Preface
Facebook has come a long way since it first burst on the digital scene in 2006. Starting primarily as a means for college and high school students to more effectively communicate with each other, Facebook is now entrenched as a legitimate and often lucrative tool for businesses to utilize. Today’s Business, having started initially as solely a Social Media Optimization (SMO) company, was one of the first to capitalize and exploit this transition undertaken by Facebook.
Starting Point
In early 2016, Today’s Business was asked by a non-profit organization to conduct, among other services, social media marketing. The aim was to increase traffic to the website, engagement on social, and most importantly, eCommerce conversions. In the case of a non-profit organization, e-commerce conversions entail buying products with proceeds going to the charity and acquiring donations for different campaigns. While Today’s Business optimized all social platforms for this client, the one platform that saw some of the most impressive results was Facebook.
Results
The objectives are very similar when performing SMO for a non-profit as opposed to a traditional for profit client, yet there are discernible differences that need to be taken under consideration. Today’s Business was cognizant of the fact that there needs to be a balance of informing without appearing to ask for too much in terms of donations. This needs to be managed while maintaining the aggressive approach TB normally employs to yield the best results for its clients. This was a tough balance to maintain, but TB’s attention-to-detail made it standard operating procedure for this client.
Fast-forward nearly a year after Today’s Business took the reins of this organization’s social accounts, and the results are impressive. In one year of social media marketing for a nonprofit, TB has:
- 59,572 Sessions out of 144,984 total sessions (41%)
- 39,431 New Users out of 92,330 (42%)
- E-Commerce Conversion rate 3.89%, compared to 0.64% from organic search
- 1,837 transactions – 42% compared to 212 (4.89%) from organic search
- 109,259.46 out of 297,859 in revenue (36%)
- 50,233.52 (16%) Facebook app mobile
- 36,709.38 (12%) Facebook desktop
- 8,634.37 (2.9%) Facebook app tablet
- Facebook ECommerce Conversion Rate
- 39% Mobile
- 28% Desktop
- 34% Tablet
There are a few really important things to note from these numbers. Firstly that social media generated more than 1/3 of total revenue from e-commerce, a really impressive amount. That is a clear benefit of SMO, where revenue can directly be attributed to social platforms performing well. Next, a little less than half of all sessions on the organization’s site were a result of social media traffic, making social one of the most important channels this client has. Finally, transactions from social were nearly ten times the amount they were from organic search – another illustration of social’s strong performance with TB’s assistance.
Drilling deeper down within social, the strong performance of Facebook in particular, deserves examination. Throughout the same year’s time frame, the client’s Facebook stats are:
- Jan 2016: 9,691 vs. Jan 2017: 18,796 (84.1% Increase)
- Paid Likes 6,831
- Organic Likes 2,311
- Unlikes 683
- Net Likes 8,459
- Throughout the year they have 6,905,958 impressions and 4,257,618 Users reached
- 2,454,137 organic impressions
- 1,533,651 viral impressions
- 2,918,170 paid impressions
- Increase in 96.7% from last year
- Types of Posts
- Photos: 556
- Videos: 19
- Posts: 522
- 76,060 post engagements
- 62,091 Reactions
- 3,867 Comments
- 10,102 Shares
- 17,757 links clicked
What can be ascertained after observing these results is an outstanding 84.1% increase in likes on the client’s Facebook page, a robust 96.7% increase in impressions over 1 year, and 76,060 post engagements. An increase in likes and impressions are both very important in order to build a Facebook presence and expand the brand’s audience. Post engagements are of utmost importance because it means users on Facebook are taking the time to comment or like the post, meaning the message is more likely to resonate, leading to more conversions.
Conclusion
To conclude, Today’s Business completely jump-started the social media and, specifically, the Facebook account of a non-profit organization. As a result of this boost to the organization’s social media marketing, the client saw huge dividends in the form of impressions, likes, and revenue. Today’s Business was able to revert back to its roots – SMO, and again highlighted how it can help any company’s social presence grow exponentially, for profit or non-profit.