# How much promotion do you do on social media?



## mojapitt (Dec 31, 2011)

I have had my work on Facebook for a few years, but never really promoted it. This past March I decided to promote it and actually paid for ads on Facebook. It actually worked very well. Now I am contemplating Instagram. Does anyone use it and do you think it helps?

What other promotional opportunities do you use?


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## DocSavage45 (Aug 14, 2010)

Monte,
I talk with Benji Reyes a lot. He says facebook was really good for him. I have my psych business up on facebook but haven't had much response. I did remove my advertising from the yellow pages as it was relly bad. Many of the YouTubers use all the media. Takes time and energy.


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## mojapitt (Dec 31, 2011)

Time is a critical commodity. Facebook was easy to run ads on for the Home Show. Talking to customers, they saw and responded to the ads. It's by far our biggest show. But I still don't want to waste time or money if they don't produce. I have had people ask about Instagram, so I am curious.


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## JAAune (Jan 22, 2012)

I really only use my website to supplement the income from my existing client base. Social media takes a lot of non-stop effort to generate leads. I don't have that much time and the buyers in the commercial, church and high dollar markets I work in don't seem to spend much time on social media.

The downside of a website is that it's a huge amount of upfront work and it seems to take a year or two for the pages to rank well and generate leads. But now I get a steady trickle of new leads without having to spend any time doing online marketing.

I do however, need to spend a week adding all the new projects I've completed over the past couple years. Doing so will probably get me a few new leads per year.


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## DocSavage45 (Aug 14, 2010)

Another thought. Once on the internet,always on the internet. I had a handyman service that didn't generate enough work for the time I invested in quotes so I stopped, years ago. I'm getting calls for it today. LOL!


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## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

I'd say the more, the merrier, if you can handle the floods, (which could and probably will happen), especially with your fine work. Good luck Monte.


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## buckbuster31 (Dec 27, 2016)

I took a risk and gave away a farmhouse table. You have no idea the response and orders I got after that giveaway. I want to say in a 6 month period I have produced 16 farmhouse tables for people and still getting orders to this day on that and other stuff. I went from just a few hundred followers to over 10k followers in like a week and half. So, yes, social media has been great for me as just a side business.


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## mojapitt (Dec 31, 2011)

I completely agree that donations to "select" charities can be very good for business. I hadn't thought about a give-away in general.


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## buckbuster31 (Dec 27, 2016)

Monte, you have no idea the boost it gave me. People always want free stuff. What I did is Share, Like, and Comment for a chance to win this table. It reached like 2 million views because of it. It was insane the business drive it gave me. Sure, I had to give away a 1200 dollar table but I sold 16 of them in the process already


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## mojapitt (Dec 31, 2011)

I donated a carved rocking chair to a charity event that has high end people involved. It has been very good for business. I don't donate to everyone. You can quickly loose that way.


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## TungOil (Jan 16, 2017)

Buckbuster- can you share some additional details on your give away? I assume it was on Facebook?


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## buckbuster31 (Dec 27, 2016)

feel free to PM me.


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## finns (Nov 13, 2009)

Hey Monte. Although I can't answer your question regarding the use of Instagram I did attend a seminar in January hosted by SCORE that stacked ranked the social media sites by traffic volume. Here's how they ranked:

Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Linkedin
Google+
Pinterest
Snapchat

For what it's worth to you. Best of luck.


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## DanielP (Mar 21, 2013)

What other promotional opportunities do you use?

If you google Makamong box I am in the number 1 position on Google. So I secured a website under "Makamong Box.com. It is inactive but just in case I ever make enough boxes to make it worth while, it's there.

So if you can come up with a creative title for a project post that ranks high on Google you could then link it back to your website.

Just a random thought


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## PhillipRCW (Dec 9, 2014)

I honestly haven't had a great response from Facebook advertising, but I'm very active on Instagram and it pays off really well for me. What is your Facebook page Monte? I'd love to follow it.


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## PhillipRCW (Dec 9, 2014)

> I took a risk and gave away a farmhouse table. You have no idea the response and orders I got after that giveaway. I want to say in a 6 month period I have produced 16 farmhouse tables for people and still getting orders to this day on that and other stuff. I went from just a few hundred followers to over 10k followers in like a week and half. So, yes, social media has been great for me as just a side business.
> 
> - buckbuster31


What was your guidelines on the giveaway?


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

Monte - Here's the demographics on Instagram

•68% of Instagram users are Females.
•80% of Instagram users come from outside of the U.S.
•77.6 million Instagram users are from US.
•Instagram is used by 31% of American women and 24% of men.
•20% of all Internet users are on Instagram.
•28% of internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 use Instagram and 4% of internet users between the ages of 30 and 49 use Instagram
•16% of female internet users use Instagram and 10% of male internet users use Instagram
•17% of teens say Instagram is the most important social media site (up from 12% in 2012)

I would compare the demographics of facebook to what ive posted above. Its my hunch that youll have an older demo on facebook vs Instagram. I'm not sure what your target market has been but I would suspect its an older demographic with some disposable income. I don't use either of the services but I don't know its pretty easy for facebook posts to be shared, liked and spread around pretty quickly and efficiently. Id look into how easy and efficient the same tools are on IG.

Edit - some comparisons in users:

Thought to take with you: At 1.86 billion, Facebook has more monthly active users than WhatsApp (500 million), Twitter (284 million) and Instagram (200 million)-combined (Source: CNBC). Please note that this is no longer true. Instagram now has over 600 million users according to Instagram's report December 21, 2016. Facebook continues to reign in popularity over other social media channels, but the competition is mounting.

Linky to the info:

https://www.omnicoreagency.com/instagram-statistics/
https://zephoria.com/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/


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## Edwardnorton (Feb 15, 2013)

I never use it but then again I am not wanting to promote anything.


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## JimRochester (Dec 24, 2013)

Strictly a hobby for me. I post new products and craft shows on my personal Facebook page. I also have an ETSY store which I get an occasional sale from. I'm not a big fan or user of social media. I have a personal Facebook page and a twitter account that I use for news updates. I do know people can have a lot of success but I just don't want to do the work. In many ways, if I get too many custom orders it puts me too far behind for my crafts inventory.


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## RobDubs (Feb 21, 2017)

Hi there - as someone alluded to earlier, Facebook traction depends on the number and frequency of postings. This is also true of Twitter. Additionally, Google changes search algorithms on a fairly consistent basis. That said, for optimal search results Google+ listings are crucial. If you are really serious about your internet footprint, I would suggest engaging in a comprehensive SEO (search engine optimization) strategy. The best businesses aren't those compromised of the best craftsman….but of the best marketers.


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## bronzed1 (Jun 4, 2017)

Instagram and Facebook are great for woodworking. I suggest starting your Instagram right away so you can start to build a presence on there. It can take a lot of work and the more effort you put in the more you get out of it, but that applies to everything you do on the internet. At first just post the same stuff you post on Facebook.

Additionally, because Instagram is owned by Facebook, you can now connect the two together, run the same promotions on both, and track them in one place.

I've had good luck on Instagram and I'm also happy to help!


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## DaveMorientes (Aug 22, 2019)

I do it on LinkedIn. It's one of the best solutions for promotion, as well as searching for new employees and partners. LinkedIn profile strength is very important. The network is a virtual notebook for storing phone numbers and all professional information about a person, including his or her place of work, skills and general acquaintances. Technically LinkedIn practically does not differ from other social networks. There are groups you can join and share information. The uniqueness of the network is that it divides all contacts by categories. If the person is you have friends, this is the first level. If he is also friends with your friends is the second, etc. It's easy to become an expert there. I usually identify a particular segment and topic of brand promotion and then start finding its audience.


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## HiLo (Aug 14, 2019)

I have 3 FB Pages, one for my Homebuilding Company, it has helped generate new Customers but moreover it helps with existing Customers to look at past jobs to decide on which Stone, Granite, Stain Colors etc.
My Rocking Horse Page has gone Nuts! a couple of Posts went Viral (one with over 2 Million Hits) and now I can't keep up with Orders….thinking about taking it down


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