9 Ways to Get More Brides on Facebook Without Paying For It

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Question: Has Facebook advertising killed free marketing for businesses?

Hey Steph,

I wanted to ask you if you have heard much about Facebook changes that force you to pay to reach fans from your business page.

I know that reach has been limited by an algorithm, but I’m hearing that a post might only reach 10 to 20 people out of 1000 potential fans and you have to pay to reach more than that tiny group.

Curious about your thoughts.  Seems to signal the end of current social media practices as far as business go.

If I have 200 fans and I’d feel lucky to get one booking from a fan page, then why would I pay money to get no ROI.

Curious about your thoughts.

R.

Answer:

Hey, R.

Yep.  Facebook has messed with us again.  However, the truth isn’t as bad as it seems and it IS still possible to communicate your message to your fans without paying for it.

In September of 2012, Facebook rolled out a new update to its algorithm (also known as EdgeRank.)  Around the same time, Facebook advertising began offering promoted posts as a way to promote your posts to more of your fans.

If you’ve been tracking your Facebook Insights, you may have noticed that your “talking about” numbers and interaction tanked right around that time.  This has led many business page owners to assume that Facebook is now forcing us to pay for our fans to see our stuff.

The truth isn’t that simple.

The Truth About Promoted Posts

Facebook estimates that only 16% of your fans will actually see your post in their feed.  This is caused by many factors: only half your fans are actually online each day, probably for 30-60 minutes.  With all the other posts in their feed competing for attention, it’s easy to see how yours is missed.

Most of your fans have been missing your posts since way before the Facebook algorithm changed.  

Facebook claims that the update reduced unwanted “spammy” posts in the news feed.  According to them, if you were doing a good job of delivering valuable, interesting posts to your followers, you wouldn’t have been affected after the algorithm update.

In other words, if your numbers took a dive after the update, it’s because you weren’t posting things your fans actually want to see.  Check out Tech Crunch’s blog post for some statistics that support this argument.

Another study by Edge Rank Checker shows Facebook business pages seeing a decrease in reach and fan engagement across the board after the update.

So what do we do now?

Next Generation Free Marketing with Facebook

Our experience also corroborates a decrease in engagement after the latest Edge Rank update.  We’ve been experimenting with buying promoted posts, and they DO work.  But will we be forced to “buy” eyeballs for our Facebook posts from now on?

If you want to make sure more of your fans actually see your posts, you have TWO options:

  1. Post interesting, relevant, compelling content your fans like, comment on and share.
  2. Buy promoted posts.

Facebook isn’t behaving much differently from Google here; they’re trying to deliver relevant content to users.  In a similar way, we have to play by the rules they make if we want to be seen.

You can no longer promote your wedding business all over Facebook with lame posts no one cares about.  Well, you can, but now you’ll have to pay for it.

If you want more fans, more likes and more attention for your wedding business on Facebook, you have to earn it with great content that gets a reaction.

This isn’t the end of social media for business; it just means our strategy has to change.

How to Get More Brides On Facebook…Without Paying For It

Most businesses can increase the number of fans who see their posts organically (in other words, for free) to 20-35% by using the following strategies shared by Mashable, Buzzfarmers and us.

1.    Post more photos and images.  These get more likes and shares than any other type of post.

2.    Use the words, I and me in your posts to get more likes.  Be opinionated in your posts to get a stronger reaction.

3.    Post content from 4-6pm Eastern time, especially on Saturdays and Sundays.

4.    Ask questions that allow your fans to express an opinion.

5.    Ask people to like and comment.  It’s simple, but it works!

6.    Host contests that require people to like and comment to win.

7.    Use the Fans Flood app to invite your website and blog visitors to “like” your page in exchange for a cool freebie.

8.   Find and “like” other local wedding business pages that have bride fans. Like, share and leave helpful comments on their posts as your business  to build relationships with other vendors and so that brides (eventually) click through.

Warning: do NOT blatantly promote your business on other people’s pages or it will drive brides away and irritate potential wedding business partners.

9.   Say something nice about other wedding businesses in your posts and tag them to encourage sharing with their bride and groom followers.

There’s still Facebook marketing that can be done for free, but it takes a little more creativity these days.  Once you know your return on investment for your Facebook fans and leads, it can and does make sense to invest in some paid advertising.

How is your wedding business doing on Facebook these days?

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Facebook Privacy: The Good And The Bad For Business Owners

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No matter how much we love Facebook for wedding business marketing the truth is that privacy issues and questions regarding possible privacy issues have been a problem from the beginning. While that doesn’t stop most people using Facebook it does create frustration. The one good side of things is that there is almost always a way to block information from being shared that you don’t want the world to know about (and yes, some of it just requires using common sense).

Facebook believes in the importance of constantly evolving with the demands of their audience. This has led to a new way of collecting data on people both online and offline for the sake of their advertisers. Obviously this is raising red flags for many people, but thankfully, there is a work around. Make sure to check out Thorin Klosowski’s article to learn more.

The good side of Facebook’s constant research on tracking data is the fact that they are able to help their advertisers target the right people better than almost anyone else. This means that your advertisements go out to the group of people that might actually be interested in your business, and no one else. What do you think though? Do the benefits for targeted advertising outweigh the privacy risks?

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Filed Under: Advertising, Attracting Ideal Clients, Leads & Traffic, Mobile Marketing, Social Media Tips Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Getting Facebook Marketing To Actually Work In Attracting Brides

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A wedding business getting tired of attempting Facebook marketing isn’t new. In fact local wedding businesses struggle a lot to make Facebook marketing work. That doesn’t mean that you should give up, or that it won’t work. It just means you have to know what to do to see results.

Stephanie Padovani’s guest blog on Mobile Beat does a great job in summing up what you need to do to succeed. It isn’t enough to be on Facebook, you’ve got to be in the right places, and you’ve got to build relationships. Relationship building for the sake of marketing isn’t a new idea, but it is one that many businesses struggle in applying online. The reality is that marketing on a social platform like Facebook is the same as marketing anywhere else in person. Build a relationship. Provide valuable information, and turn your marketing efforts around so that they actually work. What do you think? 

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How To Capture A Brides Interest On Facebook

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If you already use Facebook for keeping up with friends you probably have a bit of an idea of what is involved in writing a good Facebook post. However business pages are constantly working on getting better returns for their time, which means finding better ways to build interest in their brand.

Lawrence has some brilliant pointers on his blog tofurious. He points out something that is a very typical issue with wedding businesses on Facebook. When you post you get a lot more interest and interaction when you use a picture. Not that you always have to use a picture with your posts, but when you do it is the thing that makes your post stand out in a brides news feed. Facebook users are used to taking more time looking at pictures than reading updates. Don’t just use any picture though. Use one that illustrates the point, and is good quality. The quality of the pictures that you use is a direct reflection of the quality of your business, at least in a brides mind. What do you think? Have you used pictures with your posts, and if so have you seen an increase in interest? 

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Why You Want To Use Facebook Promoted Posts

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With every program out there you have the option of just using the basics, or using the program to the max. Facebook is no different. One of the easy to overlook perks you have access to on your Facebook wedding business page is promoted posts.

What are these? Well as Lawrence Chan points out on his blog, essentially they are the regular posts or updates which you posted and then marked as “promoted.” Once the post has been promoted it will show up in the news feed of your followers in the same mix as their friends updates. Why this is important to you as a wedding business owner is that it increases exposure to your Facebook business page, and therefore to your business. Brides will “Like” a lot of wedding businesses while they are planning a wedding and promoting your posts is a way to keep your company in front of her as a viable option. Have you used Facebook promoted posts and seen an increase of interest in your page?

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My Facebook Contest Flop Turned to Wedding Business Success

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Marvin’s Story

by Marvin de Guzman

2 years ago, an idea was formed to get a side business going in photography, not in weddings at first but rather cars!

The car industry can be lucrative once you are established, which means that you have to do a lot of traveling every week to cities and shows that may be out of your financial reach. We tried to stay local, but usually there were no jobs.

So we went back to the drawing board. We had personally invested in our equipment, so what could we do with it?

Our first real client was a portrait photo shoot, then a birthday, then an anniversary. It wasn’t until the anniversary shoot the idea of shooting an engaged couple came to mind. This was mid August and we were on the fast track to no where. 



More research was needed to know what it takes to be a wedding photographer. We started going to class, buying books, and soon fell in love with creating memories in digital.

We set out to find a willing couple to get us as their wedding photographer, but in this industry you have to have a lot of wedding photography under your belt already. We felt defeated yet again and almost thought of quitting because no one would even pay attention to our work, even if it was FREE.

Then we had an idea. We decided to hold a contest to give us the best love story and the prize was a full wedding photography package, complete with album!

We knew that this was quite possibly crazy. Who would even think of giving away a wedding photography prize that would probably cost us half of what a real wedding photographer would charge?

We were after the experience, even if we had to break our savings account just to provide the materials creating the best custom designed wedding album you can get.

Only four couples actually entered our contest! We picked our winner.

The winning couple initially questioned our ability (we only had one previous ‘wedding’, which was actually a 50th wedding anniversary!)

Then they saw our work and agreed to hire us for their November wedding, with these words we will never forget, “Everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves.”

As November fast approached, we knew that we were ready, but then no one predicted the weather.

This wedding was the most challenging photographic experience we’d ever had, and we found out how quickly we should adapt to any given situation. Armed with gear for rain, we were brave enough to just go with the flow even though the weather was unforgiving.

The result: a perfect wedding photography experience that the couple’s Facebook friends and family are still talking about. That’s a huge success in my book!

Lessons for Hosting Your Own Contest

Marvin turned his contest into a success by delivering amazing photos to the contest winners. They were so grateful and thrilled with those images that they told friends and family, and that word of mouth led to more business.

But how can you avoid a contest flop?

1. Don’t hold a contest unless you ALREADY have a big audience.

100 Facebook fans isn’t going to cut it. You need thousands of eyeballs on your contest to get real entries.

Either you need to have brides and grooms coming to your website and blog already, or you’re going to have to buy or borrow that traffic from someone else.

Before you hold a contest, make sure you have enough eligible people seeing it to make it worth your while.

2. Make it extremely simple to enter your contest or no one will.

The harder it is to enter you contest, the fewer entries you’ll get.

People are inherently lazy, even when they can get something for free. The closer you can get to “just click to enter,” the better response you’ll get. Don’t make your contest involved unless you have thousands of brides viewing your offer.

3. Establish your value or no one will want the prize.

If you’re brand new and no one’s booking you, and no one enters your contest, couples are going to be very suspicious about your work.

Marvin ran into this problem with his contest winner. They almost refused to accept free wedding photography!

The couples with weddings gorgeous enough to be an asset to your portfolio are going to be skeptical about anything that’s totally free.

You need to overcome this by proving your value. Put a dollar value on the prize. Post testimonials from happy clients, even if they weren’t brides and grooms. Make it crystal clear why your contest is such an unbelievable deal.

Treat yourself as valuable or no one else will.

Contests can be an amazing way to spread the word about your business, but they aren’t for everyone. It’s an investment, like any other form of marketing, and it’s best undertaken only when you already have an audience of bride and groom fans.

Are contests a good way to promote a wedding business? Leave a comment and tell us what you think.

All photos in this post are from the contest winner’s November 2011 wedding taken by Ron and Marvin de Guzman of Sigmasix Photography.

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The Facebook Mistake You Should Never Make

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At_DeskFor some people Facebook marketing is easy. They seem to know all the basics and have great Facebook fan pages. The reality is that they either hired an expert to help them set everything up, or they have gone through a ton of training.

There is one mistake which a lot of small businesses make that ensures that their Facebook marketing efforts are pretty much pointless. It is quite simply setting up a Facebook page, and then rarely, if ever, doing anything with it. If you don’t have time to mess with a Facebook fan page, and can’t commit to at least 1 hour a week to update your status and interact with followers, then you shouldn’t have set up the page in the first place.

It is actually worse for your brand image to have a “dud” Facebook page, than it is to not have a Facebook presence. Make sure to read the article by Jen Williams for more basic Facebook fan page mistakes you should avoid. What do you think? Are you having trouble keeping up with your Facebook marketing?

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How To Get Interaction On Your Facebook Wedding Business Fan Page

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Facebook_LikeBusinesses constantly struggle with getting interaction on Facebook. It often seems like it is the most unlikely post that will get the most likes, comments and shares. That said there are ways to get more interaction with your Facebook Fan Page posts according to Mari Smith.

Facebook is the last place to use typical wedding marketing. In fact including a bit of “cheese” may just get you further than keeping it super professional. There are two quick tips to getting more responses to your posts. First keep your post short, and write in the third person making it easy for people to share the post with others. Second, remember that pictures always get the most interaction on Facebook. For more tips on getting your wedding business Facebook posts read make sure to check out the article by Mari Smith. What do you think?

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Why You Should Market To Brides Where They Are

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Woman_On_LaptopFinding out where your audience spends it’s time online is one of the first steps to setting up an effective marketing plan. If you go where they are already it will be easier to capture their interest. The good news is that there is one place where the majority of internet users hang out, and that place according to Frank Reed’s article is: Facebook.

The first thing you need to realize before you start marketing to brides on Facebook is that they are there to socialize. This means that you need to set up your Facebook page to be user friendly and use your status updates to not only market but to also ask questions and give out important and helpful information. Think about it. The bride socializes with you while chatting with friends and gets helpful tips for planning her wedding. That combination in a safe environment is going to build trust, which in turn can turn into solid sales, and great reviews. What do you think? Is your Facebook marketing working for you?

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How to Maximize Your Wedding Business Facebook Exposure

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Happy_Bride_and_GroomThere are a couple of simple things you can do to really boost your wedding business exposure on Facebook. An article on the Just Wedding Vendors Network does a great job of summarizing these often overlooked basics. 

First of all once you have 25 people who have “liked” your Facebook Fan page you can get a personalized url. This is super helpful as it will show up on Google searches. Second make sure to put your website as a watermark on all of your business pictures as well as including a link to the website in a tag of the picture.

Something that will really boost you exposure is tagging the person your article or picture is about. This will ensure that you post will show up on their wall for others to see.

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