Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Facebook gets a lot of attention on this podcast when it comes to talking about marketing on social media, but what about Instagram? It seems to be getting more and more popular, are Instagram ads just as good as Facebook then? Why or why not?
Derek tackles this question with Graham in tow and explains the nuances of the different platforms and why you’d post on one and not the other, despite that they are both owned by the same company.
Show Resources
While we mourn the loss of Ashkahn at Daily Solutions, don’t blame it on the Float Conference. Purchase tickets, see event schedules, and find hotels while you still can.
Can you Cross Post to Different Social Media Platforms? – DSP 191 (the episode Graham mentioned, a great place to start if you want more information on cross-posting to more social media platforms)
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: All right. Welcome, everybody.
Derek: Hey there, hey there.
Graham: I’m Graham.
Derek: I’m Derek.
Graham: And he’s been living under a rock for the last few days. Ashkahn’s not with us, he’s-
Derek: He’s with us. He’s with us. Not in person, but he’s still alive.
Graham: Oh, he’s still alive. Yeah. Yeah, he hasn’t died. He’s just working on the conference. It’s right around the corner, so in the meantime, you get to hear me and Derek answer some questions about marketing. Derek’s the kind of marketing expert on board with Float On and today’s question is: “You talk a lot about Facebook,” Derek. It doesn’t actually say Derek in there. “What about Instagram and Instagram ads?”
Derek: Oh. I hate to break it to you, faithful listener, but that’s Facebook too. They bought Instagram many years ago for, like, a billion dollars.
Graham: They were the same thing for Float Tank Solutions in the conference.
Derek: They own everything Instagram. It’s actually one of their smartest moves ever done because there’s a lot of backlash about Facebook, but Instagram’s so great, and it has pictures and whatnot. But you can actually control Instagram ads from your Facebook business manager.
Graham: Can you control Instagram posts from Facebook?
Derek: You can, now. That actually happened literally weeks ago.
Graham: Oh, crazy. I didn’t know that.
Derek: You can post to Stories on Facebook from your Facebook platform. You can also crossover stories, so you can post an Instagram story and it’ll go over to your Facebook page story. They’re really trying to make the platforms very similar, but still have a distinct delivery difference.
Graham: And Instagram, I assume, is still just all about the pictures primarily.
Derek: Pictures and videos.
Graham: Yeah, yeah. Okay, so let’s say that I, just as a float center owner – which I’m guessing this person is having the same thought process – but I’m like, okay, I want to rock out Instagram. It’s mainly visual. There’s photos and I think float tanks and float tank centers make for some really good photo content.
Derek: And there’s a different audience that might be on Instagram more than are on Facebook. Like, I feel like everyone’s on Facebook, but maybe a more targeted, younger demographic’s on Instagram, so if you’re really trying to go out there and, yeah, you can demographically target by age, but if you really want to be on a platform that your audience uses more than daily, hourly in some cases, I’m a huge fan of Instagram. I’m on that all the time. If you see me on my phone, I’m probably not checking emails. I’m really on Instagram.
I mean, when it comes down to it, Instagram ads are one of those things that, if you want to completely rock out on that all by itself, go for it. Test it out, right? I feel like it’s going to be pretty hard to get people on Instagram to book a float. Yeah, you can link to something and then they can go in through a paid Instagram ad and hit your booking manager, but, you know, they’re really there to just browse pictures. The Instagram browser’s not the greatest experience, as far as the web browser that’s within Instagram. And so I feel like if you want to build brand awareness, try to get people from that state of not knowing what floating is to curious about what floating is, Instagram might be a great visual platform to do that because it can’t get lost in copy. If you’re not a good copywriter, great. The first thing that’s going to catch people is a great picture or video.
Graham: So would you say posting on Instagram is useful and, maybe, ads on Instagram aren’t as much? Or, I guess, what’s your take on the organic posting versus ads on Instagram, specifically?
Derek: So I do a lot of ads on Instagram. If I’m doing something on Facebook and I’m boosting it, I’m probably also doing it on Instagram, and the Facebook ads platform, you can do more than just Instagram. You can also do Facebook Messenger ads, you could put ads on the Marketplace. The Facebook ads platform, you could hit whatever Facebook owns, you could probably advertise on that network, so Instagram is just one of many places you can advertise on the Facebook platform that’s not Facebook.
Graham: And so I guess I was asking because you said that you don’t really see people on Instagram going to actually book a float, so what’s the return on ads? Or what’s the value of kind of running ads on Instagram? Or even backing up further: why do you think that people would come in to book a float off Facebook, but not off of Instagram as much?
Derek: Well, I think the way it kind of works out is Instagram, there’s not really an easy desktop platform whereas Facebook, there’s a desktop platform and so even though the majority of people are accessing Facebook and Instagram from mobile, I see a lot more conversions coming from the desktop platform. I think just because it’s easier to enter your credit card information, you probably already have that information saved in your browser. It’s easier to type in passwords that are your favorite passwords that you keep reusing all over the internet. It’s just a more native experience and that’s shifting. Like, more and more when the mobile browsing gets better, people are just going to naturally shift to buying things off of mobile but, you know, integrations with Apple Pay is going to come and that’ll make it easier to book. But until it’s easier to book mobile, most people, I feel like, are still going to book on a desktop.
Graham: Interesting.
Derek: At least that’s with Portland. I mean, maybe Portland’s that counterculture where, you know, people are not buying on mobile, but I feel like it’s a lot easier to buy on desktop than it is mobile.
Graham: And it’s an interesting theory. I mean, either way, it seems like, both in talking to other float tank centers, that they get more bang for their buck with Facebook, and also not even float tank centers. Just doing some research into advertising on social media in general, it just seems like Instagram ads are not quite as successful for a lot of people as Facebook ads are. And maybe it’s just you really need to go with those products that are so visual, you know? Like, I could see clothing, for example, doing better on Instagram than on Facebook, and maybe floating is just so experiential. It doesn’t have that same, what you’re viewing is actually the product and so an image-based platform is more successful. I’m not exactly sure. Again, it just seems like I-
Derek: So, you can sell some really quick Stories on Instagram and do quick ten second Instagram Story ads, and so it’s more of I use, when I advertise on Instagram, it’s more of an awareness thing. I’m not looking fully for conversions. A lot of our marketing at Float On isn’t directly tied into conversion, which is counter to what I say for a lot of starting centers-
Graham: It is counter to what you say, yeah.
Derek: But for starting centers, you’ve got to really seek those conversions. So if you’re, again, strapped for cash and you want to go ahead and put your money where you’re going to get money back, test it out. Maybe Instagram’s a hit in your community, but I would put my money on Facebook. When you do have a little bit of budget or you are just a super user of Instagram like myself and you have fun just using it and you’re going to use it as your center quite a bit, develop an audience on it. I mean, I think Float On’s got, like, 17-1800 fans, which is a fourth of what we have on Facebook, but they’re super engaged. When I actually post on Instagram, I get a lot more engagement. I can get up to 100 people liking something out of 1500 people, whereas I post on 8000 on Facebook and, maybe, 20 people like something.
Graham: Yeah, and we did a good episode before too, so go look it up. Just if you type “social media”, it’ll turn up on our site, but it’s on how you can cross-post. You know, do a Facebook post and make sure that’s going out to Instagram and vice versa, so it doesn’t even need to cost you more time when you’re – either running ads or not – really cross-posting between Facebook and Instagram, which is great. Or, at least, that time is minimized.
So that’s the nice thing, you know? If you want to maintain an Instagram, if you don’t care about it being your primary social media platform, there’s a lot of ways to do that without adding too much to your plate.
Derek: Right.
Graham: And yeah. I think that’s all I have.
Derek: Yeah. If you’re a fan of the platform, develop it, but only when you can have the extra money to not care about return for Instagram.
Graham: Cool. And if you have your own marketing questions or any float-y questions at all-
Derek: Go to floattanksolutions.com/podcast.
Graham: And we’ll talk to you tomorrow.
Derek: Take care, everyone.
Graham: Bye.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Is there a “Best” Float Position? – DSP 224
Ashkahn and Graham thoroughly debunk the myth of a “best” float position. The Float On boys explicate their philosophy that there is no right way to float and instead talk about all the different positions they enjoy floating in. They learn more about each other than they expected to in the process.
What to Look for When Hiring a Float Center Employee – DSP 223
What makes a good float center employee? What does Float On look for when trying to find someone to take care of their salt monster tanks and their blissed out customers at the same time?
Ashkahn and Graham break down the qualities they look for when hiring, and what makes the people at Float On so special.
How Do you Incentivize Return Floaters without Memberships or Packages? – DSP 222
How many times has a float center owner had a first time floater come out of the tank and said something along the lines of “that was amazing! I need to do this every week!” and then they never see that person again? How do you get them to come back without committing to a membership or a high ticket package of floats?
Ashkahn and Graham share their thoughts on this exact problems and some of the creative solutions they’ve implemented at Float On to combat it. The key, for them, has been keeping it simple and making it accessible.
How to Schedule Your Float Center During the Slow Season – DSP 221
For most float centers, the summer months drastically change how busy it gets. It seems that zenning out to nothingness is moderately less appealing when there’s a lot of outdoor activities to enjoy.
Graham and Ashkahn share their thoughts on a reduced schedule. Float On runs 24 hours almost every day throughout the year. so reducing their schedule is typically against their philosophies. They explain some of the reasons people might consider it, what are some good ways to go about it, as well as explain some practices to consider avoiding when cutting hours.
Slip Proofing Your Float Tanks and Float Rooms – DSP 220
The solution inside float tanks is slippery. Really really slippery. What is the best way to make sure that float customers aren’t slipping and falling before or after their floats.
Ashkahn and Graham break down the various steps needed for slip proofing for inside the float tank, the first step out of the tank, the rest of the float room, your hallways, or inside your workrooms.
Latest Blog Posts
Float Quarterly – January 2016
It’s been our pleasure to be actively involved in the float industry for over five years now. In 2016, we’re already on track to have more new centers opening, more press covering floating, and more resources for people just entering our salty world than ever before.
With so much action, we’ve decided to send out brief, quarterly updates on our industry to keep people posted on the all the latest happenings. Welcome to our first installment!
Training to Become a Certified Pool/Spa Operator
Each year at the Float Conference, we put on a Certified Pool/Spa Operator (CPO) training course. At first, that might strike you as an odd thing to have as part of a float tank conference. This post will explain what CPO training is and why we think it can be a really useful certification to have on your belt.
Increase Sales by Offering Retail in Your Float Center
On their own, float tanks have a limit to their profits. Retailing has the potential to bring extra money into your shop, but it also requires a lot of work and attention on your part to really be successful at it. At Float On, our retail contributes 6.5% towards our overall sales and 3% of total profit. While this might not seem like a large contribution, depending on your sales, it could end up paying the wages of a whole extra employee.
The Health Department and Float Tanks… How to get Approved!
If you’re working on starting a float center, chances are you’re nervously anticipating having to call the health department. We’ve all heard horror stories of people being asked to follow pool rules that don’t make sense for them, or having to do costly changes to their pump systems.
float tanks not regulatedBelow is our best advice for working with your health department to get your float center approved, but before we dive into that, it’s important to get a bit of an understanding as to how the health department works.
