I hope you’re already using Facebook as one part of your overall dance studio marketing strategy. It’s a powerful tool with great insights.
There has been a lot of negative news lately about personal privacy issues and social media in general. Facebook, in particular, has come under the gun, and rightfully so.
Another negative about Facebook is that the ads manager itself is one of the most complicated software user interfaces I’ve ever encountered. Facebook keeps “updating” it, so as soon as you learn to use it, it seems like you’ve got to relearn it all over. It’s a really powerful, really valuable, pain.
“It’s possible to pay Facebook to show your post to more users. But if you’re doing this, you’re almost certainly throwing money down the drain. “
But these issues aren’t the two biggest traps that dance studios fall into when first trying to leverage Facebook for marketing. Those traps are costing studios thousands of dollars every year in wasted money and missed opportunities.
Trap #1 – Boosting Posts
It’s possible to pay Facebook to show your post to more users. But if you’re doing this, you’re almost certainly throwing money down the drain.
Why? Well, first off, a regular post isn’t an ad. It doesn’t have a headline, an offer, or a call to action. It doesn’t convert users to prospects. It doesn’t capture their contact info, or enter them into your prospect pipeline. It just gets your pictures in front of more people. That’s not enough.
“Getting your name out there” is a mistake. You’re throwing your money and time away if this is part of your marketing strategy.
Trap #2 – The Time Vampire
Facebook and other social media platforms take a ton of work to manage. Lots of studio owners spend too much time posting photos of students and videos of classes thinking that this is somehow going to help magically create new students, or to establish them as more valid somehow.
Truth is, organic posting to Facebook has almost no reach to your demographic anymore. As of a few years ago, there is no good way to get organic posts to reach the people you need them to without paying Facebook some money.
The hours that some dance studio owners spend trying to get Facebook or Instagram to work for them represents a huge loss in opportunity cost. That time spent on just about any other advertising technique would have made all the difference in the world.
Social media is a time vampire. It sucks the time right out of your life!
Don’t Misunderstand
Now, let me be clear. Facebook is not a losing game. Its “Ads Manager” is a great marketing tool and I personally throw thousands of dollars at it. It works and I have the numbers to prove it.
But if all you’re doing is boosting posts and events, or spending hours trying to find a way for it to work for you for free, you’re missing the point and you’re losing thousands of dollars by doing so.
It’s just worth the time to learn to make it work the right way.
Good luck in all you do,