Joinery Markelj is a family business, with roots dating back to the year 1995. They’re a team of reliable and responsible people who like making technically and creatively perfected wooden products, in which they see great challenges and new experiences. Their wish is to become one of the most recognizable joinery companies, defined by a high degree of professionalism and quality. One of their goals is also finding customers on foreign markets.
Joinery Markelj is the type of client who can’t seem to find time for their Facebook page due to their overbooked schedule and their line of work. We therefore needed a fair amount of time before we got to convince them to start creating their successful story on social media with us.
In the past, the company mostly got its inquiries organically (SEO optimization) and through paid advertising (AdWords). However, these two (albeit very strong) channels had one disadvantage: neither of them could built a strong community. Both channels took the potential customers to their website, where the main intention is selling their services. Joinery Markelj was therefore missing a human factor that would connect all online channels into a meaningful unity and create a sense of the company’s accessibility.
The number of followers on the Facebook page Markelj furniture was quite low at the beginning of our project: it reached up to 2400 followers. However, despite the low number, their followers were quite engaged from the very beginning and clearly showed an interest in the graphic material of successful projects. Markelj’s wooden artwork has overwhelmed us as well so we started helping them by managing their Facebook page. We wanted to spread the word of their projects into the great big world of social media and we wanted for the followers to take a peak in the backstage of the company’s events and to connect with them on a more personal level.
The main goal of the project: to build a strong Facebook community, each week eagerly expecting news about successful and interesting projects. Despite the fact that their clients are in different stages in the purchasing process and that some aren’t even thinking about a purchase, we knew that our visual material will be well remembered and that they will look for Joinery Markelj as soon as the need for their service appears.
How to achieve greater reach and better interaction? With photos!
According to our experiences, posts with visual material are the most efficient in increasing engagement. It seems as if Facebook’s algorithm places them above other posts, because they perform better than the posts with links that lead away from this social platform – which makes total sense.
People are visual types so we often make our decisions based on the emotions images evoke in us. How to better present the work of a joinery than with photos? In the majority of cases, we “buy” our furniture with our eyes; only then do we look at the technical specifications and price. The potential buyers of Joinery Markelj were no exception and with regular presentations of their projects we managed to start a real revolution among their followers.
Project execution
When posting projects, we tried to present them in real time so the followers got the feeling that we’re presenting them current projects. We also managed to convince the Joinery Markelj to start with lifestyle posts, which are intended strictly for branding and to help strengthen the awareness of a particular brand. This was done in order to show their followers what goes on in the backstage, so they could truly feel the character of the employees and the culture of the company.
Some examples of the projects:
Some examples of lifestyle posts:
Results
Increase in organic reach by 470% and an increase in the overall reach by 2095%
We quickly realized what the followers wish to see. With a very small monthly budget (150–200 €/month) we managed to increase the organic reach by 470% and the overall reach by 2095%!
New channel for acquiring traffic and inquiries
Up to this point, the company didn’t receive a lot of inquiries through Facebook, since they didn’t approach posting on Facebook strategically. The number of monthly inquiries ranged from 3 to 4 – today, they receive 5 to 7 per week, which is 20 to 28 inquiries per month. In comparison with the same period in the past, the website traffic through Facebook grew by 2155%.
An increase in the number of profile views and the number of clicks to the website
The graphs below present the interest of the followers in viewing the profile of Markelj Furniture and their website, where they can find the inquiry form.
Building the brand’s recognition
Joinery Markelj was a relatively well known company in their local community, but through their activity on Facebook they gradually gained recognition in all parts of Slovenia.
That things are really paying off can be proven by a bartender at the other end of Slovenia, who greets you with excitement and compliments your projects when you order a cup of coffee wearing a Markelj jacket. – Jernej Markelj
A strong and responsive Facebook community
With their posts, Joinery Markelj is building a strong community, who is very responsive to all types of posts – we’ve also been very successful with presentational videos.
By our estimates, Facebook is bringing us approximately 20% of new customers since we started using it more strategically. – Jernej Markelj
How can branding on Facebook take credit for actual sales success?
In the swarm of digital advertising the buyers’ habits have completely changed in the last two years. No one wants to be “forced” anything; people want to feel authenticity and a human factor, which, at the end, greatly influences their purchase decision.
If you wish to make a step further with your company, we believe that the field of branding and organic growth is at the very top of the list of relevance. We love cooperating with companies that understand that the purchase process is more than merely sales content. You know how it goes: you have to treat your customer as a friend, not a salesman. It’s important to offer them something useful and interesting in an unobtrusive manner, so they’ll remember you when making a purchase decision and will contact you by themselves. And that’s proven! :)
Have we convinced you? Drop by for a cup of coffee so we can create a new online story.
