Have some cooler designs you want to move today? Looking to promote a weekday special (and generate foot traffic) next week? Drum up some mid-summer sales with Facebook boosted posts.
That’s advice from Jeff Corbin, AAF, AIFD, PFCI, of Radford Florist in Radford, Virginia.
“Recently, I have found Facebook’s paid boosts have been giving us phenomenal response,” he said. “We have a seasonal greenhouse and have opted out of traditional newsprint . With a Facebook boost, you can select the demographics and regions. We will be trying similar boosts with floral products and gifts.”
Corbin isn’t alone. Many floral industry business owners are now experimenting with both Facebook ads and boosted posts (along with ads on other social media channels.)
In the June issue of Floral Management magazine, Benoit Ballon of King Florist in Austin, Texas, and Tim Galea of Norton’s Flowers & Gifts in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, Michigan, discussed some of the tactics they’ve been trying on Facebook, to increase sales and awareness.
“Because of the way the Facebook News Feed works, if a business owner wants to be seen, you have to pay to promote your posts,” said Ballon, who plans to invest about $10,000 in Facebook this year through both Ads and boosted posts.
Galea started paying to boost posts on Facebook several years ago and said the site makes it “super easy.” (He does not currently invest in Facebook Ads.)
“We use Facebook almost every day for general marketing efforts,” he said, explaining they invest about $20 to $100 per post, depending on the occasion and duration. “Additionally, whenever we send out an email blast through Constant Contact, we duplicate that exact message on Facebook and ‘boost’ the distribution to expand our potential audience.”
Ballon added that, even if a promoted post doesn’t generate a direct sale, it can help to enhance the shop’s brand.
“We are promoting posts because a lot of people check their Facebook pages at least once a day, if not 20 times a day,” he explained. “In that respect, I see Facebook posts less as something that brings in direct orders and more as a branding tool; when people think flowers, we want them to think of us. That’s why we want to appear regularly in their News Feed.”
Galea agrees. “Our free Facebook presence is all about relevancy and ‘top of mind’ consumer awareness,” he said. “My anecdotal opinion is that paid boosts do pretty well, because we often see a spike in ‘likes’ and a few orders.”
Not quite sure what to boost? Get inspiration with these 11 post ideas, including a promo that involved creating the world’s longest virtual tattoo and tips on hosting a Facebook party.
