Though Facebook has caught a lot of flack in recent months and years for the way they handle their users’ private information, there is no denying the reach and potential marketing power that it still possesses for lawn care businesses of all sizes.
And how can it be anything but? With more than 1.3 billion daily active users – each of them spending an average of 50 minutes within the array of Facebook apps offered – it remains one of the most powerful and influential forms of social media that there is.
What is amazing is that only 45% of marketers think that Facebook remains an effective marketing tool. This would imply that most marketers are finding it a bit difficult to generate leads for their businesses and that remains one of the top challenges for businesses across the country.
Still, there are a number of techniques that lawn care businesses can use to generate leads for and to nurture those leads into sales conversions that can really have an impact on the bottom line. It is important to note that all of these take consistency and effort, and should be combined with lawn care SEO strategies. they are not overnight, game-changing methods that will magically produce millions of customers.
Facebook is a hugely effective way to get leads for your business.
Pre-filled forms and instant articles
Facebook has an instant article option that gives publishes the option to share its content directly to Facebook through a few dedicated methods that are within the app itself. Facebook created this as a way to combat problems of slow loading times when used on the mobile web. It has been shown that those instant articles load 10 times faster than most other mobile web articles and are denoted by a lightning symbol within the image itself on the Facebook post.
Additionally, instant articles have been shown to generate around 20% more clicks than mobile web articles from the News Feed feature. Not only that, when a user clicks on one of these instant articles, they are 70% less likely to ultimately abandon the article before even reading it.
The best thing is that you don’t need a CTA to drive that traffic to your custom website; you can use those instant articles to capture audience data without actually having to direct people to your landing page. This can be hugely beneficial since it can generate leads by pre-filling data for those users. You can even download a CSV file with all of that information and upload it to your email marketing software.
Facebook Messenger
There is a new feature called destination ads that has been applied to Messenger that is designed to drive people to chat with specified Messenger bots. When the user clicks on the ad in their News Feed, there is a Messenger thread that appears with a copy of the ad as well as a pre-filled message to begin the interaction.
This is a great way to capture customer leads because customers are always looking for someone to discuss their questions before they make a purchase or subscribe to a specific service. Businesses can easily retarget their website visitors that have either viewed their services or products before; this enables you to potentially address any questions that they might have.
For more complex services, this is a great way to demonstrate what your product can do for skeptical customers and display expertise and knowledge about the products and services that instill confidence in the customer before they make a purchase or use a product.
Any time that you can help answer questions that the consumer has and instill confidence in your product or service, that is a major win for your business.
Video ads
Video has rapidly become one of the most popular forms of content when it comes to Facebook. Not only that, Facebook’s video ad options give you a whole new range of opportunities to connect with your audience and develop those leads that you are after.
The best part about Facebook video ads is that you can easily collect user data right inside the video ads. The users don’t even have to leave Facebook or fill in their information; as is the case with Instant Article forms, Facebook can pull their data from their profiles to make it easier than ever for them to sign up.
All the user has to do is tap on your call to action button in order to submit their information. And since the emails that are used for Facebook are verified, you know that you are getting absolutely authentic leads. Creating high-quality, informative videos is easier and more cost-effective than it ever has been before, making it a form of advertising that businesses on Facebook should absolutely be implemented in their marketing strategy.
If your business is not using Facebook video ads, it absolutely should begin using them as soon as possible.
Convert those leads into actual dollars.
Facebook lead ads
This option gives businesses an easier way to collect that ever-valuable information from their users. This can help you to increase your leads in a far more simplified manner, giving you more and more potential customers to help further your business.
Once the user clicks on your ad, they are then shown a pre-filled opt-in form that makes it easier than ever for users to subscribe to one of your lists. It takes just two clicks and they don’t even have to fill in any extra details. You get the leads that you want and they get to find out more about your product or service without having to do much of anything.
When you couple Facebook lead ads with retargeting to mobile devices, this can help to boost your lead conversion efforts substantially. This means that you turn those leads into actual sales dollars that impact your bottom line.
Best of all, when the user fills in their details, Facebook will help you store that lead information in a CSV file that you can easily download. You can then download that information to your CRM to utilize that data. It is super valuable information like this that turns leads into sales.
2. Be Involved
One of the biggest reasons social media should matter to your company is that it helps form consumer opinion of your company. Recent studies have shown that consumers are over 80% more likely to trust a business that has a social media presence than one that does not. This means social media simply cannot be ignored.
Social media also influences the way search engines view your company. Social media is another way Google verifies you are who you say you are. And it proves to them you are an operating, relevant business. Never underestimate the importance of social media to your overall web presence. Google wants to not only see that you are present on major social media networks, but that you also manage your presence.