The Tribune

MARKETING REVOLUTION

By D'ARCY RAHMING

THE first time I tried to use Facebook Ads in one of my businesses a couple of years ago, I lost a lot of money. I mean, everything seemed to be going so well. A lot of people were expressing interest in my page judging by the number of 'Likes' I received. I was sure I had hit the jackpot. But one month, then another, went by, and not one person had converted to an actual sale. Not one! It was extremely frustrating. Of course, my local competition quickly rushed in, and before long there were a whole bunch of ads in my industry. They all quickly faded, so I know Facebook Ads were not working for them either.

I therefore made a commitment to become a world-class expert in this new era of marketing, using Facebook and other social media. I am going to share with you what I discovered. Why am I doing this? Because I've always been fascinated by the David and Goliath story. In the same way, small businesses can grow, and even compete with large companies through a Facebook ad strategy and the other things I am going to be writing about. That is why the title of this column is Marketing Revolution. The information I will give you turns common wisdom upside down. It will change your thinking, as it did mine, and if you apply it you may meet with the success my clients and I are currently enjoying in our local businesses.

So, let the lessons begin. Facebook currently has more than 131,000 users in the Bahamas. And if the same usage rate holds true as in the US, according to a Nielsen study, the average person spends eight hours a month on Facebook. That is roughly 15 minutes a day.

You would think that Bahamian businesses would be rushing to advertise on Facebook, but very few in fact are. And those that do, do not stay very long. The reason their ads are not working is because they are writing ads like they are selling something. Think about it: The reason most people go to Facebook is to catch up on the news of their friends, see pictures of their classmates, chat with friends and to socialise. No one goes to Facebook to buy anything.

So the first thing these small business advertisers need to do is to stop selling and start storytelling. I'll go into more detail on exactly how to do that in my next article.

NB: D'Arcy Rahming holds a Masters of Management from the J. L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. A lecturer at the College of the Bahamas, Rahming has clients in general insurance, retail, the health and medical fields, sports federations and financial services. To receive his marketing newsletter free go to http://DArcyRahming.com or contact him directly at darcyrahmingsr@gmail.com