"Paid for" advertising

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Ian Kenny Framing
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"Paid for" advertising

Post by Ian Kenny Framing »

We use Facebook as a means of keeping in touch with clients, followed very closely in joint fifth position (!) by Twitter and Instagram. I'll occasionally pay to promote a Facebook post, which admittedly does not bring hordes of new clients through the door.
Does anyone have any experience of using paid promotions on either Instagram or Twitter?
Ian Kenny GCF(APF) Adv.
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Encouraging and promoting the best in art and framing
markw

Re: "Paid for" advertising

Post by markw »

Having a tech savvy younger daughter as a partner in the business - and a professional media specialist daughter with her own business (Duchess Media Bristol) I am being dragged into the world of the hashtag #. I am starting to find that it works and, in reality I prefer social media contact to having a all singing all dancing website. I am finding that we are now starting to get results but you really do have to drive it hard and work on keeping the conversation going. Its also very easy to post too much and get dumped - so your postings should be interesting - avoid posting several times a day for instance.
my preferences are Facebook and Instagram. I am not a great fan of twitter but do use it. We also use WhatsApp in the town as we have a WhatsApp group to keep an eye out for the light fingered visitors.

I am amazed at times just how much I use my iPhone for business: I text customers to tell them work is finished - I send out paypal money requests for remote sales - I use scanner pro to send text files - Receipt bank to put invoices into my books - then all the social media stuff. Oh! and Izettle - to take payments. what did I do without it?
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GeoSpectrum
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Re: "Paid for" advertising

Post by GeoSpectrum »

I haven't tried it on Twitter or Instagram but Facebook adds do generate sales, the key is targeting your audience well. 80% of my customers are female in the 40-70 range so that is who I target. It works. I ran one the other day, cost me £7, the next day I took a £500 sale as a direct result of that add.

Use them sparingly but I believe they can and do work.
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John Ranes II, CPF, GCF
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Re: "Paid for" advertising

Post by John Ranes II, CPF, GCF »

GeoSpectrum wrote: ...It works. I ran one the other day, cost me £7, the next day I took a £500 sale as a direct result of that add...
Alan,

I would love to see you post a pix of the ad you ran on FB here if you have a chance. I also you FB boosting, heavily at times, and utilize the targeting parameters to impact the results. I have often spent $50-100 letting it run a week to ten days.

The postings have to be positive and catchy...One way to monitor your own effectiveness, is to see how many SHARES you receive from a posting ... LIKES are wonderful, but SHARES are powerful.

Haven't really done anything with Twitter or Instagram at this time, Ian. I think Twitter might work for a really special artist event... again, it would require someone at the wheel the entire time.

John
John Ranes II, CPF, GCF
The Frame Workshop of Appleton, Inc.
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Member: FATG & PPFA
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markw

Re: "Paid for" advertising

Post by markw »

In fact if you # well using Instagram you will be surprised at the result. You can set up Instagram so that your pics go into Facebook. My eldest daughter has tried to show me how to schedule postings. It's a work in progress.
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Re: "Paid for" advertising

Post by Framerpicture »

It's instagram and twitter that work well for us, and we don't pay a penny!-
With Facebook's latest algorithm its hard to get your post seen unless its widely shared or you advertise. We only have 250 likes on Facebook, but on a recent post (which only got 7 likes) was only seen by 46 people

It is relatively inexpensive to advertise but personally never found it that effective, in fact I choose to hide any companies that keep sending out promoted posts, as some can completely over do it!
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Ian Kenny Framing
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Re: "Paid for" advertising

Post by Ian Kenny Framing »

I suppose I'd always thought that Facebook would be the best for 'paid for' promotion - it's a nice combination of visual imagery and personal interaction. As MarkW says though, you need to drive it hard. His comments about using iPhone for loads of business stuff got me thinking about the huge changes in how we use technology in our business. Things have come a long way since the days of 'Good old Yellow Pages!' for those who remember advertising there!
Ian Kenny GCF(APF) Adv.
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Jamesnkr

Re: "Paid for" advertising

Post by Jamesnkr »

I'm yet to sell anything through any medium. Paying for Facebook has been a good way of throwing money away... But I'm not selling picture framing.
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John Ranes II, CPF, GCF
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Re: "Paid for" advertising

Post by John Ranes II, CPF, GCF »

Ian Kenny Framing wrote:I suppose I'd always thought that Facebook would be the best for 'paid for' promotion - it's a nice combination of visual imagery and personal interaction. As MarkW says though, you need to drive it hard. His comments about using iPhone for loads of business stuff got me thinking about the huge changes in how we use technology in our business. Things have come a long way since the days of 'Good old Yellow Pages!' for those who remember advertising there!
Ian,

You are spot on.... I think you see something here that a few may have missed, and that is that Facebook probably does fit our mould of soft sell advertising nicely. It is visual and friendly. If you stop to think about it, most of us enjoy custom or bespoke framing as we are really helping people solve a problem... we are presenting and preserving something that is important in their lives. Often these are things where our clients are emotionally attached... Perfect for Facebook. Pinterest and Instagram are probably the next two social medias that deserve our attention (if our time allows us!)
Jamesnkr wrote:I'm yet to sell anything through any medium. Paying for Facebook has been a good way of throwing money away... But I'm not selling picture framing.
I think that many folks may have had these thoughts when Paid for Advertising and Boosting first appeared, but to really appreciate the effectiveness, one must recognize that Millennials to Baby Boomers spend time on Facebook, and that this swing has replaced Newspapers, magazines, television and yellow pages as avenues to reach potential clients. Every business that grows or does a decent volume spends time or money on advertising, whether it is traditional or non-traditional - FACT. If they don't they are probably doing it with location, which is paying it another way (but that's another thread).

So if you recognize the truth that FB might be a good way to reach new customers and or maintain brand awareness among your existing clients, what do you need to know...
  • If you have 185 to 435 likes to your FB Business Page, and you create a post, and notice that only 3-4 people liked it or responded, don't get discouraged... this is just FB controlling exposure, and you need to build up your FB Likers and possible Boost your postings to reach a higher percentage.
  • Get your Facebook Business Page Verified. On some pages you will see a small checkmark by the business name stated that FB recognizes that this is a legitimate brick & mortar business with a person who will answer the phone! :clap: To verify your Page: Click Settings at the top of your Page > From General, click Page Verification > Enter a publicly listed phone number for your business, your country and language > Click Call Me Now to allow Facebook to call you with a verification code > Enter the 4-digit verification code and click Continue. :yes:
  • Try boosting a post on FB... The tools are amazing, where you can pick the number of days, how much to spend, the counties or cities or countries where you wish to have this reach! You can also pick specific demographical interests to target your audience even further. Those interested in Horses for example, or WWII memorabilia...tons to pull from.
  • Keep your posting non-advertising oriented...make it fun, emotional, exciting as your sharing something with a friend! And make sure the picture(s) you use are decently sharp and clear.
After you have experimented with Boosting with a few quid, you might take it up a notch and target your Boost for a few weeks, asking people to LIKE your page. As your number of Likes increases it simply means that your Non-boosted posts will reach more people.
Memorial Day FB Posting Shadowbox Frame
Memorial Day FB Posting Shadowbox Frame
Mem Day Military Shadowbox Boost 2016.jpg (58.25 KiB) Viewed 9872 times
The Facebook posting above was boosted for 4 days over Memorial Day weekend, and it was seen by over 10,000 people of which 527 Liked the posting, 15 people took the time to comment, and most important statistic here is that it received 65 Shares! Shares of course are judge in that they spread your message even more...non-paid exposure! :cool:

We don't boost every posting on our FB page, but this one above proved very successful because it hit an emotional cord. If you haven't tried this, please do and have some fun sharing with people what you do well.

John
John Ranes II, CPF, GCF
The Frame Workshop of Appleton, Inc.
430 E Northland Ave
Appleton, WI 54911-2127 USA

Member: FATG & PPFA
The Frame Workshop
John Ranes Picture Framer Blog
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Ian Kenny Framing
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Re: "Paid for" advertising

Post by Ian Kenny Framing »

We use 'boosts' as well, and a combination of to 'People who like your page and their friends' as well as more closely targeted ones. We never stop 'preaching to the converted'. Customer retention is paramount - and much cheaper than trying to get a new one. Reminding people of the reason why they come to you is pretty important we think. And friends of page likers are important too. They talk to each other!
Ian Kenny GCF(APF) Adv.
Proud Fine Art Trade Guild member: http://www.fineart.co.uk
Encouraging and promoting the best in art and framing
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