Offering a freebie or contest entry for a Facebook Page “like” has been part of the digital scrapbook landscape for quite some time now. When this option was first made available, it was a useful way to encourage fans to like your page. Then your fans could receive your updates for your regular products and promotions… and hopefully buy something! But changes in how Facebook delivered news from pages had an adverse effect on how many fans would see subsequent posts from a page after that first LIKE. It is now common to see marketing articles and actual page analytics with dismal delivery and engagement on Facebook (less than 5%) – even while designers and stores are actively making strides to offer engaging content, optimizing graphics for viewing, etc.
Case in point, I have a screenshot in my social marketing file on Evernote with a week of stats on Facebook where the reach was so incredibly pitiful that I made myself a note to seriously consider eliminating the CUDigitals Facebook presence all together. It gets so tiring to keep up with the cover photo rules, optimum ad size, position & size of custom tabs, blah blah blah.
Last week, Facebook made a new policy announcement that it will no longer allow pages to “like-gate” – in other words, there will no longer be an option to install a tab that says
LIKE OUR PAGE and GET THIS FREE DOWNLOAD
You an read all the techy stuff about this change HERE.
So digi blog trains on Facebook will no longer be able to offer a freebie to fans only – they will be made available to anyone who visits the page. Likewise, individual designers can still offer freebies on Facebook but they must be available without a “like.”
It’s not that big of a reach for me to guess that Facebook may be positioning itself to capture some of the revenue that outside apps are making now. I feel kinda bad for the companies that have built their business by offering ready-to-use tabs and plugins for Facebook pages but it is a huge lesson in Don’t Build Your House on Rented Property.
And I think there is a lesson there for digi designers and store owners who are putting a lot of effort into Facebook marketing with very little return. Facebook can and DOES change the rules of the game often enough that it makes it tricky to keep up. Meanwhile, they are moving constantly toward a total “pay to play” model – if you want more of “your” fans to see your content, you need to pay for that. The 50-55% reach you used get for free would likely cost you more than $40-$50 with a medium sized fan base – and that’s PER POST. Ummmmmmm … I don’t think the majority of hobby level designers are making enough income to spend $40 to advertise every one of their new releases! Besides that, if a lot of their “fans” have only come for freebies, the exposure will not even pay off in sales!!
It has been my recommendation for a long time to have a newsletter and a blog if you want to have marketing success in this business. But even offering freebies to newsletter subscribers but can become very costly too, in terms of monthly mailing list costs. Well-meaning designers have unwittingly increased their mailing list costs by $50 per month because of a good freebie going viral. Unfortunately, the signup rush is NOT always followed by a subsequent wave of new customers: many people simply want the freebie and then move on to some other designer with a freebie. This has also been a part of the digi landscape since I began designing and selling digital downloads in Jan 2006.
So what is a good place for freebies in marketing??
Here are some of my current recommendations for using free download offers wisely in marketing your business.
1. Whatever place you offer a freebie, ALWAYS make sure there is an accompanying offer to look at your products, perhaps buy a discounted coordinating item and sign up to follow your blog or newsletter. See THIS ARTICLE for setting up a good blog train freebie.
2. Limit the size of your freebie. If you give away an entire kit, there is very little incentive for someone to pay full price for something else.
3. Make your freebie is unique and interesting – something that represents YOUR style. Digi scrappers have access to an unlimited stream of paper packs with some flowers and embellies thrown in. This doesn’t get your work noticed.
4. Understand that a significant percentage of people who download your freebie have no intention to buy anything else. And be aware that few people will say thank you. I think this is unfortunate but it is the reality of this industry.
5. If possible, offer a direct download of your freebie. If people have to go to another page or login to something to get it, you are less likely to keep their attention long enough to have them sign up for your newsletter or buy something else.
What do YOU think?
Do you have a method to your madness in using freebies? Or has it been a little hit or miss for you?
Share your thoughts below!
