I'm testing a Facebook boost for €10

[tavi]

Thought I'd entertain myself with a little FB test.

I spent €10
for a three-day post boost
target: UK dwellers, 25 to 65 age group, with interests in Portugal, nature, my area...blah blah.

I'm on my second day:
Have "reached" 1570 people,
have had 68 "actions" on the post (photo clicks or likes), a few shares.

Also 4 new page likers.

These appear to be the "paid" results. My organic reach for this post is 200

the post is pinned to the top of my FB page
https://www.facebook.com/cabanasbeachhu ... n=timeline

I think, for the next one, for serious marketing, I need to do a call to action and specifically focus on the accommodation...what do y'all think?

[Bunny]

I think you'd need to spend a lot of £10's to produce any meaningful results, but I'd be very interested to hear how you got on by the end.

[barbersdrove]

A year ago I would have said the same as Susie Jane but not now. I started with these boost posts and initially all they produced was likes then once I got used to wording them and forcusing on our USP I started to get bookings and lots of shares. A few of those bookings have re-booked so it was money well spent I think and brought me in as many, if not more bookings than some of the websites that charge.

[tavi]

Euros 10 not pounds Susie - for what it's worth

2292 paid reach
117 post clicks (84 photo views, 33 other clicks)
no negative feedback

one more page like...trying to look at the profiles of my new page-likers to see if they are potential guests...not always possible depends on their privacy settings I guess.

Interesting stuff BD...I'm thinking along the same lines. I could do a lot of paid boosts for what I pay OD - and if (when) OD up their prices/go commission-only/pay-online, I may be leaving them. So it's worth checking out the alternatives until another proper rent from the owner direct listing site comes along.

[rosebud]

Very interesting Barbers Drove (as someone who is trying out social media?)
Sorry but what do you mean by 'USP'??

[Cassis]

USP = Unique Selling Point (what makes them different)

[barbersdrove]

Our USB is that we do not increase our prices in the school holidays. Now bearing in mind that we are not a holiday place I have focused on what there IS in the area for families and produced packs of suggested activities with costings and travel info etc. I have been able to talk about this on the facebook page too.

When I looked into it despite not being on the radar for anywhere families are likely to want to come there is a lot on offer as we are near a big city and in the countryside.

We have also upped our game with what we provide in the large garden for children.

We already have 3 families coming back in 2015 because they didn't get to do everything they wanted in one week.

Our prices are quite high in this area for the winter season so keeping them the same all yr round evens out and we attract workers in the wintertime whose company pays and people between houses mainly and actors appearing in Panto.

[other]

. .

[barbersdrove]

io know mine are as I look at their personal pages. it's easy to do as we're not talking hundreds like football teams might get.

[tavi]

Just had a quick look at some of my likers and new page likers...all seem to be perfectly legit, living in the UK, pictures of family, - their other likes seem to indicate the targetting is correct...nature lovers, - their other likes include places in my area.

Will definitely try it again but as BD says, using my USP, & maybe a call to action. Would like to focus on older age group too, - possibly not many Facebookers in the retired age group but those that are there are potentially my customers.

[onestep]

?...possibly not many Facebookers in the retired age group but those that are there are potentially my customers.

I'd disagree, I think there's increasing evidence that the most active FB users are grandparents rather than their grandchildren. It's not hip anymore!

[Bunny]

Tavi, your paid post boost has performed considerably better than the £10 I spent on a Facebook ad which produced abysmal results. Maybe I'll give a page boost a try some point in the future.

[tavi]

?...possibly not many Facebookers in the retired age group but those that are there are potentially my customers.

I'd disagree, I think there's increasing evidence that the most active FB users are grandparents rather than their grandchildren. It's not hip anymore!

great news for me


My last target age group was quite wide: 25 - 65 year olds. Obviously I do get younger guests too but next experiment I'll target 45-65 and see what happens.

Susie my post happened also to be some good scenic photos (my own - not shared from elsewhere) so I would have got quite a few fans liking. Trouble is a lot of my fans are local businesses/people who live around here.
According to FB the paid reach was 2144 (people)
The organic reach was 235.

For this experiment I paid to target UK dwellers to see if I could reach more potential holiday makers. Really am not sure what I'm doing but it's worth a try.

[Bunny]

Really am not sure what I'm doing but it's worth a try.

That was exactly my approach too but took the view that it was no less risk for my money than purchasing a lottery ticket.

I know that some members on here are very active promoting their cottages on Facebook so it must be worth it, if only I could fully understand what works.

[rosebud]

This is an interesting discussion for me.
I have just begun getting my daily Google Plus posts copied onto Facebook (using Friends+Me). The only people following me on Facebook currently are friends & acquaintances.

I assume the

reach

is the number of people viewing the post. Am I right?