Springfield PODS finds social marketing success on Facebook
Tina Vervoorn
September 29, 2009
(SPRINGFIELD, MO)—Facebook has become a happy medium advertising venue for Brian Cates, owner of the PODS of Southwest Missouri franchise located in Springfield.
With the rise of social networking sites, business is booming on Facebook. Official statistics report its fastest growing demographic is those 35 years and older, with more than 300 million active users, and 150 million active users logging on to the site at least once a day. (Source: www.facebook.com/home.php#/press/info.php?statistics)
"Springfield is a perfect, ordinary town with about 400,000 residents," Cates said. "When Facebook started to gain popularity we jumped at the opportunity to feed our local market with digital ads to help educate consumers through a targeted local advertising initiative."
To his delight, Cates´ PODS® franchise garnered from 10,000 to 30,000 impressions daily with 70,000 individual users meeting his geographical and personal demographics.
"The impressions don´t always lead to sales, but it is building PODS franchise and corporate brand awareness, he said. "We change the ad to keep it fresh and know exactly when something works because the numbers jump. One week we may advertise long-term storage aimed at college students (there are seven colleges or universities in Springfield), and the next week promote long-distance moves or short-term storage."
Cates says he brought his Facebook initiative to PODS corporate offices based in Clearwater, FL, presenting to 100 franchise owners in 160 markets. It quickly became a best practice pillar for corporate and has helped pave the way for other PODS® franchises to use Facebook for advertising and as a Fan Page for customers.
"Facebook is a powerful testing medium that provides valid statistics as to the performance of an ad," Cates said. "It´s not my end-all marketing solution, but it is very effective. People can file it away for a day when they do need moving and storage and, hopefully, PODS will be at the forefront of those thoughts."
About PODS
Founded in 1998, PODS provides moving and storage services to more than 238 million consumers in 48 U.S. states, Canada, and Australia. To date, the company has completed more than 200,000 long-distance relocations, exceeded one million deliveries and has nearly 138,000 PODS® containers in service. PODS® secure containers are constructed of a steel frame and are available in three sizes: approximately 8-by-7-by-7 feet, 8-by-8-by-12 feet and 8-by-8-by-16 feet and have been tested to withstand winds of more than 110-mph when partially loaded.
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