With pandemic infections soaring again, several countries have reimposed movement restrictions and prescheduled transactions to reduce the spread of the virus. As such, online bookings have been a crucial part of business operations, alongside marketing efforts that compel clients to get specific services.

Why Online Bookings Are Vital For Businesses?

Online bookings exist to make customers’ lives easier and more convenient. They have increasingly become a preferred method for communicating with businesses; so much so that in the travel sector, 87% of customers rely on online bookings, and only 29% choose internet-based telephone calls.

Today, any business, regardless of its size, can benefit from online booking as long as it has a product or service that can be booked. Customers can set appointments for service checks, field visits, and other types of services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They tend to work well for businesses for fact that online bookings are often linked to a client’s calendar, thus ensuring no appointments are missed.

Online bookings are becoming increasingly important for companies operating within the field service sector such as cleaning, plumbing, and HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) services. There are now business management software systems like Jobber that offer completely customizable apps to manage your online booking system, and which can fully integrate with your CRM system and all internal processes.

If your business is already using an online booking system and you want to get more bookings, there are several ways to do so, and one method is by using Facebook.

How To Increase Online Bookings Through Facebook?

With almost 2.9 billion active monthly users, Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms globally. That’s why businesses are wasting no time and effort to use this medium to grow their reach and increase revenues. For your business to grow, you can take advantage of Facebook to optimize your marketing campaign and increase your online bookings by considering the following tips.

1. Use Facebook Appointments

The world’s biggest social media platform doesn’t just aim to connect families and friends. A few years ago, the social media service launched Facebook Appointments, allowing entrepreneurs to schedule bookings on their Facebook business page. The platform places a “Book Now” button on a company profile page, which is embedded in every paid advertisement or sponsored post to help boost its marketing and sales campaigns.

You can let customers book your services (e.g., cleaning or handyman appointments) from your Facebook business page. This can be done by logging on to your page and pressing on the proper commands. When setting this up, make a point to add all the services you offer, as well as your business operating hours, to give your customers a clear idea about your company. More importantly, make sure to link your appointment booking software to Facebook so you can avoid double bookings and other errors that can dampen the customer experience. 

2. Include A Compelling CTA in Your FB Posts

Another way to get more online bookings is to include a compelling call-to-action (CTA) statement in your Facebook posts. It can be a sentence like “Click here to subscribe” or “Get promotions today” or a simple word like “Buy” as long as it urges your audience to convert.

Including CTAs can be helpful in increasing your conversion rate as, according to research, more than 90% of site visitors actually read CTAs. Also, adding this campaign push to your Facebook business page can increase your click-through rate by 285%.

In some cases, a compelling CTA may be better than paid search engine ads. However, crafting a compelling CTA entails key elements:

• It should appeal to customers’ needs.
• Has to be noticeable.
• It should guide customers through the process.

Aside from that, it’s important to be clear about the benefits clients can get from your products or services. Examples are phrases like “Book now and enjoy [state the benefit]” and “Book now to give yourself the [state the benefit] you deserve.”

3. Analyze Your Audience And Performance

If your business has been present on Facebook for a substantial period already, you can use heatmaps and other essential tools to measure your campaign performance. You should also strive to understand audience preferences to make your marketing efforts more effective. Since Facebook Analytics is already phased out, you can use other metrics such as Facebook Business Suite and Facebook Insights.

The Business Suite replaces the Business Manager and shows how your page fares when it comes to engagements and reaches. It also provides information on the demographics of your social media followers. Meanwhile, Facebook Insights can reveal more details about your audience, allowing you to customize organic content and paid ads.

Getting all this data is vital before spending on paid advertisements and creating content, whether on the platform or your site. Knowing your audience well allows you to craft messages that resonate with them, leading to a more effective campaign.

4. Show How Good Your Services Or Products Are?

Highlighting positive reviews from real customers and posting them on your business page can go a long way. Consumers’ purchasing decisions are impacted mainly by what other people say about your service. If you own an HVAC company, for example, show before-and-after photos and video testimonials from satisfied customers. When users are ready to have their systems replaced, installed, or repaired, they’ll be more inclined to book an appointment with you.

This strategy is not only based on anecdotal evidence. According to an article published on the Harvard Business School website, each additional star rating on a popular review site can increase revenues by up to 9% on average. Businesses can either gather customer reviews from their site, called internal word of mouth (WOM), or from third-party sites, known as external WOM.

5. Make Your Content And Offers Shareable

To be more effective in your campaign, complement your Facebook marketing tools with fresh and relevant content. Doing this not only benefits your social media campaign but also helps improve your search engine rankings.

Placing sharing icons automatically widens your reach not only on Facebook but also on other social media platforms. Besides content sharing, you can also pepper your FB posts with promotional offers, like discounts for most likes and shares. Just like word-of-mouth reviews, this strategy lets your satisfied clients and followers benefit by getting deals for drawing in their friends who have yet to make their decision to buy your products or services. You can also offer discounts on group bookings to increase your revenues.

6. Use Paid Advertisements And Boosts

Facebook’s algorithm allows users to receive paid advertisements based on their interests. If, for instance, they’ve recently searched or viewed videos and posts about getting a haircut, salon ads will likely appear once they log in. This allows businesses to target their sponsored campaigns on individuals interested in purchasing specific products or services.

Facebook also offers several tools you can use based on what your business needs. With lead ads, you can get contact information from prospects using the social media platform. Meanwhile, engagement ads can target users who are likely to share, like, and comment on your posts.

Unlike social media content, paid ads typically show a few texts only and feature either a video or photo, in which you can embed your online booking link. What’s more, you can choose to pay for ads based on your budget, and it doesn’t cost much.

Final Thoughts

While ranking high on search engine result pages could increase your brand visibility, having an account on Facebook can undoubtedly boost your marketing campaigns. There are several social media tools you can use to improve your sales funnel and drive clients to your site, and a few of them are discussed in this blog. If you’re operating a service-oriented business that relies on appointment bookings for revenues, it’s imperative to stay active on social media and follow these tips to see an uptick in your client bookings.

References:

1. “Number of monthly active Facebook users worldwide as of 2nd quarter 2021”, Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/
2. “The 2014 Traveler’s Road to Decision”, Source: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-trends/2014-travelers-road-to-decision/
3. “How do I set up appointments on my Facebook Page?”, Source: https://www.facebook.com/help/233101683907312
4. “How to Write a CTA to Increase Conversions”, Source: https://www.techwyse.com/blog/content-marketing/how-to-write-a-cta-to-increase-conversions/
5. “Get More Bookings With Facebook”, Source: https://www.thesocialdvm.com/blog/get-more-bookings-with-facebook
6. “4 Tools to Use Instead of Facebook Analytics”, Source: https://blog.hootsuite.com/facebook-analytics-insights-beginners-guide/
7. “The Yelp Factor: Are Consumer Reviews Good for Business?”, Source: https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-yelp-factor-are-consumer-reviews-good-for-business
8. “13 Tips to Get More Bookings from Facebook”, Source: https://blog.netaffinity.com/get-direct-bookings-facebook/
9. “Top 10 Facebook Advertising Features You Should Be Using”, Source: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/top-10-facebook-advertising-features-you-should-be-using/512561/

Read Also:

• 6 Solid Tips To Make More Money On The Internet
• How to Manage Your Social Media Strategy As A Small Business
• Getting Digital: How To Use Social Media For Marketing Your Business