I, like most photo booth business owners, have a Facebook page for my business. After a busy weekend of events, it is common practice to upload a few of the best photos to my Facebook business page in hopes attracting new customers and staying in the forefront of current and past customers. A Facebook page is also helpful for the social proof aspect of your business, new leads can see that you’ve been out there every weekend and are a legitimate business.
A few years ago I could make a simple post and it was easily seen by a few hundred people, with lots of “likes” and a few “shares.” These days without the method I’m going to share with you, this same post would probably be seen by less than 20 people.
It is general knowledge that these days Facebook page posts receive considerably less organic reach than previously. Facebook themselves explain why that is here, if you wish to read. In summary, there is so much content being created and shared through Facebook, that they are trying to figure out what content is most relevant to its users and weed out the rest. Facebook would prefer that you “pay to play” and spend some ad dollars to get in front of even a few hundred people.
Creating a post-event Facebook post that will organically reach a few hundred people, starts while you’re at the event. While you or your attendant is at the event, you have to make a point to meet and introduce yourself to as many other vendors as possible. Exchange business cards, have a conversation, compliment them on some aspect of their business, etc. I would be doing this regardless of the post-event Facebook post, as this is how relationships are formed and future referrals generated.
Here are the vendors you should absolutely meet:
The manager/owner of the venue.
The event organizer/planner.
The caterer.
The DJ.
The photographer.
The videographer.
After the event, I send the client a “thank you” email and ask them if it’s OK to post of few of the photos on our Facebook page. This question is also part of our contract under the section titled “Model Release”, but I like to plainly ask as well. Here is how I ask the question in the “thank you” email:
“Your photo booth photos came out so great and your guests were so much fun. Is it alright to share a few of the photos on our Facebook page?”
Usually there are no objections and the client is more than happy to have us post a few photos.
Next, I go onto my photo booth business Facebook page and upload about 3-10 of the best photos from the event. I always make sure a photo of the client is first in order, because the first photo is the one that Facebook will feature most prominently in the post. I generally avoid uploading photos of children and teens for obvious reasons.
Now for the text of the post, here is an example of how I word it:
“Congrats to Jennifer & Brian! A beautiful evening at The Chalet on the Hudson with a delicious 3-course dinner prepared by Mazzone Catering. DJ Matt from Platinum Entertainment kept the guests on their feet all night. Looking forward to seeing all the great photos taken by HV Photography. This wedding was organized with perfection thanks to Empire Events.“
The vendors names are in bold because I tag their Facebook business page in the post. To tag a business page in Facebook you first type “@” before the name of the business. So it would look like this, “@The Chalet on the Hudson” and Facebook will look for what you are trying to tag, select the business and the “@” disappears and the vendor name is highlighted.
Here is what it looks like:
Once you have tagged these businesses, Facebook is going to send them a notification that you have done so. The hope is that they appreciate that you have promoted their business and then they in turn share your post to their Facebook page.
After you publish the post, there is one more thing you can do to get more eyes on it. Friend request your client and once they accept, you can tag them in the comments section. The only catch is that you have to comment from your personal Facebook account. Here is what I mean:
Use the same method to tag them as with the vendors, type “@” followed by their name. Here is what it will look like:
Facebook will now send a notification to your client that you mentioned them in a post. Most clients will then share your post and start tagging their family and friends. Now your post will be seen by even more people at no cost to you. With your customer on your Facebook page, this is also a great time for them to leave you a review.
With this method your post and page will likely appear in front of a few hundred people. The more people that know about your photo booth business the better. There is always someone who hasn’t heard of a photo booth yet or never thought of it for their upcoming event.
Comments
Thanks so much Chris, your information is always clear, easy to understand & doesn’t assume I already know a lot about it. I’m not very good on FB,
Thanks
Karen
Thank you Karen. Let me know if you need any assistance with Facebook.
Great info, thanks!
Nice post. Social media is so dynamic it’s nice to see your take on it. Do you use anything for scheduling and disseminating to multiple sources? Who do you recommend?
Matt
Thank you. Your article is very helpful to me.
You’re welcome.
Great tips. I have tried this for my last couple of events and noticed that when I tag the venues in the photo album, my post is not showing up on their feed. Any idea why this is happening?
They should receive a notification that you tagged them or mentioned them. Not sure if it will show up in their feed.
WOW good information been on facebook a long time never knew about the “@” sign always thought it was just for twitter..thanks
Thanks Larry, glad you found it useful!
Awesome info! I will totally reach out to the vendors and staff going forward. Love the idea and the concept. Great article.
Thanks so much, glad you found it helpful. More to come on Facebook marketing!
Admiring the persistence you put into your website and detailed information you offer. It’s great to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same old rehashed material. Fantastic read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.
Thanks Leigh.