How to Generate Leads from Facebook with TabSite [Mike Gingerich Interview]

Neal Schaffer: 0:00

Okay. Welcome to maximize your social actionable advice on how your business can maximize your social media presence. Now, the host of maximize your social, social media author, speaker, consultant, founder of maximize social business through social media center of excellence, and the social tools Summit, Neal Schaffer. Everybody this is Neal Schaffer, welcome to another exciting episode of maximize your social today I am coming to you from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, I'd say Victoria, Canada, but a lot of people don't know where it is. So it's on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, truly one of the jewels hidden jewels of North America. If you've never been here, you must come. And I'm here for social media camp where I'm going to be doing the closing keynote in about 25 minutes. So what do I do in a few minutes, I'm here with good friends Mike Gingrich's tab site. And you know, I haven't looked the top set in a while. And for those of you who went to the social tool summit to know me, I always talk about doing a social media tools audit every 90 days, the markets changing. There's a lot of innovation, there's a lot of great stuff out there. And tools are an important part of you know, scaling and making your your social media program more efficient. Right. So Mike, you know, I've been on your podcast now it's time for you to be on mine. So welcome.

Mike Gingerich: 1:18

Hey, thanks for having me, Neil. It's good to be here and good to have an opportunity to share

Neal Schaffer: 1:22

totally Now tell me, you know, I know about topside? And I'm sure a lot of my listeners do. But not everyone might. So tell me a little bit about topside.

Mike Gingerich: 1:29

Yeah, if I boil it down, I like to talk about it is a contest and lead capture platform that you can use primarily with Facebook, but also on the web.

Neal Schaffer: 1:38

Awesome. That's pretty concise definition. So I think everyone wants lead capture. That's a great keyword. So what I thought I was going to do here now, I'm not taking a video at this, it's audio, but Mike is just going to sort of, you know, navigate me through the platform. And I thought you'd all like to be a fly on the wall and listen to what he has to say. So Mike, let's start.

Mike Gingerich: 1:53

Alright. So once you log into tap site, I mean, you have, you come to the area where you can select an app, add an app. And again, we have various ones, contest apps, from photo contests, video contests, Instagram contest that you would add to your Facebook page. And then there's another series, which are the coupon and Lead Capture app. So you know, based on what you want to do, do you want to give away a coupon? Do you want to have some type of other, you know, simple form with a form that you can easily build. And there's just multiple tools for engagement there. So you select an app, and then that would open the app up for you to begin building. And so I'm just gonna go into one that I've already created, because I'm getting ready to run a free webinar on Facebook. So I'm creating a landing page with a simple form on it.

Neal Schaffer: 2:37

Okay, Mike, not so fast. Now, if if, if you're listening like me, you opened up the website, and you're inundated with like 30 or 40 different apps, which is awesome, right? But where do you start? What can you give our listeners? What are and obviously, it's going to depend on your objective, right? i That's the key, right? But can you give us a sense as to based on your experience? What are the most popular types of apps, if you were going to help navigate people to the main objectives for doing an app and what seemed to be the most popular ones? And I know it's going to come down to your brand, and what's popular to one might not be the best for you? Can you give us an advice to help filter out not noise, but filter out the you know, selection? Yeah,

Mike Gingerich: 3:12

I would say the most widely used one is see the sweepstakes and sweepstakes plus apps, because that's a simple one, you take, for instance, a hotel that is going to wants to build their email list. And so they're going to do a two night free giveaway at their hotel. And so people can sign up to enter. So this is going to be a sweepstakes where people maybe we're going to give name and email address. And you know, it's gonna be telling them, they're opting into the list for a chance to win this two night free stay. So that's, that's a common one that is there. Because you can deploy that then, you know, on your Facebook page on an app, you can have that on a landing page, you can also embed it on a web page on your website. So another one I would say is a photo contest app. But again, that's going to apply to you know if that applies to your industry or your company. But that's another popular one where user generated content, generate content, yes. And then they're trying to get votes. And so they're trying to share it and get people to come back. So there's other people discovering your Facebook page, and you're interacting with your business.

Neal Schaffer: 4:12

Now, your mention of sweepstakes versus sweepstakes, plus a little bit of intrigue there. What does that little plus give you?

Mike Gingerich: 4:17

Yep, the plus is an extra boosting viral sharing options so that once you enter a you can you can get bonus entries to your credit by tweeting that out then so it's a Facebook Twitter combination approach there. And so on share share for extra points. Yes, yeah. And tallies it on so so again, that's that just gives you more opportunities, chances to win.

Neal Schaffer: 4:41

That's awesome. Yeah, Mike and I have been talking and both of us it's funny, because there's a lot of people that have sort of gotten away from Facebook and even some of you know, Mike's competitors are saying, well, we're not about Facebook anymore. And we're sort of mitigating our risk where I'm as bullish on Facebook as I've ever been. In fact, today I'm going to show a slide where I got 40% reach organically from from a link Right. And so if you're if you're thinking about contests those of you that have read maximize your social know my view on contest I consider them experiment Ooh team stream Phillies beat the NATs okay. Look for some Dodgers info there abouts. Okay. But really contests are a way of it's a way of engaging with your fanbase on a regular basis using all these different types of apps exists. And if you're going to try to generate leads, start with Facebook, where people can just log in with their Facebook details, you immediately get it and reuse that across the web, which is exactly what topside does. So I know there are other companies that offer solutions that do it the other way around, we offer general web, but everyone's on Facebook, it's the white pages, right. And that is the key thing that regardless of what happens with EdgeRank, Facebook gives you the ability to do these engaging things with their platform, like install apps and things and you have top sites to support you. So take advantage of it. And I'm sure I'm preaching the choir here. But whenever you're ready to keep going, I'm actually want to add anything on to that.

Mike Gingerich: 5:52

The key I would add is that what we're trying to do a tap site is give you opportunities to connect with things that you already should be thinking about or already are doing, such as your CRM. So again, like with this, going back to that hotel example, with a simple sweepstakes, you can tie that in, we have number integrations. So if you're using MailChimp, you know, so you can get them to opt in immediately. So that sort of it syncs across to your MailChimp, you know to Infusionsoft, like I'm doing a Go To Webinar. And so they're automatically with so basically what I'm doing, I set up one form. And I've tied that into go to webinars registration, so they fill out this form on my landing page, they're going to register on GoToWebinar, and they're also being added to my MailChimp list at the same time. So that's a benefit to me. And the other piece going back to your Facebook in the in the bullishness with that my hotel example. So again, only one person is going to win that weekend, okay, they've been added to the MLS, but we can also export that list people that signed up and use that as a custom audience in Facebook to you know, retarget them, because we know they've already signed up. So they have interests, we can give a specific niche email message to them. So those are some of the ways that we're trying to be a benefit and work in sync with some of the other tools people are using.

Neal Schaffer: 7:08

Awesome. Hopefully, you're nodding your head as Mike speaks here. But okay, so let's go into knife to sort of get on stage and like my computer in like, hold on a minute, in about five minutes. So let's move on to so you showed me the form and survey app is this where you built the form that integrates that Go To Webinar?

Mike Gingerich: 7:24

Yeah, that's correct. So again, basically drag and drop interface. And so I can create the form that I want, I can add fields, I can drag those fields around, I can set if they're required your simple type of form fields. And then I can do a little bit we have a Canvas integration so that you can easily add your image, you know, you want there you make it a number of decisions, do I want to embed this? I want it on landing page and what what integrations do I want to connect with? And you know, some of those pieces. So you're basically going through just a setup process. And then we give you access to, you know, analytics export features to help you, you know, know what's happening, and, you know, make it quick to deploy.

Neal Schaffer: 8:05

Well, let's go through here. So I see out builder. Okay, I see Facebook settings, right? So the opposite of truly is, and by the way, Mike is doing this, we're not on computer, we're doing this on an iPad. That's how robust and I'm assuming, when you have a mobile tab there that this is completely responsive. Are you showing mobile optimized from a mobile device,

Mike Gingerich: 8:21

we we have a mobile version, okay. So when they go to the mobile area, that allows them to set a cause? Because you know, say you're doing on Facebook, and you have a wide image in there. We don't want to use that same image, if we detect a mobile device,

Neal Schaffer: 8:34

and Facebook tabs do not appear on smartphones, correct? They do not. So this helps, this helps,

Mike Gingerich: 8:40

yes, because you use our smart URL and you post in the newsfeed and then somebody clicks on the link, we can detect that a mobile user and give them a mobile friendly version. Also, you set it up with a mobile friendly image in here as well. So that it's a very nice experience for them.

Neal Schaffer: 8:54

Very cool. We all know, you know, what is it 70% of Facebook users access it on mobile? So this is this is really key technology. Taps has got you covered. Let's keep going. Tell me a little bit about the promotion tools.

Mike Gingerich: 9:04

Yeah, so the promotion tools are basically your social sharing options. So we you know, you're gonna have the ability for somebody to enter and then to share it and you know, you want to customize that message, you can customize what the tweet is going to go out from them, you know, that's where you can add your Canva message. And we have some post planning setup. We have integrations with a buffer and HootSuite in there so you could schedule it out. And you know, some of those types of pieces of blog web call out so you can embed that and place it on your sidebar on your blog. If you want to

Neal Schaffer: 9:35

show me your at Well, you haven't launched this campaign, but what would your analytics look like for launch campaigns?

Mike Gingerich: 9:40

Sure. So basically, the analytics are going to give me details on routes a lot of details people that people that register, how many how many? If I'm deploying it across multiple places, how many saw it on Facebook? How many assault on a mobile device how many sold on the landing page, and I can go through those pieces. How many of the if I'm using sweepstakes, plus how many times where there was actually shared. And then obviously you can go in and see the registrations and export those.

Neal Schaffer: 10:06

Awesome, wow, this is pretty robust. So this is an example one type of up any other examples? I mean, this really, I guess that's it all, doesn't it?

Mike Gingerich: 10:13

Well, I mean, that's a goal. That's, you know, in our time, I would say, you know, everything builds upon that. So again, if you're going to go with the photo contest, you're going to add some pieces onto that in a photo contest. Another piece that we didn't really describe is sometimes you know, those have starts and endings. And so you can you can automate those pieces, you can say, I wanted to start here, before it starts, I want to show this message, you know, it's going to end here, do I want to show just the winner immediately afterwards? And you can, you can set all that up ahead of time. So it's all you know, automated can run for you.

Neal Schaffer: 10:43

Awesome, you know, I tried to keep my podcasts real short and sweet. So and like I said, I have to go on stage soon. But two questions for you. One, what is your business model? For a lot of people listening, you might think, Wow, this is gonna break the bank, can you give us an idea as to your current pricing scheme?

Mike Gingerich: 10:57

Sure, you can start with a run a contest for 30 bucks. And that's, that's for a monthly subscription. So you can do that contests and change up the app. So if you want to run one for seven days, or another one for seven days, run another one for 14 days, that's still all within your 30 bucks.

Neal Schaffer: 11:13

So with $30 a month to run one app at one time, correct? Gotcha. And then obviously, if you want to do more simultaneous app simultaneous on different Facebook pages, then you ramp up to more of enterprise. Yep,

Mike Gingerich: 11:23

we ramp up from there and including the fact where we have a small agency starting point where you can run one contest simultaneously on multiple Facebook pages. So that's helpful for businesses collaborating, or businesses with multiple locations,

Neal Schaffer: 11:37

or with channels or what have you. That's great. Mike, second question. So you know, it's funny, because it probably I think there was a first generation of Facebook users that have already been or businesses that have already done a lot of this, but I still think that there's a lot of small businesses that have joined the last year that are actually looking to do this for the first time, or maybe haven't done in a few years. So based on where you see Facebook today, give us three tips that you think will help businesses obviously using topside be most successful with Facebook contests.

Mike Gingerich: 12:03

Yes, well, they need to be thinking about their engagement strategy. I mean, you have to be active on Facebook for your page. So it's sharing content that's quality, that's helpful. That's number one. I think that number two, you have to look at using Facebook ads for some of your best content and, and the value of that is you get in front of more people. But the significant value is you get in front of the exact target audiences because it's a massive database. And Facebook ads allows you to drill into exactly who you want to be in front of and that's just totally a value. And you can use that in sync with a contest like this so that you're reaching the exact audience.

Neal Schaffer: 12:42

Amen. That was two. What's the third one? Okay.

Mike Gingerich: 12:44

And the third thing for Facebook is that you need to be experimenting with video. Okay, and simple video. And we talked about that yesterday. Yes, yeah. So I recommend that you even if you're running a contest, you're posting that link but make a little video about that. And you know, I do with my iPhone, and I share those and a 25/32 video can get tremendous reach gets in front of a lot of people, and they can have a simple call to action that's free for you from Facebook loaded video driving them right to your your landing page.

Neal Schaffer: 13:12

I mean, and you know, when you think about take a lesson from Kickstarter, right, if you're going to do a campaign, like crowdfunding campaign starts with the video, it all comes down to the video, right? So it's using that sort of same concept for your own contest. Maybe we can we do a contest of an introductory video, right?

Mike Gingerich: 13:26

That's right. That's right. Absolutely simple thing to do. I think video is something that brands need to small businesses need to understand and experiment with.

Neal Schaffer: 13:35

Yeah, video is sort of the final frontier I think as a medium gets people a little bit anxious, you know, how am I gonna look on camera, but really, smartphones and you know, even flip videos back then really gave us the technology to do it really easily. So hope a lot of you listening will take advantage of Mike, thanks for being on podcast.

Mike Gingerich: 13:49

You bet. Glad to be here. And I look forward to hearing you speak now. Neil.

Neal Schaffer: 13:52

Thank you. It's always awesome, you know, running into you wherever I am in the world of the social media conference. And hey, from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. This is Neal Schaffer signing off wherever you're on the world. Make it a great social Day. Bye Bye, everybody. Sean Smith. applause please. Legend, Gary. Thank you. Bye. Bye, everybody. Thanks for listening to maximize your social. We appreciate all of your iTunes subscriptions, ratings and comments. If you would like to appear on this show or recommend content, please contact Neal Schaffer at Neal at maximize your social.com Please also make sure to check out Neil's new community, this Social Media Center of Excellence at social media ce o e.com. As well as Neil's first social media event, the social tools Summit, which will be in Boston on May 12. And in the Bay Area this fall. Thanks again and make it a social day.