179: Is Facebook Still Relevant? (ft. Andrew Hardwick) | The ChiroCandy Podcast

Ultimately, people who think that Facebook is falling off, it's because they're not using it to its fullest extent. Welcome to another episode of the chiralkandy podcast. My name is Billy Sticker, founder and CEO of Cairo Candy, and this is going to be one of our success series episodes. And on the success series episodes, what it is, is going to be different leaders and directors from our Coiro Candy team doing different interviews, talking what's working best for different clients and on different platforms. So without further ado, let's get on over into the episode. Enjoy. Hey, guys, and welcome to another episode of the Coyote Candy podcast. My name is Matt Keenan and today we have a special guest joining us.

Hello, I am Andrew Hardwick. I am one of the Facebook directors at Cairo Candy. And Matt, I am extremely happy to.

Be here and we're happy to have you.

It's an honor, really.

Andrew has actually been with the company even longer than I have, so he's a day one. Ride or die.

Yeah, I would say.

Oh, sorry.

Four years. No, I'm sorry. Like over four years. Close to five.

Oh, I've. I'm five years this month. So it's longer for you.

Oh, maybe. Okay. Yeah. I trust your opinion, honestly.

Well, today we're going to be talking about Facebook. Is Facebook still relevant? How can it be utilized to its fullest extent? Facebook and Instagram, of course, lumped into one. Because there's been so much going on with Facebook recently. I mean, I don't know if you want to touch down on that. Things that happened. There's a lot of changes that happened in 2023 and November specifically. Can you just touch down on that a little bit?

Yeah, it's. I. Unfortunately, I do need to say that I. I hope people who are watching or listening take this with a grain of salt. I love Facebook and Instagram because a. They've. It's been around since social media and the digital age has kind of grown. Like Facebook. I remember creating my first Facebook profile, lying about how old I was.

Right.

Probably putting my mom's phone number, you know, and so it's just been around. And I know it gets a bad rap with maybe some of the things that they do or quote, unquote, don't do. However, I do feel like they. Facebook and Instagram are the perfect platforms for any business. Chiropractic, hair salon, clothing brand, whatever the case, just because there's so many people that are on these platforms. So with that and how the digital marketing space has changed, especially with like TikTok and YouTube shorts and just so many different places instead of just Facebook or Instagram. Yeah. And you want to compete with your competition and be better. And with that has been become a lot of changes to how to run ads. Like Facebook was one of those places where you see one to two ads that are working really, really well and you circle back and like 10 months to a year, you know, it's just, you know, it's working now because again, things are evolving and changing. We're constantly now having to change and adapt. And sometimes results can not, you know, come out of the gate guns blazing like they might used to. However, the algorithm on Facebook and Instagram, once you give it what it needs, it just needs a bunch of data. It needs engaging good content. Once you can do that, now we're guns ablazing and we can kind of sit back, let it do its thing, kind of keep an eye on everything, you know. And then once we kind of see it slow down, we were there, we make changes. And so I think people on top of what maybe Facebook and Instagram do outside of the digital marketing space are weary and also just they might have been an or experienced Facebook ad company and now they're like, why aren't, why am I not getting the results I used to and jumping ship. I truly think still to this day and honestly for the extended future, Facebook and Instagram are going to be the place to run ads, grow your business, get new patients, all of that good stuff. And also can also connect with those other platforms as well. So like with Google, right? Slap a Facebook pixel code on your website, on your Google landing pages. I snoop around, I don't take a call to action. Oh, but I hop on over into Facebook and Instagram. There we are again.

And so retargeting again.

You don't even have to completely jump ship with Facebook. You can still add these other services and still have a beast of a presence on social media.

But and even with all of these other platforms and the competition, Facebook is still on top with everything with, they're the top dogs with, I mean we've used the marketing platforms for their competition and Facebook is still the top dog as far as how you can target the specifics you can use with your creative and all of that. Everything is always, has always been better on Facebook. Not always the results sometimes because different platforms, they're just going to bring different kinds of results. But ultimately like you were saying, you know, Facebook what all it wants is data. It eats data for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You give it Enough data and it's going to be a happy camper.

You give it good data. It's weird saying like, we're giving it data, but like in. Yeah, what we mean is like the content, the, the ads themselves or just the content them itself. So whether you're posting organically on social media, on Facebook, on Instagram, running ads, like the first thing that needs to be really good is the content. Because the algorithm is going to say, if it sees a lot of engagement, the algorithm is going to say, oh, let's show this to more people who are very similar to those who are engaging, which, right. In theory are going to be more ideal patients, customers, things like that. And once you do that literally gives you everything you could ever want.

So I guess essentially instead of like, we're not really giving Facebook data, but we're giving Facebook something that it can use to create data.

Yes.

Because as the new videos, as we post new videos and we're, I'm trying out these new ads and that's just, that's a brand new variable and they love that because then that's just going to create data that they've hadn't had before, so.

Exactly. And another thing I really love about what Facebook and Instagram do is when TikTok came out, everyone was like, oh, this is going to be the next best thing. Right. And even at Cairo Candy, we now offer TikTok ads because it is such a great platform. However, again, it's no Facebook, it's no Instagram yet it could get there. I'm not discrediting it by any means. However, I know what Facebook and Instagram can do.

Right.

Algorithm wise and all that. And so even when TikTok was at the rise, and one thing I really like about TikTok is again, you push, you create engaging content. People are really drawn to that. They're going to reward you with showing your stuff more and more.

Exactly.

Me and you were just talking about it now with how Facebook and Instagram have been like, oh, TikTok's around. Well, we just gotta make our algorithm so much better. Right. And so they made a lot of changes. I've even seen it now where I see one new like tutorial video or something like that, I'm seeing that profile's next video, next video. Oh, now I'm seeing their $20 coaching, whatever it is. And so like I'm getting in their ecosystem a lot quicker. I'm able to say yes to whatever they're offering me a lot quicker. And so, yeah, I just think we do it.

Chiro candy.

That's. That's exactly what we want for chiropractors.

We want you to be showing up. We want you to be, you know, we want you to be getting people into your ecosystem, so to speak.

Especially in marketing. Like, marketing. I heard this quote the other day, I think, honestly, ironically, on like a Facebook video or something. But it's from Alex Hermosi, and he said advertising is just the process of making known. That's all it is. We just want. At Chiropini, using Facebook and Instagram, we just want people to know who you are. Because, let's be honest, not a lot. Me included, before working at chiropiny and before being educated on chiropractic, if I had back pain or if I had headaches, I'm gonna probably go to the doctor, take some Advil, Ibuprofen. And I didn't know that there was a healthier alternative to that. If I know, if I don't know that, there's tons of people that don't know that. And that's all we want to do in whether it's organic posting, running paid ads, combining the two. The ultimate goal is just getting people to know who you are, know that you can help with headaches, back pain.

Yeah.

Nerve pain, whatever.

Not everybody grew up with a crunchy mom, so not everybody knows.

Yeah, exactly. I had no idea until I was in the ecosystem of chiropractic that it was even a alternative. And so if that's the goal, I think Facebook and Instagram are definitely the top dogs in accomplishing that.

Right. I feel like sometimes people can. People often think that just because of the small bubble of social media that they live in, they think that Facebook is old news and Instagram is getting replaced. And like, TikTok is the Titan and they're. And they have all of the users in the world, you know, like. But ultimately that's. That's not, that's not the case. It's just. It came to rise very quickly. And it, it came at the most opportune time during, during quarantine, the pandemic. That's when it exploded. When everybody needed something new and fresh and a way to connect public. But ultimately, like, face Facebook was still.

But like, here's another thing that I find kind of funny, going kind of back to the retargeting. Obviously, Google is. I'm not going to Facebook to search for something, right? No, I'm not going to Instagram to search for something. If I'm going to search for a service A product. I have a question about something. I'm going to go to Google. Right. But where do I see more of what I just searched when I get on Facebook or when I get on Instagram. And so whatever I search is now at the forefront of my mind. Even though I might not have taken an action from Google now that I'm on Facebook. And again, going back to retargeting. You're at the forefront of my mind. My action, my, my mindset to buy or take action is probably a lot higher now because, oh, Facebook's so good at knowing. Again, maybe, maybe not the greatest thing to know that they're really good at getting information about what you like and what you search.

Yeah.

However, if it can benefit, in the chiropractor's case, it can benefit these people.

Right.

If they take action and sign up for.

Everybody knows if they're on social media, their data is going to be used especially to help sell something. Now sometimes it may be for the user's benefit, sometimes it may not be. But for in our case, it's definitely for their benefit. We're trying to help chiropractors get their message out there, get into the community so that they know that there are alternatives so that they don't have to get into a bunch of medical debt and get like back surgery when they actually have holistic alternative. So that's, that's the whole point there. But you told me earlier that you had. Have some interesting facts about. Yes, some. Some cool numbers and stuff.

And again, this just makes. Why Facebook and Instagram are the best. But a couple. 78% of U.S. consumers have said that they've made a purchase of some sort, whether it's chiropractic care, shoes, sports tickets, whatever the case may be, they've purchased something, signed up for something. 78% of all US consumers on something from Facebook or on Instagram. So 78% of people at some point in there, myself included myself, probably might do something today. Who knows, Might get wild and purchase something. I don't know. And on average, an average Facebook user, which I don't know what's. I'm definitely not a average Facebook and Instagram user. I'm definitely above. Probably fix that a little bit. But an average Facebook Instagram user clicks on 12 ads per month.

Oh, I'm definitely above average.

I'm definitely above average as well. Yeah. And I mean just the. Everyone knows everyone's on Facebook, but there are 2.9 billion daily users who access like Facebook and on Instagram. Oh my God, maybe this has changed.

I'm sure that's crazy.

Yeah, with a B. With a B. And then there's 3.5 billion monthly users who access like Facebook and Instagram, which makes it the largest social media platform which again all of these facts just show that even though everyone is on Facebook, Instagram, running ads on Facebook and Instagram, your chiropractor's ideal client and patient are on Facebook and Instagram. That's when creating content geared towards those people. I wish we could just drop, we could just speak. Maybe one day we can just speak into Facebook or Instagram and say hey, I want to find people who are exactly this, this, this, this and this. Everyone else move away. Obviously we can't really do that.

Right? Magic targeting.

I can't wait. If we could just really dial in.

Hey, computer open, open Facebook Ads Manager. Hey, Facebook Ads Manager. Make me an audience with this, this, this and this. And then they can just do it. But we're not there yet.

So we're not there yet. So we still have to put in a little bit of work. And that's where the content, the engaging content that is geared towards people who you want to help or who think or who you think can benefit from your services. And I think we do a great job at Cairo Candy in a giving clients resources to do those things, but also like walking them through that process. Meaning like if I'm not afraid to tell you if a video isn't ideal or it could be improved on just because I know in the long run it's going to benefit everyone. Right? Like if we don't want to put out a video that a car's honking in the background, a fire alarm's going off.

Right?

Unless like maybe the fire alarm's part of the video for a second. But like we just don't want any like loud noises. We want good, high quality 30 second video. And because we know that it will be rewarded to some extent once we get it on Facebook, Instagram organically paid ads.

And that's what we do. Specifically the both of us, we're the Facebook directors at Kyra Candy. So we're equipping our team members to help them know exactly how to coach and train and critique our clients videos so that their videos are the most effective for getting out there so that they're going to produce the data that Facebook likes enough for Facebook to give us a little treat AKA better results.

Yes, exactly. That's exactly right. And again, it used to not be like this. So even for me who's been doing this for five years? I had one way of doing things for the most part. Like, I knew, I had the assumption, like, oh, I just, you know, good video, good image, good ad text. We get the ball rolling. Like, it's gonna be, it's gonna be great. Now it's like, okay, get to put our boots on the ground and actually get in there and put some work and effort in. And knowing that there is a reward at the end of it. Like, if I. It would be one thing of, like, it's dicey, but I know, like, if you stay consistent on Facebook and Instagram, you are willing to navigate the ebbs and flows, eventually you will see the reward and the fruit that come from. Right, putting in that effort.

And the best way to see that fruit and the fastest way to see that is whenever, after we feed, after we feed Facebook, you know, new variations and variables, then they're going to give us data back, which leads to retargeting.

Yep, yep, absolutely. And I think retargeting is where Facebook, Instagram can kind of get that bad rap. Because it's like, man, I was just. All I did was click on this one Toyota truck ad for five seconds and now I'm getting nothing but Toyota truck ads. Yeah, yeah, but it's because you really like Toyota trucks, don't you? Like, you just like trucks, you know? And so like, I feel like retargeting can get a bad. Or just how it, how that process is. But again, using something that might have, you know, a bad connotation and using it for good, using it to help people, right, get out of pain, live a better life. Just what retargeting can do, and what we do at Kairo Candy is we primarily retarget people who have engaged with maybe some other ads, maybe not necessarily signed up, maybe just clicked on it and then who knows, maybe people, humans make mistakes, humans get distracted. And so maybe a phone call happened. There's just so many variables. But whatever it was, they didn't take that action. We'll retarget people who have watched certain. A certain amount of videos, whether it's organically, whether it's from other paid ads that we've ran in the past, we've also done website visitors. So even if one thing that's really, really cool is even if at Kairo Kinney, we do offer Google and SEO services, but even if a client's already doing that somewhere else on their own, whatever the case may be, we can still use that data by putting a pixel code on their website. And so that way, if they're sending traffic to a website and not getting people, people who aren't converting or signing up, we can retarget them on Facebook and Instagram with our actual new patient offer. Boom. Usually those offers coincide with each other. Whatever's on the website is typically something we're gonna do on Facebook and Instagram. And then even organically, people who follow you and start engaging with you organically aren't necessarily patients yet. Right. Like, there's still something preventing them from signing up or saying, you know what, I'm just going to come in. But with the power of retargeting, you can kind of tell Facebook, hey, I want to retarget people who follow me on Instagram and all that have a separate audience for them. And now they see their new patient ads. The. Yes for them. Because they've seen you before, they've engaged with you, they're following you. They essentially, like, no one trusts you.

Right.

That's our goal at Kyro Candy, is to get people to know, like and trust our clients. And people who follow accounts on Instagram typically, like, know and trust whatever that profile is, and they'll be willing to purchase services or sign up for something a lot easier than someone who has no idea.

Exactly.

That this chiropractor or this business exists and that they can help. Like, the yes is a lot easier. And that's ultimately the goal is like, building an audience of people.

Exactly.

Who are familiar with. You might again, might not have purchased anything, but they at least know that you're providing value in this instance, and they see you as the authority. They don't want to go. They would much rather go to you instead of Dr. Joe, who might be offering a $12 new patient special. Right. Like, they're gonna say, you know, I've seen this guy on social media. He knows what he's talking about. Or she can help.

That's like the. That's when it becomes important to have multiple variations or multiple videos in general. Because would you think about it as. Not just as a chiropractor, but think about it from their perspective. Would you rather see the same video seven times? Because you say, you know, they say that you're. That someone's going to need to see something seven times before they make a decision or before they take action on average? Obviously, it's not the golden number for everyone. But would you rather this user see the same video seven times or seven different videos?

Yeah, obviously, seven different videos every time.

Seven different videos. Not Just because you don't. If, if they see the same video every time, obviously the more they see it, they're just going to skip right past it. They're not going to think anything of it. But if there's new video, number one, it's going to tell them that you know more than just what you said in that one video, right?

Yeah.

And number two, the more content that you have, the more people it's going to reach. Because one particular you could have, you know, you could have your best video ever and it performs very well, but there's still going to be people that aren't interested for whatever reason. But you, if you have different, you wear a different shirt in different videos, you talk about a different topic, there is a different background for whatever reason, it's going to reach new people and those people are going to engage even if they haven't before. Like maybe even, that's why I tell my clients too, like, even if you're on vacation, record, record a selfie beach.

Yeah, Ye.

Spice it up. Like show, show them that you're in in different places.

And, and even, even showing different videos a is going to get new people into your audience but it's also going to has the chance to take those people who might have already been in your audience a little bit, but maybe they've only seen that one video and then that second video that they see just really hit some. They're like, oh my gosh, like, yeah, I do struggle. I've been struggling with this exact thing that he's talking about for the last 20 years. I don't need to see anymore. I'm in. Right? But like if they see the same one over and like I do it, I, I see the same video of a lot of things over and over again and there have been times where like I'll see it and I know what's coming and I'll even like say what the video is about to say and it's like, I, I'm not interested in this anymore. But if you can keep the variety up, if you can keep people on their toes essentially and you're again, it's all about, it needs to be good, value driven content. Like leave people with something.

Right.

Whether it's a thought like oh, that's a, I'll take that, I'll stretch a little bit when I'm at home, working from home, that's a good idea. Or it's like, oh, maybe I do want to ultimately just get rid of these headaches and if I can go to this professional who definitely seems to know what they're talking about. Let's give it a shot. And it doesn't require surgery. It doesn't require getting on pain medication. I'm in. So there's just so many different success stories that we've personally seen from clients. But like, even beyond, like. I know, I know. There's so many success stories in other industries of people using Facebook and Instagram to tell people what they're trying to help with and just seeing people be getting on board with that. And so I could spend all day talking about this.

And, and the thing is, like, ultimately, what are we doing? What's the point of these ads we're making? We're making ourselves known we're selling something, but we're not. We don't want to make it sound like we're selling something, though, with those videos. That's why we have these educational. These what we call educational content. You know, the, the short form videos that are just talking about certain subjects, talking about treatments that you offer. Because we want to add value with every video. Because if, if you're. If somebody's getting something out of the video other than, oh, this person's selling something, then they're more likely to follow you. They're more likely to trust you. They're more likely to watch other videos whenever they pop up. Because if, if you just go up and all you do is post videos about selling them. Your offer. Yeah. Then it's a turn off. You're like, okay, this guy selling me something.

But if they act like everyone else.

Yeah, just like everybody else. But if you're giving value to your patients and clients like before you're. Even before they're actually your patients, then they're going to be so much more likely to be on board and to be sold. Not to the offer, but sold to your vision. Sold to the doctor.

Right, Exactly. Yeah. And we talk about it amongst our team, but like, making sure. This is weird to say, but, like, making sure the ads don't look like ads.

Yes.

Because Facebook and Instagram does a great job of discreetly saying that, this and that. Because now, like, if you're on like a real. In like the bottom left corner or whatever it is, it's not like there's a big old sign that said this is an ad right here.

But it's well integrated.

Yeah. Right. And so, like, all you got to. All we have to do is make sure that whatever we're putting out there is very similar. If not. Yeah. Very similar to what People are posting organically.

I remember when we first. When I first started, everybody wanted to make commercials, basically.

Yeah. Like, everyone.

Everybody wanted these, like, minute. Minute and a half, like landscape video, like motion graphics.

Yeah.

That looked like a commercial. And people would talk like, do you have da, da, da, da. Well, yes, you know.

Oh, the best. And.

And we've. It's been. It's been a lot of work to get our clients to get away from that, like.

Right, right, right.

People would say, you know, this. This video doesn't look professional enough. I'm like, it doesn't have. It's supposed to be personal.

You know, it's supposed to make it look right. I. I like to tell people we're gonna make it fit. What digital marketing is now, what's out there now. Like, it's not. Because if people know that it's an ad. Yeah. They're not gonna.

No, they don't.

They're not going to want to have any. No way. No way are they going to be interested. But if we just kind of make it blend in with the. Blend in, but also stand out and get people to stop scrolling. All right.

Right.

We've already accomplished so much more than we could have in the past, and it's a lot easier now. It's just, again, going back to what we've been talking about, it's just about putting in that. The investment in your time and your effort. Just on the organic side, like organic social media marketing, I would say now is such a big thing. So getting that started without having to invest hundreds and thousands of dollars into marketing, you can still start generating some great results and then add in, like, getting paid ads. Because all paid ads are going to do is just get it to a broader audience quicker. Right. But you pair it with organic. Oh, man. You're gonna be set up for success for the long haul. If you just put in some time and effort at the beginning, it's gonna pay off dividends at the end.

It's so much.

And be consistent.

Yeah. Ultimately, like, people. People who. Who think that Facebook is falling off, it's because they're not using it to its fullest extent, to its capabilities. If you're not.

Yeah, they jumped off. They. I would honestly, I would probably say when Facebook really shifted everything. What was that? November? Something like that.

Yeah.

People were like, it's like on the highway. Right. Oh, there's an exit ramp. Let's. Okay, let's get off the Facebook highway now. Too much, too. Too many changes. I don't. And. But for Those who have stuck with it. Yeah. Maybe in the not so pretty days, still kind of a getting out of that down period or just continuing to crush it just because they. They stayed the course and continue to put in the effort.

I think. I think ultimately it boils down to, you know, like, is. Is Facebook still relevant? Yes. Yes. If you're not posting videos and you're not getting the return that you're seeing, it's not because Facebook has lost relevance. It's because you have.

Yeah, it's not like Facebook. Facebook wants. Because if you see success on Facebook and Instagram, what's the one thing you're going to do? Spend more money.

Right.

What does Facebook want you to do? Spend more money.

They want you to spend money. They want everyone to be on the platform for as long as possible. So if you're contributing to that goal, then they're going to keep you around, they're going to. They're going to give you the treats. Yep.

Yeah. Yeah. It's just stay the course. If I could leave anyone with anything, it's just stay the course. With Facebook and Instagram. If you have completely said, you know what, I'm gonna go try avenues, I would highly encourage you to rethink that. And what's. Again, what's great about Facebook and Instagram, you don't gotta start, especially in the chiropractic space, you don't have to start doing a $5,000 ad spend per month. You know, like, you can start small, kind of get your feet wet again and then put in that, like we've been saying, put in that effort and that time producing educ. Great, engaging content, getting people familiar with you from there, letting the algorithm reward you for that.

And so, yeah, I think that's well said. That's a great thing to leave everyone with. Stay the word.

Stay the course. Stay the course.

Stay the course.

Stay the course.

Well, thank you so much for being on this podcast episode, Andrew. I know you have clients to attend to as.

No, this has been super fun. This has been fun.

But if you're listening, definitely reach out to us, go to our website, reach out, send us a message. We can have our team kind of take a look at what you have going on right now, whether it's working with us or we can just give you some pointers. We'd love to collaborate with you guys, but that is all for the co Candy podcast for this episode. Hope you guys have a great day. Thanks for listening.

Sam.