture structure. While it may be great to see your “Likes” go up or people commenting on a post, it’s an entirely different beast when you’re able to capture a person’s name, email and phone number right off of Facebook. Let me explain.
First off, if you want to know all of the crazy details that go into a show promotion campaign, check out our detailed description here. Our team puts in over 30 hours of work on every show (yes, for just three days of advertising) which really is the key to making this kind of promotion successful.
Landing Pages
For every show or event we create a custom, mobile friendly landing page with a couple of key items:
- The offer: What do they get? Dollars Off? Great financing? Something to entice someone to get in touch.
- Show details: Locations, days, times, pictures, etc.
- Options to redeem: Fill out our form, call us or print out the page and bring it in.
- Google map: Easy to access directions on desktop or mobile
Every landing page is custom for every event and we use one of our great custom URLs to separate you from the crowd.
Something that has absolutely shocked us this year is that 96% of website traffic from Facebook is coming from a mobile device. This is why it is absolutely critical to have a mobile friendly landing page so people can quickly and easily get in touch.
Landing Page Examples
Here are two different landing page examples. You can see both the Desktop and Mobile version of each one.
Example #1
Example # 2
Engagement
The single most important metric in the world of Facebook is called “Engagement”. While Facebook tends to be a bit vague with exactly how they calculate engagement, a rough calculation includes the number of Likes, Comments and Shares that your posts and ads receive.
Our team has gained a ton of knowledge in this area and we really know what is going to make your audience react positively (and hence, engage) with your posts. We’ll edit and crop a photo just right so people HAVE to click on it to see more – this will redirect them to your landing page (see above) and convert into a lead! I’ve added a few examples of what you’re looking for with engagement below:
The great thing about Facebook is that it is super easy to share a post with friends. All someone needs to do is start typing their friend’s name and it will auto-fill the rest and notify the friend. Much easier than forwarding an email or remembering to tell someone about it later…
Follow Up
For every show we provide you with real time lead information directly to your email or via text message. This gives you and your team the opportunity to immediately engage leads as they express interest in your event and products.
In addition to real time follow-up, we’ll also setup an automated followup sequence that will email these leads a few more times over the next couple of days following your event.
What are you waiting for?
With a proven ROI hovering around 3-5x (assuming 30-40% margin) working with us to promote your shows and events should be an easy decision. To get started, you can either contact us here, give Tim a call or fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch ASAP.
