By: Keith Burtis, Liquid Spark
The outdoors is all about experiences, and experiences differentiate your products and brand. We know from being in this business for many years that a raft trip on the same day in the same river with a different color boat and a different guide can alter the experience significantly for better or worse. With multiple outfitters claiming the most experienced guides, the best equipment, and operating on the same rivers, how can you truly set yourself apart from the crew down the street outside of having a price war?
This was the essence of the problem that we solved during the Liquid Spark - Advanced Facebook Marketing session in Daytona. Without having the ability to fully rehash the session (would be a very long article) we would like to highlight some key insights and fundamentals here!
#1 - Facebook is one of the most powerful platforms in history to tell your story in multiple media formats.
From a text testimonial to a FPV (First Person View) video of an adventure to an amazing photo of a sunset at the end of a day; opportunities to share are endless! These shared experiences can paint a picture for prospective customers in a way that just wasn’t possible only a short number of years ago. Curating these pieces of content and leveraging them in a strategic way can position you way ahead of your competition.
#2 - Strategy beats ‘winging it’ 10 out of 10 times.
In our session we described a boss coming to an employee with the need to make more sales for the upcoming weekend. While his company had very little social proof, the boss asked the employee to run a test Facebook ad giving $10 off to come raft that weekend. This is NOT a strategy. This is the fastest way to turning your UNIQUE EXPERIENCE into a COMMODITY. It is also the fastest way to burning your ad budget. Facebook and social media properties are about sharing with those that care - providing them with content they want to consume and act on in their next adventure.
#3 - Use digital behaviors to trigger content.
One of the most underused Facebook tools is the ability to create custom retargeting audiences that get built when users behave in a certain way, either on your website or with your content on Facebook. Let me share two examples:
Example 1: You edit and produce an overview video of the services you offer and put it out on Facebook. We call these TOFU (Top of Funnel) assets that bring awareness to your brand. Did you know that you can retarget the people who have viewed these videos? Now that they are aware of you, what’s next? Maybe a second video? A testimonial from a customer? More juicy footage of an amazing experience maybe?
Example 2: Thousands of people visit your mountain bike event page over the course of 6 months. Did you know you can retarget these exact visitors with follow up content? How about mountain bike-specific gear, a mountain bike sale, photos from the event, or early book promotions for next year? These are BOFU (Bottom of Funnel) behaviors. Having the ability to capture these audiences could multiply the profits on your bottom line!
#4 Remember, it’s YOUR Story - Use It!
If you were unable to attend our session then you are in luck today. We go in-depth on behavior tracking, content creation, social selling, and storytelling in our free Advanced Facebook Marketing Toolkit that you can download here. Good luck with developing your high ROI Facebook strategy to set you up with a strong 2019 season!
About Liquid Spark
Email: info@liquidspark.com
Phone: 828.488.3420
Note: Liquid Spark is a strategic marketing agency specializing in the adventure travel and outdoor recreation in the travel and tourism industry.