I started working with Showcases To Go almost 10 years ago, helping develop the second version of their website. The first version didn’t offer any type of on-line purchasing. However, in April of 2001, we released their new website, and I’ve been doing updates and revisions for them ever since, and not more than 70% of their business comes from their website.
Showcases To Go is the second company I want to introduce to you in this two part process of how to gain fans on Facebook.
Earlier this year, they started talking about how to get on Facebook, and what could they do to get likes for their page, as cheaply as possible. Unlike T-Shirt Joe, Showcases To Go doesn’t have a public store front. Instead, almost all of their sales are either through the Internet, by phone, or by mail.
With over 9 years of customer information, they decided to email the customers who had recently purchased from them. So after filtering ou
t the lists, they created a simple e-mail campaign with a discount on their next purchase (if placed within a months time of the initial email) if they came from their Facebook page. Within a couple weeks they had over 300 likes, and soon they toped 600 new likes for the month.
New likes don’t come as quickly as they had in the past, however, they still come in via links from their website to the Facebook page.
Let’s look at why this worked so well for them.
Showcases To Go normally sends out email discounts, so it wasn’t foreign to their customers. But to ensure that they ta
rgeted the right customers, they went back to make sure it was only the most recent customers, not just one-off buyers from years past.
Second, they offered the discount as part of the promotion. This would have normally been offered straight from the email, but by incorporating Facebook into the promotion, they got a chance to view the Facebook page through the email. This encouraged people to “like” the page, even though they didn’t have to.
Now they will continue to have fans who have liked their page, and they will continue to slowly grow the site through reminders in email and on their webpa
ge.
About Walter Wimberly