Summary
The campaign plan of posting once a week was mostly implemented. Some weeks saw more posts than others, and some less but the ebb and flow of the page was consistent. I was able to post pictures of home owners and also showcase landscaper's projects. These were well received. I also posted ideas for projects that could be done to improve the landscape surrounding the home.
Instead of sending an email blast about the new management of the page, I communicated via word of mouth and through my own social network to tell people about the Facebook page. I did not start a twitter for Rowland Stone like I had planned, but I did start an Instagram. This medium was not well received by the people I work with or patrons of the establishment. For this reason the attempt at Instagram proved unsuccessful.
Although I wanted to have the food trucks come and cross promote the business location I did not go that route. This is because the nature of the rock yard is dirty. There are always trucks being loaded and dirt flying through the air. We do not park our cars in the parking lot because of the dust. So, I did not have the food trucks for that reason.
Self-Evaluation
Overall, I believe that I am better equipped to manage a page on Facebook than I was previously. I learned about the insights and how to gauge the likes and reaches for each post. I learned how to operate the Facebook ads and how far the reach is capable of reaching. I also learned that more is MORE.
When it comes to getting out there and creating a buzz about the product it is better to post, post, and then post some more. It is also beneficial to tag people in pictures. In the landscaper's photo that I posted and tagged, it resulted in one of the posts that received more attention. Another type of post that had a good reach was the "how-to landscape ideas." People enjoyed looking through them and getting inspired to tackle a new project.
I also would have benefited from connecting the website and the Facebook sooner. It was an afterthought in the end of October, and I should have thought of it earlier. Additionally, I only liked a few other businesses Facebook pages as Rowland Stone. I think I should have sought out other like businesses and liked their pages too.
Likes
I took possession of the Rowland Stone Facebook page on September 15, 2015. At this point there were 48 likes. Currently, as of December 2, 2015 there are 122 likes. This is approximately an increase of 150% in the number of likes.
The best results I had increasing likes was when I used my personal Facebook page to solicit likes for Rowland Stone, around September 25th. The next highest results were from word of mouth, around September 15th, when I personally told people to like the Rowland Stone page. The 3rd peak in likes was two-fold, and it occurred on the weekend of November 7th. My sister told her friends to like my page, and at the same time I offered a paid ad on the page, which resulted in an 8 additional likes. I was a little surprised that I had an unlike on October 23rd. It actually hurt my feelings a bit.
Looking back at the data, when I first took over the page (9/15) I posted new pictures and changed the background images. This brought attention to a sleepy page, and by telling people about it, this accounts for the spike. On (9/25) I posted about a local landscaper that was hosting a training about planting in the desert climate. Additionally, I asked personal friends to like the page through my own Facebook. These caused more interest for the page, but interestingly, no likes on the plug for the training even though it had a large reach. On (10/30) I posted a picture of one of the drivers and also highlighted a local landscaper's pictures of a recent project finished. This gave some additional likes. The weekend of (11/7) was when the ad was played, and again, word of mouth from family was employed helped gather more likes.
Reach/Posts
People liked to see ideas for what could be done in their yards. This is why I kept adding Pinterest links because it reached more people. I tried introducing team members, but that did not resonate as well. I also tried a regular status update. When I tagged some of the landscaper's family about the completed project I saw a rise in attention to the post. I think I should find ways to tag people and invite more landscapers to submit pictures of projects.
Visits
It is interesting to learn that people started using the Facebook link I added to the Rowland Stone Website. Also, even when the link or pictures were not liked, the representation that they were viewed is helpful information in finding out what people are clicking on when visiting the page.
People
I had suspected that in St. George the demographic would have been people aged 55-64 in the majority. Then, the data showed that 52% of the fans were between the ages of 35-54. These fans were mostly in Utah, which was the aim. I also wanted to reach people in Salt Lake, because of homeowners that may own an additional property in St. George. I also thought that more men would be fans of a rock yard than women, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that was not the case. We all know women usually make the final decision, (wink, wink) so this plays in my favor.
These statistics were also surprising. There were over 1,300 people reached in the last 28 days! Learning that so many more women were reached than men means to me that I should post ideas that will appeal to that demographic more often. I could also post more about 2nd home ownership and ideas to have drought resistant landscaping.
Tactics
What worked well
Bragging about people made other people want to see more and because this was an event, it helped to involve the community.
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This is a screen shot of the Rowland Stone Website. I added a Facebook link and it was used by visitors to the website. This added an element of cross promotion. |
Updating the cover photo was a good tactic to be seen again by dormant "fans" of Rowland Stone
There was a lot of interest in the do-it-yourself fire pit. This is how I found out that people liked these kinds of posts. It was also evident when I accidentally posted it on my personal page and people liked it there too.
What did not work well
One thing I had problems with was negotiating between whether I was posting from my personal Facebook or from the Rowland Stone page. When I used my iPad the difficulties increased. I found it was better to email the pics from my iPad to my email and then download them to the Rowland Stone page to avoid unintended posts on my personal page. Here is the example, it would have done great for Rowland Stone because I had tagged a lot of friends and family in the post.
It was difficult to keep the posts straight between my personal page and Rowland Stone while using the iPad.
This is what it looked like on
the Rowland Stone Page.
And this is how it posted, and had likes on my personal page posts.
Posts
I should have posted more often. I tried to post at least once a week. I see now looking at the data that when I would build up momentum with posts that I let it slide again by not posting as frequently. I was concerned that by posting too much I would turn users off of the page, but I would probably have found more fans for the page if I had been more frequently, consistent.
Cross Promotion
I tried to implement an Instagram for Rowland Stone. I took about six pictures. There are only so many pictures of tractors and rocks I could take. I tried to get photos of some of the guys, but none of them are of the selfie generation. I tried to get landscapers to get in a picture and they were unwilling. Epic Instagram fail.
