BRAND INCREASES ENGAGEMENT 1,000% AND SALES 161% WITH FACEBOOK AND ARCH [CASE STUDY]

The following case study covers a Facebook business page marketing strategy for a client over an eight month period. ARCH Digital Agency works hand-in-hand with our clients to develop a unique strategy that is tailored to the specific goals of each one.

The Disclaimer
Every business is unique. While our general approach and strategy used with Andrew Martin may be effective with other brands, there is not a one-size-fits-all strategy for managing a Facebook Page. To add value to you, we’ve included tips within our case study. If you are a social media marketer, the case study offers a few ideas to take note of and consider implementing in your approach; and that if you are a business owner, these results should inspire you to take the steps towards hiring a professional agency to manage your social media.

The Client:
Andrew Martin (AM) creates hand-crafted leather belts made from the most exotic skins in the world. They pride themselves on using only the finest leather, and combining this leather with unique hardware to manufacture exceptional belts. The result? A truly one of a kind product.

Andrew Martin originated in the realization that consumers lacked an online one-stop shopping option for exotic leather belts. To fill this void in the market, they acquired the widest selection of exotic leather and colors in the United States.

The Approach:
Prior to creating and implementing any social media marketing strategy for a new client, we send a comprehensive questionnaire for them to complete. This worksheet, accompanied with strategic meetings with the client, provides ARCH with the information we need to craft a solid marketing strategy.

We call this the “on-boarding process.”

Through this process with Andrew Martin, we developed three objectives.

Tip for Social Media Marketers: Create a thorough on-boarding process. Use this process to gather all the information you will need about the client’s business, industry, competitors, products/services, brand, and any other relevant information.

Tip for Business Owners: If a firm doesn’t take the time to thoroughly understand your business and objectives, they aren’t the right fit for you.

The Objectives:
Create and manage a Facebook Page that achieves these three objectives:

Objective 1: Grow an Audience – Define, develop and grow an audience.
Objective 2: Grow Brand Presence – Further develop the brand and grow the brand presence.
Objective 3: Increase Sales – Assist in increasing website traffic and sales.
Tip for Social Media Marketers: Work with your client to set THEIR objectives, and be sure to set realistic expectations about the timeframe in which they can be accomplished.

Tip for Business Owners: Without objectives clearly outlined, it will be difficult for you to assess the effectiveness of any social media strategy.

General Facebook Page Strategy:
Average 17 posts per week
2-3 Monday – Friday, 1 on Saturday and Sunday
5 promotional posts per week
Promotional post = any post promoting Andrew Martin or a post with a link to the website
3 of these posts to feature an Andrew Martin product
6 fashion/ value-add related posts
Fashion news and trends, fashion tips, etc.
4 entertainment, sports or other trending topic posts targeting specific groups (non fashion-related)
2 post shares from other pages within the industry
$50 in boosted posts per week:
3 x $10 boosts
4 x $5 boosts
$25 of boosts towards “People who like the Page and their Friends”
$25 of boosts towards specific audiences in conjunction with Facebook Ads audiences. (Working in conjunction with our Facebook Ads Campaigns)
All boosts are for 24 hours
Never boost more than 1 post at a time to the same audience
Respond to and/or “like” all messages and comments within 1 hour (we typically respond within 5 minutes between 7am-12am)
Comment on 5 other pages per day (during the week)
*This is a general overview of our content strategy.

Tip for Social Media Marketers: Create a content calendar that works best with your workflow and stick to it consistently. And then completely update it every 2-3 months depending on how the audience responds to the content.

Overcoming Challenges with 2 Strategies:
Challenge 1: Who’s the target audience? As a new company, Andrew Martin did not have an adequate number of sales to clearly define the customer demographics. Therefore, we relied on market research to develop the first target audience. It created a unique challenge because without a defined customer base, Facebook pages can take 6-8 months to develop a community with consistent engagement, and organic click-through website traffic that leads to sales.

Strategy 1: Research covering our client and within the industry helped to pinpoint an initial target audience in the 45-65 age range with an income over 75k. We used that as our base, and then targeted the buying habits and lifestyle interests of that group to develop a more targeted audience.

For example, the research said the NBA should be popular with our audience. To test that theory, we posted the graphic below before game 6 of the NBA Finals.

It’s an eye-catching image with recognizable figures. The text is simple: “Who do you pick now?” We boosted it for $10 to our target audience’s age range and income, NBA, and an interest in men’s fashion and exotic leather. Our goal was an engaging post to drive potential buyers to the page, and to see who responded. After paying close attention to the demographics of the people who liked and commented on the post, we used that date to adjust our strategy and future content to better serve and attract that audience.

After 115 comments and 32 shares, we were able to learn a lot about this new target audience.

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Challenge 2: What is the brand voice? Because Andrew Martin was a new business, it didn’t have a established brand voice. We needed to create it.

Strategy 2: We started with a general, but professional brand voice and used posts like the NBA example to learn more about how our audience communicates before adapting.

For example: We learned that our audience responded well to a bit of jabbing back and forth, similar to responding to a guy sitting at a bar having a beer right next to you. Over a few months, we developed a consistent brand voice with personality and humor, but always remained professional. Generic or overly formal replies don’t resonate with the Andrew Martin audience.

In the photo below, a gentlemen replied to a post and hints at an objection over the price point of the belts. It would be easy to dismiss his comment as a negative comment, but we crafted a reply that addressed his comment and defended the brand in a lighthearted way. This resulted in the individual replying again, complimenting the brand, and asking where he can purchase our belts. In just one reply, we were able to turn someone who seemed entirely disinterested in the brand into a potential buyer.

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Tip for Social Media Marketers: Seize EVERY opportunities to engage with your audience. It keeps the person coming back to the page, and makes it more likely Facebook will continue to show the page’s post in their feed. It also might lead to a sale for your client.

Tip for Business Owners: Trust your social media team to add personality to the brand voice. You can maintain professionalism while providing an authentic personality that drives brand growth and loyalty in today’s social media community.

The Results:
(Results in 8 months, from 2/1/16 – 9/30/16)

Objective 1: Grow an Audience.
Results:
6,700 Facebook Fans in 8 months
Average New Fans Per Month: 837
Objective 2: Grow a Brand Presence
Results:
Over 2,400 engagements last month
700% increase (from month 1)
Engagements Per Post: 45
Engagement increased over 1,000% (from month 1)
Average Reach Per Day: 5,429
2,500% increase (from month 1)
Objective 3: Increase Sales
Average Monthly Sales increased 161%
ARCH overcame every objective within 8 months that led to the client becoming one of the largest and fastest growing brands on Facebook in its industry.