Facebook Shows How to Capitalize on Social Network
CANFIELD, Ohio -- For Mark Tirabassi, Facebook is more than an online service to connect with friends and acquaintances.
“Facebook is my secret guerrilla marketing tool,” the owner of Hubbard Music remarked. “I'm able to sell things to people that aren't near me just because … we connect [on Facebook]. I've been able to cover greater and greater distances.”
Tirabassi was among three owners of Mahoning Valley businesses who were invited to speak before 275 small business owners about their recent success with Facebook at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center.
The world's largest social network, which is headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., brought its Small Business Boost program here Tuesday morning. The same event was held in Columbus on Monday and will be in Warrensville Heights, a suburb of Cleveland, today.
Advertisements can be tailored to specific demographics to expand customer bases, explained Nina Ferritto, small business partner manager for Facebook.
“Say you want to target mothers who are interested in dancing, with kids between the ages of one year old and seven years old,” she said. “Since we rolled out Graph Search, we can tailor those advertisements for you.”
Among other tips for small business owners were consistent interaction with users and using the Page Insights feature to learn what people look at, when they look at it and if they use any included links in posts.
Tirabassi noted that his business now has out-of-state customers because of Hubbard Music's Facebook page.
“People aren't going to drive to Hubbard, Ohio to buy a guitar, but they like [the guitar]. So I'll ship it to them in places like Maine all because I met them on Facebook,” he said.
Ferritto also emphasized the use of paid advertisements, a utility that was backed by David Cook, owner of Sledgehammer Bobbers, Warren.
Cook says that since he has been paying for advertisements on Facebook, usually about $5 per month, he has gained more than 10,000 new followers and reached a new customer base.
Even without spending money on Facebook ads, Tirabassi reported he has been able to run successful marketing campaigns, including one that reached its conclusion at the presentation when he announced that Hubbard Music would double manufacturer's warranties for free.
“What we did was set up teasers. Because what we're doing is doubling the warranties, everything in the teaser has been doubled," he said. Ads have featured twins and Double Stuf Oreos, each week providing hints "and letting people guess and interact about what we're going to unveil,” he said.
Because of the interactive elements on Facebook, the campaign garnered more attention Tirabassi said during the program, adding that the social network is “one of the tools that we can pull out of our little toolbox.”
Small business owners "don't have a multimillion-dollar advertising budget, so this is a great way to connect,” he said.
U.S. Reps. Tim Ryan, D-13 Ohio, and Bill Johnson, R-6 Ohio, were at the event to greet business owners. Ryan commented that Facebook's decision to come to the Youngstown area speaks to the technological growth in the Mahoning Valley.
“It shows that we've distinguished ourselves as being a hub of economic development as well as high tech business,” Ryan says. Between the Youngstown Business Incubator and the additive manufacturing piece, “People know, even at Facebook, that we're on the cutting edge of what's happening in the economy. So they wanted to come here and put their seal of approval on it,” he said.
Social media, Ryan commented, is an area that local businesses have to enter in order to be successful in coming years.
“Those businesses that look and seek out ways to do that better will be the ones who succeed in the 21st century. The next generation has a low tolerance for slow-moving business so getting in touch with the next generation of businesspeople is very important,” he said.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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