As this semester comes to a close, I take the time to sit back and look at the so-called progress I have made while running my dad's business' Facebook page. As you might recall, the name of his business is Trigger Control Firearms Training. The purpose of this company is to allow clients/customers to be taught proper control and handling of firearms at whatever the skill level and work towards getting their concealed carry permit.
With taking over a Facebook page that had been dormant for sometime, the intent was to rekindle the business and start bringing in some income for my dad through the interest of new and old followers of the page. To begin this process, I had to establish some ground rules with my father as to what content we wanted to focus on posting and what the ultimate goal(s) was going to be. As my dad handed the reigns over to me, I wanted to begin by getting more followers. I took this idea to my wife and I's personal Facebook page and invited all of our friends to like the page. What I thought would be a great idea due to the amount of friends we have accumulated over the years, didn't turn out as planned. We gained an initial spike within a couple of days of posting that plea to our friends. After starting with a whopping 117 likes, over the next two or three days we raised our total to 137. The issue we had was the spurt of excitement only lasted those few days, thus leaving us with a flat plateau for a good chunk of the semester.
Once I began posting various articles and pictures over the beginning weeks, I conversed with my dad about what our target audience might be. Having this in mind would direct us in a straighter course to the outcomes we desired. The following are the three general types of people we wanted to focus on:
1. Todd is your everyday Joe. He wakes up early in the morning to head to his office cubicle where he spends eight hours a day on his computer performing his daily tasks. After a long day at work, Todd comes home and flips on the television to watch news as he eats his dinner. The hot topic of the day is the issue of gun control and what politicians are trying to do about it. Todd is someone who thinks guns are a good thing but has never actually shot one. Over the next week or two the same issue of gun control appears quite frequently. Todd decides he wants to take some beginner classes.
2. Christine and Joseph have been married for fifteen years and have three kids. They live ten to fifteen minutes outside of the downtown area are of the city in which they live. The city they live in has a typical amount of crime for its size. Christine and Joseph's neighbors have been broken-in into several times over the last few months and the two want to be able to protect each other and their kids. Joseph is a little more experienced with guns than Christine but both have their concealed carry permits. With the crime rate being a little higher than normal in their neighborhood as of late, they want to seek out a local firearms instructor for some lessons.
3. Matthew and Tiffany are partners in the police force. They have been heavily trained in the usage of using hand-guns and other firearms. They both know the importance of having a gun for personal protection and the protection of others. The two of them have often looked for ways to help promote the importance of maintaining the rights guaranteed to them in the Second Amendment. In an effort to help the community, they began looking for a reputable instructor who knows what he/she is doing. Because they are so busy with their personal jobs, they need help to train and make aware of the issue of gun control.
As the semester progressed, the posts became a little more consistent. They ranged anywhere from 2-4 posts a week. By doing this, it would keep the page's followers informed and alerted as to what was happening with the company and if anything new had risen to the service. My biggest problem this semester was getting interaction from people. Some hits did really well and others were flat out awful. I struggled to identify what people wanted. I went as far as meeting with Professor Young to discuss what kind of content would help to generate likes, comments, and reaches. The best post for the page was of my dad teaching my wife to shoot a gun for her very first time. It blew any other posts out of the water as far as reaches, etc. go. After my conversation with Professor Young, we established that people wanted more personal content: information that showed my dad in action, little tips and tricks people could know about guns, and what guns in general made the best concealed carry permit guns. When the posts were more directed and involved less steps to follow, the results began to slowly increase.
Now that the semester is coming to a close, the data has been collected and analyzed as to how well I did in running my dad's page. What began with high hopes ended in somewhat crushed dreams. I had really wanted to make a lot of progress for my dad in regards to having another channel for him to use in gaining new customers. The amount of interaction from friends and those viewing the page was no where close to what I was hoping. Maybe, I had failed to show the significance of what guns can do for us and the importance of being certified to carry a concealed firearm. I had thought people would comment left and right as to what I was posting and to hear what people had to say. I was wrong in this area as well. Some posts were lucky enough to get just a couple likes or to reach a few people. I did partially reach my goal in getting people to verbally pronounce their interest in taking classes from my dad. When I saw people commenting and expressing their interest, I was quite excited of the possibility of this taking off!
Yet, when I really think about how this page went, I can honestly say it wasn't as successful as I hoped. I critiqued myself on all the things I could have done better and focused hardly on the areas that I succeeded at. Here is a list of few areas I feel I could have improved on/help the page to grow:
1. Better cross-promote/get people to share articles and pictures
2. Figured out earlier on what posts people wanted and really run with it
3. Help my dad establish an actual class time for those who want to take classes from him
4. Better execution of original plan
5. Boost one or more posts (pics of fake ad below)
I have grown up around firearms my whole life. I don't remember a time when my dad didn't have a job that was unrelated to guns. When I lived at home with my parents, I always felt safe, no matter what. To me, guns bring security and protection. Now that I am married and have a family of my own, I want to keep us safe from the big bad world. I took on this page, not because I am extremely knowledgeable on the topic, but know what positive things a gun can do/provide for one's life. Though this page was not one hundred percent successful, there is a good chance I may continue running the page and see if I can help it grow and bring more success to my dad.
