Client Success Story: How I am Growing One Client's Facebook Page
When it comes to social media, you'll find a lot of people in the industry calling themselves "gurus" and claiming to know the recipe to the "secret sauce" that drives fans to business pages by the dozens. While there are definitely some basic principles that every business should follow, I feel there is no one-size fits all approach when it comes to social media and really no "secret-sauce". I believe that every business needs to figure out what works for them and create their strategy from there. Sure you can increase likes by advertising and spending money, but what happens when you have no money to spend? Read on and I'll share but first, you may be asking....Are you a social media guru?Nope. I'll be the first to tell you I don't have all the answers and I'm never going to guarantee you'll have a 1,000 new fans in a month. You see, I was given the gift of gab. I am comfortable talking to just about anyone and I know how to write. I took these two skills and combined them. The result is they've made me successful at helping small businesses manage their social media efforts. On top of that, I stay up to date on trends and tips so you don't know have to.Client Success Story: Humble House Gardens
So now that you know a little more about my experience with social media, I want to share with you what I feel is a recent client success story. My client, Humble House Gardens is a small goat farm just outside of Buffalo, New York. Yup, you read that right, they are a goat farm. The owner of the farm is pretty awesome. She lives a sustainable lifestyle and runs this farm on her own. She raises goats and uses their milk to make a line of natural soaps and lotions. She retails these products on her website, in local retail shops and at vendor events. She wanted to increase her brand awareness on Facebook with the ultimate goal of growing her online business.That's where I come. We started working together about 6 months ago. When I got to her page she had 25 fans and wasn't comfortable spending much on paid advertising. With all the changes Facebook has made I had to get creative about how I was going to get her name out there.So the strategy I developed was to use Facebook for what it is...a social network. Instead of trying to build the page on my own or to pay Facebook for advertising, I've been networking with other well established pages. Through those pages, we've been sponsoring giveaways and other small promotions that really get her name out to people that would otherwise have no idea she existed.With $25 in paid promotions and two giveaways that cost her less than $30, we've increased her fan base to 388 fans! While it may not be reaching into the thousands as many social media gurus will brag that they can do, in my opinion it's a success. She now has 388 more people who know of her company and products, with minimal investment and we are continuing to grow.We're updating her page at least 3 to 5 times per week and keeping in touch with her fans with a monthly e-newsletter I've also created. From these promotions, we've also grown her email list. Is she making tons of money because of these efforts? Not yet, but we're moving in that direction.The Conclusion There's no once size fits all when it comes social media. Social media takes time, talent and strategy in order to be successful. There are many ways to build your Facebook business page and to increase your followers on other social media sites you just need to be patient, test some strategies and know when to adjust what you're doing if it is not working.Do you agree with the social media strategies I've discussed in this post or do you think there is a "secret sauce" to social media success?
