CFM Help Launch Facebooks Community Event

by CFM Memberdrive
May 15, 2019
5 min read

Here are essential take away’s from the week long event to help you
BOOST YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA…..

Last month Geelong, Victoria was host to a huge Facebook Community Boost Event which being local to us, CFM were honoured to be asked by Facebook to help launch.

This event ran over four days and offered members of the community an opportunity to listen to guest speakers who have excelled in Social Media Marketing, partake in Social Media skills seminars and to work 1:1 with Facebook staff.

The event saw thousands of people in the region participate, hungry to learn more about how their businesses and organizations can utilize Facebook and Instagram better and capitalise on the marketing potential that these tools can offer.

Hannah and Liam facebook CFM Social Media Manager Hannah Robertson and CFM Director Liam Robertson at the launch event

The event expert panelists including CFM Director Liam Robertson

The seminars covered everything from the very basic Setting Up Your Own Business Page and How to Use Instagram Stories through to more advanced Growing Your Business with Insights and Virtual Reality for Businesses.

A small number of the seminars were recorded live and can be found by joining this Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1677274069006904/

CFM were honoured to be asked by Facebook to help launch the event on the opening night. CFM’s Director Liam Robertson presented on a panel of guest speakers from the region who discussed running independent businesses in regional areas, the ways in which Facebook and Instagram have significantly impacted their business operations, and tips for other companies to follow. Some of the points of discussion included: ‘Why small businesses should invest in Social Media marketing’, and ‘There is so much un-tapped potential for small businesses and services with the use of excellent Social Media Marketing.’

A billboard advertising the event.

Liam Robertson speaking at the event.

Liam told the crowd and media about how 9 years ago he actually banned Social Media from being used during work hours. Of course then advertising hit Social Media and immediately the ban was lifted. He took everyone through success with Events, Live videos, and credited CFM’s Social Media, graphics and on-road team for CFM’s position at the top of Social Media Marketing

Facebook have run a number of Community Boost events in the past 12 months, and continue to carry out many more all over the world. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for one in a town near you.

Facebook account manager Katie and CFM Marketing Manager Grace at one of the regional events.

In the meantime, we have done a short wrap up of some of the most pertinent points from the event that are especially relevant to Health and Fitness Club Owners across Australia and New Zealand.

Stories Are Essential

The statistics around Instagram Stories are just phenomenal. It has been the fastest growing platform of all time. 300M users view Instagram Stories per day and 15-25% of story views result in the users engaging directly with the brand or business.

Therefore, businesses simply cannot ignore the potential Stories have and should be integrating these into their regular Social Media practices as well as their Social Media Marketing.

CFM Senior Creative Tess Milani and CFM General Manager of Business Development in the CFM offices

Pre Event Facebook sent a photographer to the CFM offices to use for the event. Here Chelly, Ben, Tess and Liam all look very natural.

Simple tips for Instagram Stories:

Keep it fun and entertaining. Offer your audience insights into the ‘behind the scenes’ of your club, your staff, members.
Users typically view Stories on their devices vertically, so always create your content to suit Vertical orientation.
Experiment with boomerangs, filters, static images, live videos, text, no text, sticker and emojis. There are new product releases often, such as interactive stickers and filters that can help engage your audience.
Use your Instagram Insights to help guide your content. If you are unsure of how to access these, this blog post here:https://www.hopperhq.com/blog/instagram-insights-meaning-2019/is a good place to start.

Since it’s roll-out last year, Facebook Stories have also seen a significant uptake. Therefore, integrating these into your Social Media plan is also highly recommended.

Messenger For Businesses

Some quick facts on Messenger for Businesses: 1.3 Billion of Facebook users use Facebook Messenger. Messenger appeals to 73% of consumers over phone calls and face-to-face. 64% of users are already actively engaging with businesses on Messenger. So pushing users to connect with your club via Messenger, just makes sense.

facebook messenger Tess Milani scrolling like a pro during the Facebook photoshoot

Especially considering the industry, where many community members may be scared, embarrassed or intimidated to step foot in a gym. The act of sending a message may be less challenging that picking up a phone to speak with someone or physically entering in the gym, if they have a question or query or just want to make the first step to enquire.

Some easy ways to encourage Messenger engagement.

Change the ‘Call Now’ or ‘Sign Up’ button to ‘Send Message’ on your Facebook homepage.
Display a response time and have that response time quick . Toset the response time for your page go toSettings and Messaging. Click Automatically Show Your Average Response Time for Messages.
Put a ‘Send Message’ button on posts, and if deploying any Social Media Marketing, consider Traffic or Messenger ads as objectives.

Social Media is just that. Social. Media.

And the last, perhaps very obvious, but most critical point that was continually raised at the Community Boost Event is that Social Media’s purpose is to help people Socialise.

Just take a moment to consider the thousands of people that Social Media connects us with, that previously we’d never would have. From the people we enter in discussions with on news articles, to friends and family members who live far away, to members of our local community we have never met face-to-face but have engaged in conversations with online.

Tess, Ben and Chelly Crawford discussing CFM’s social media strategies.

Sam and Joseph playing Table Tennis in the CFM offices during the Facebook photoshoot.

There are often changes to Facebook and Instagram algorithms and almost always, these changes create angst amongst business. But the algorithm is always based around ‘Socialisation’. The more social and greater the engagement, the more presence of your posts in peoples feeds. Passive content is no longer relevant on these platforms.

So, keep the term ‘Social’ at the forefront of your mind when planning your content and the ways in which you engage with your community. When putting up a post or story, ensure that it incites engagement and connectivity. Think beyond meal plans and motivational quotes and consider staff and/or member stories, club tours, Q & A’s, guest posters/takeovers, club tours, equipment/exercise showcases, class snapshots, competitions and feedback/requests.

More Social = More Reach.

To finish the event CFM were thanked and referred to as ‘inspiring’to Facebook’s 213 million followers. Like all of our other dealings with Facebook over the last five years, the event was slick, smart and added value to all Victorian business owners. We thank Facebook again for involving us and are already looking forward to being in their Melbourne offices again in a fortnight.

facebook post Facebook calling CFM inspiring to their 213 million followers.