Case Study
Michele Bua uses social media to elevate her brand and turn personal Facebook friends into loyal brand ambassadors
Michele Bua is talented Houston chef, ready to take the next step and open her high end Bistro to complement her catering business of 40 years. She knows she needs more marketing and wants to lay the groundwork for a marketing program to support her ambitious business plan.
After 11 months of working with Small Biz Brands, she has these results.
Channels
Facebook/Instagram 3 posts/week
-360% increase in engagements
Video Views
2 videos per month
2,666 ave/video
Moved to Business Pg.
741 personal followers moved to her Facebook business page
Background
Michele had a large following on her personal Facebook page developed over many years. Other than word-of-mounth, this was her main form of marketing. She has a fun-loving personality and friends and family that know her well. Even so, there were marketing messages that were not getting through to her network.
The challenge was to turn her loyal following into an unofficial sales partner. Her conversations with them showed that though they were enthusiastic, they were unaware of her new products, new bistro and even her active participation in the Houston non-profit community.
She turned to Small Biz Brands to develop an initial strategy, handle initial marketing management and provide coaching, while staying true to her brand.
Products Used
- Small Biz Brands 3-2-1 Strategy
- Small Biz Brands Social Media Scheduling App and Social Media Challenge
- A Facebook personal and business page
- Mail Chimp email
- Google Doc spreadsheets
How to Get a Marketing System Executing with Little Time to Commit
1.
Start with a strategy
We created a simple marketing strategy so her personal network will not forget she is also in business. Remind them to order and send her referrals – to understand her elevated presence with a bistro and expanded product line. The strategy will use social media, and updated website, emails, and Google Docs to keep top of mind. The hallenge is to make the system streamlined enough that a busy caterer and her staff could keep it going.
- Expand content messages beyond sales or non-directional personal topics
- Engage audience by adding value with every post, elevate brand through showing quality in every post
- Sync up all parts of strategy with a 10 Point Google Doc Planpersonal
2.
Get a few quick wins to build momentum
Start asking business clients to move over to her Facebook business page so she could be more promotional with weekly specials, new products, etc. This allowed her to stay “top of mind.”
Start using a simple social media scheduler. This one tool makes it easier to post, which enabled them to consistently hit their goal of three posts per week. It also makes it easier to post smart (reinforcing her main messages).
3.
Make all actions easy and repeatable
A good marketing organization system is one a busy owner can easily use or send staff to when needed. Important plans, dates and metrics are saved here. Also, Standard Operating Procedures are captured here to show all how to access and use the social media scheduler, email software, and other tools the plan relies on.
4.
Take engagement up a notch with 30 second videos
Produce quick, light hearted 30-60 second videos with her phone. Remind people with specific calls to action like “Order now for Thanksgiving”, so they remember she is not just fun to follow but also looking for business.
5.
Ask for referrals
Ask for referrals in Facebook posts and by email. Make it easy to respond by giving them a link.
Wrap Up
Michele transitioned from a “catch as catch can” approach, common to many small businesses, to running a professional marketing program. Her followers joined her Facebook business page and her team went from a posting when you can mentality to posting three time a week and posting on-message. There was an emphasis on posting quality to elevate the brand.
She went from having all marketing information in the her head to recording it in Google Docs and using best practices for marketing, also captured there.
She went from having client email addresses in several places to one email master doc. She is ready to begin sending emails once a month.
What’s Next
Michele’s followers are asking for more videos. She is enjoying creating videos to the point where she is ready to launch her own You Tube Channel. She will need an intro video and a few others key videos to start it. She can add that task to her already scheduled monthly video shoots.
She is committing to hosting on-site events in the Bistro. With her marketing system in place, launching a new effort like this looks achievable. It’s just a matter of creating the content to go with events and then send it out in her current marketing channels (social media and email).
Best of all, her audience has stopped saying things like “I didn’t realize you prepared that type of food” or “What, you have your own Bistro?” Now, her biggest fans are in the know and are basically her online ambassadors. They understand her business and can refer new clients. It’s a great system, and one that she can sustain and build upon over time.
