A lot of PicPic Social customers are mom & pop, single location companies, many of whom still work full time jobs and do photo boothing & event photography as a side hustle. On the flipside, we have full time photo boothers, event photography companies, and advertising & marketing companies using PicPic Social. Many of these companies generate six figure, if not seven figures in yearly revenue. What do they all have in common? They can all use PicPic Socials built in data capture feature as a vehicle to grow their business by capturing names & emails or delight their clients by providing a list of “leads” after an event.
Understanding data capture
If you’re completely new to the concept of social media sharing stations, data capture allows you to build a list of “leads.” A lead is anyone who may be interested in the service you or your client providers. The purpose of a lead is to be able to “nurture” this lead into a sales opportunity where they request a quote from your organization, fill out a survey, or perform any form of action that you want them to take.
An example for photo boothers & event photographers doing private events
Any and every event you do, you are presented with a swarm of potential leads. If you are covering a wedding, there is someone at the reception who is getting married next. If not, there is at least someone who knows someone who is getting married next. The same goes for birthdays. We know people have birthdays every year, and some are more inclined to throw a party for themselves or someone they love. This person may be looking for exactly the type of service you offer. Or this person may have never considered your service, but are now presented with the idea and you have piqued their interest, even if it’s only subconsciously.
This person is your lead, you just don’t know who they are yet.
An example for corporate activations & advertising/marketing agencies
This example follows the same concept as the one above. If you are doing corporate activations, everyone at the event is a potential lead for your client. If your client is promoting a new flavor of their beverage, they want the event guests to go out and buy it. The event guests are leads. If your client is opening a new restaurant, they want event guests to come visit the new restaurant, the event guests are leads. If you are on a trade show floor for your client, you better believe everyone who passes through is a lead. As a vendor, it’s part of your job to provide as much value to your client as possible. Running a photo capture + sharing experience is part of that value, and providing your client with a list of leads only directly enhances the value you provide.
How does PicPic Social capture data?
At the social media kiosk
When a guest uses PicPic Social directly at the event, the data is automatically saved in the background. You can login to your account so you can export it at a later date.
Via the online gallery & microsites
If you enable the “list builder” feature within the online gallery, anyone who visits the online gallery is asked to sign in via social media or enter their name and e-mail address. Click here to view an example of the list builder
With microsites, there is no “list builder” but we have multiple delivery options of how guests can share their photo to social media. When a guest performs a sharing action, we capture them as a lead and save it to your account.
Click here to view an example of a microsite
What data does PicPic Social capture & what data is most important?
The data PicPic Social saves depends on the sharing method the guest uses. Heres the breakdown of what we get:
[one_second]
- Facebook
- Name
- Email address
- # of friends
- Instagram
- Username
- # of followers
- Twitter
- Username
- # of followers
[/one_second]
[one_second]
- Email
- Name
- Email address
- Text
- Name
- Number
- Print
- Name
- Email address
[/one_second]
The data that is most important will depend on your strategy and how you plan to reach out to the guests. If you want to focus on email marketing, then gathering leads via Facebook, Email, and Print would be the best options.
If you want to reach out via social media directly, your best options are Twitter & Instagram. If your mobile marketing game is strong, then focusing on capturing phone numbers will be the best for you.
Making the most of the captured data
Your data is useless if you are not using it, so use it. Start with a goal in mind and stick with it, even if it’s very basic. I’ll give you some quick and dirty tips of making the most use of your data below, but if you would like me to go more in depth about one of the methods below email [email protected]
If your goal is to grow your business with email marketing…
- Create a Mailchimp account – Sign up for their free account.
- Import your data – Everytime you have an event, import the leads into Mailchimp
- Send a “Thank You” email – At the end of every event you should send a thank you email to everyone who used you at the event. You don’t want to be spammy, so you need to provide something of value. In the email, include a link to your online gallery so everyone knows where to find all the photos.
- Include shameless self promotion – In the email you send to the guests, don’t forget to mention your company, your website address, and a little blurb about what you do. Most importantly, include a “Call to action.” Something like, “Click here to check our availability for your next event” or Call us at 800-555-5555 to get a free quote.” You want to leave them with something to “do.”
If your goal is to grow your social media presence…
You can sift through the data capture list and find the Instagram & Twitter account with the most followers (just as a starting point). You can send them a message with an @ mention linking them to the online gallery of the event, or just thanking them for using the booth. Make sure to include a photo from the setup from the event. It should be an easy way to engage on social media without a lot of effort.
If your goal is to up-sell by providing additional value for your clients…
The first thing to do is learn. Learn how data capture in PicPic Social works. Learn & understand the limitations. Learn and understand what value the leads will provide to your client. Once you understand all this, you’ll be able to sell the data capture features of PicPic Social. I forgot where I read it… I think it was in a book called SPIN selling, but “people only pay for what they value.” You need to learn and understand the needs of your client so you can understand the value they get from data capture. Once you understand what, if any value the leads presents to your client, you’ll be able to add PicPic Social as an up-sell into your package or even increase your prices to reflects the value your provide with the provided leads.
