My heart sunk deep, feeling like my snow boots in October snow-turned-mud.
Two likes?
SERIOUSLY though…TWO LIKES and 998 people reached?
Zero comments…really?
Do I suck that bad that nobody likes what I’m confident is a DAMN SWEET 30-second exposure of the mine trucks dumping at night with a thick fog?
This is the story of feeling like a failure, but be sure to read until the end, where you’ll learn why this post with TWO LIKES and no comments got me more leads than the one with 23 comments, and the simple technique to do the same (and a 9 minute video walkthrough).
So where we were?
Oh yes. Full of self-doubt and feeling like crap, that’s where we were.
So my excuses came a roooooooling in.
Well, I didn’t post it during the “peak engagement hours” of 6:30 – 8ish (I posted at 8:01).
Well, Facebook probably just hates me and is hiding my post because it’s a link to a blog post, which takes people away from Facebook.
Well, I ACCIDENTALLY posted it twice, WHOOPS! Facebook is probably penalizing me for it (which, the other post has had a reach of 676 people and 9 likes…so in total a reach of around 1,674 in the past 5 days, and 9 likes…so better than I originally had thought).
Well, not EVERYBODY has a strange love of industrial mining equipment in the fog.
But the post I thought would do SUCKY did amazing! In the last 4 days, it had a reach of 2,477, 28 likes, and 4 comments (19 MORE comments when I shared it to my personal page).
It’s an image of the new floor in my studio, and I thought people would think it was ENTIRELY too “self-promotey.” (new word I made up…I should start up a new Photo Bacon terminology dictionary. I’ll add that to my “someday maybe” list.)
But after a few days of feeling like I had NO IDEA how to predict what posts would be good/bad/ugly/make me feel like crap about myself, I realized something.
The goal of facebook is NOT to get likes, comments, shares, reach, or EVEN to get messages from leads.
The REAL goal of facebook is to direct people where you want them to go. To direct them to a place where they will fall in love.
Where they will fall in love with your work, with your personality on your about page, to have them fall in love with the entire package, and where they can EASILY raise their hand, and say “HEY! HEY YOU! I am interested in your photography!”
To sum it up, the job of your facebook page is to lead them to your website and/or blog post.
The job of your website is to show them why they should book you, and to help them easily show interest (contact form, signup for a newsletter).
So which of the two posts above got the most people to my website?
Well, one of them got 0 link clicks to my website.
The other? 62.
I’m sure you’ve already guessed by now…
The one of my new studio floor? ZERO link clicks. And even if I would have included my link, judging by my other posts with similar engagement, I would have had just 2 or 3.
The one with 62 link clicks?
The night image blog post linked on my page (between the two almost identical posts on my page, that is).
PS – The strategy behind this specific post I call the “Trojan Horse” strategy, and I’ll be writing about what I did and why in the coming weeks.
And you’re probably wondering if all of these clicks did a single thing for me…aka, did I get booked?
Yes and no.
YES I have (1) paid session fee & two more inquiries as a result of sending this exact blog post out to my email list, but no, I didn’t book anything directly from the Facebook post (I talk about the who/why/how I got booked in the video at the bottom of this post).
So then, is it worth it?
Yes, absolutely, it is.
1. It resulted in (1) new email subscriber on 9/15.
Yes, JUST one new subscriber. But that one subscriber could mean a new mini session client at $450, or a sale of $1,000-$2,000.
2. If I want to run facebook ads for family portrait sessions, I can now target JUST people who have visited my website recently.
And all 62 link clicks will count for that.
3. I planted the seed:
Of 62 people who clicked the link, there are probably at least a handful of people interested in having family portraits taken, and now that the seed has been planted, interest will likely follow.
And while people seeing your posts on facebook is also planting a seed? It’s like planting a seed on any-old soil. And when they click to your website? It’s like planting the seed on soil treated with Miracle Grow.
And since my family only eats when my seeds grow into real sessions, I’ll take my chances on the Miracle Grow soil ANY day.
Your Next Action Steps.
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In EVERY social media post, include the link to your website, preferably in short posts so people don’t have to click “view more.”
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Post ONE blog post with at least one image in it and post to your fan page to gain website traffic.
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Make SURE that blog post grabs ATTENTION, peaks CURIOSITY, and isn’t just the “same old same old” all of the other photographers are posting. Download the free guide, “Get Real Leads from Facebook and Blog Posts” at this link.
Watch the video going even deeper on this subject, and watch me dissect 5 of my best/worst facebook posts from the past week in this video:
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What is this facebook experiment any ways? (0:18)
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The only reason I’m still in business (0:24)
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I felt defeated – what I tHOUGHT would be good, did bad on facebook (1:28)
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The post I THOUGHT would do bad, but did good (2:17)
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What the REAL goal of a facebook post is (3:13)
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Why most engagement is getting you ZERO benefit: (3:33)
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The biggest mistake you can make in your posts (4:34)
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How I got one booking, and a live view of the blog post linked (6:18)
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Portrait photo vs. NON portrait photo (aka, the Trojan Horse) (7:25)
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How to transition to your website link (8:19)
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Why you would do a “mass post” of 4-10 client images vs. single images (8:30)
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Next action steps (8:53)
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Why it makes sense there is less engagement on blog posts on facebook (9:17)
Resource mentioned:
Download the free guide, “Get Real Leads from Facebook and Blog Posts” at this link.
One of the reasons the picture with the dump truck succeeded better than the picture of your new studio floor is that you tagged people (real people) in your post. Presumably, they and their family and friends clicked on it and came through to your blog. This was not the case with your floor post. Nobody had any interest in it because they were curious about the floor.