Facebook Ads and Sandwiches: A Personal Project
Context
I’ve begun a project centered on promoting my dad’s Firehouse Subs franchises using primarily Facebook ads and traffic. I plan to try different things out and track our traffic and overall sales to see if they increase.
I’m also working on improving our customer service and support mainly through implementing incentives.
What I Learned/What I Accomplished
This week I created a video and photo ad and posted them to the Facebook page I created for my dad’s restaurants. So far I’ve spent just under 4 dollars for each ad.
My dad and I also planned an incentive structure to facilitate better customer feedback and respond to it. We already have a survey that we are supposed to ask customers to check out when they pay. If they take the online survey at the bottom of their receipt they can give feedback about their experience and get a promo code for a free drink! It’s a great way to obtain customer feedback, adjust, and increase business.
Unfortunately, staff often forgets or is reluctant to ask customers to take the survey and let us know how we’re doing. To incentivize staff to consistently do this my dad and I set a monthly goal for positive customer surveys and every store that meets it will get a payed-for pizza party. Any staff member that gets a mention in a positive survey will receive a gift card for a certain amount to a restaurant or store of their choice.
What Worked
I had boosted posts before beginning my project, but they averaged between 12 and 30 engagements. My biggest one had around 560 engagements.
My last two ads have far surpassed all previous ones. My photo ad (link/photo) has already reached over 2000 people and my video ad has reached nearly 700 people. Both have had noticeably more engagement than my previous ads and similar posts.
In both of my ads, I used higher quality photography/video than I had previously. I focused on offering something interesting and engaging (3 dollar pickle buckets that are used to support first responders), but also trying not to sell too hard. I tried to avoid coming across like a salesperson and instead focus on capturing people’s attention through quality and interest.
What Didn’t Work
Time management was a challenge for me this week (and honestly most weeks). I am using Trello to organize my weekly tasks and to-dos, but I frequently find myself having to change plans and up against time.
This week was no exception. I found myself sitting down to write this blog post and document my work so far at the last minute.
Documentation is another weakness of mine. I’ve never been very good at documenting my work or hobbies, but this is critical to the impact and overall success of my project. It’s better to show than tell.
Going Forward
Moving forward I aim to put out 1–2 paid ads per week. I will make adjustments as necessary (for example, I noticed my photo ad had more engagement than my video ad so I may put my focus there).
I also hope to track and clearly document the impact of the customer support incentives my dad and I have implemented.
Furthermore, I want to prioritize the documentation of my efforts. It would suck to work hard for a month and have very little to nothing to show for it.
I am excited to move forward and help my dad improve his business and generate customer intrigue and interest. The restaurant sector took a big hit recently due to COVID-19 and the widespread response. I see this project as an opportunity to boost business revenue while simultaneously gaining the skills and experience that grabs an employer’s attention!
