How Bullet Bouquets Used Facebook to Boost Sales and Win Customers

Anthony Zambai used simple Facebook promotions to grow his new small business, Bullet Bouquets, in a very short time. After less than three months in business he already has over 3,500 real, engaged followers on his Bullet Bouquets Facebook page.

In the spring of 2015, Zambai started a business in just three days that brought in enough money to replace his income as a full time engineer. In one month he had given his two week notice and two weeks later he became a full time entrepreneur. Zambai now makes and sells bouquets of “flowers” made from spent hollow point bullets full time. Zambai’s initial big success happened because of how he used Reddit but Zambai also used Facebook promotions to good effect.

Facebook Promotions: A Quick Way to Success

A lot of people have heard that Facebook is a great way to promote a new business or a small business, but it’s often unclear to people exactly how that works. The way Zambai used Facebook to make money was by getting other Facebook users to spread his message for him by offering them something in return.

make money facebook promotions business

The first Bullet Bouquets Facebook promotion got 41 likes and 25 shares.

Zambai got the idea of enlisting other Facebook users to help him spread the news about his business by watching how other companies did it.

“One particular company that is really active on Reddit is a gun manufacturer from Tennessee called Tennessee Arms Co.,” says Zambai. “They do a promotion on Reddit where if you share one of their deals, and then show TN Arms Co. evidence that you shared it by sending them a link to it, then they’ll send you a coupon for a 50% discount or something like that. I saw that, and probably the first day of my business I decided to do that on Facebook. I had almost no friends at that point on my Bullet Bouquets Facebook page, but I said hey, if you guys share this on your Facebook page, I’ll enter you in a drawing to win this one dozen bloom flowerpot, which at the time didn’t even exist. I’d never even made one. I just knew I could probably do it. But I said, share this to Facebook and you’ll get entered in a drawing to win this thing.”

Also see: How To Use Facebook to Grow Your Business

The Bigger the Risk, the Bigger the Reward

make money on facebook business promotions womenZambai decided to offer an extra incentive to people who went above and beyond just sharing his business on Facebook.

“If you share it to something other than Facebook,” said Zambai, “which is like your own forum or something where you have some clout, where you stand to lose a little bit if my product ends up sucking. If I turn out to be all smoke and mirrors and you might look like an idiot by saying, hey, check this guy out this is really cool. So if you take that risk and then show me proof that you’ve taken that risk, then I’ll enter you in that drawing five times. So there’s an incentive to branch out beyond just a simple share on Facebook. Single Facebook shares are kind of cheap. It’s like talk is cheap. Those shares are just not worth that much. But if somebody puts their reputation on the line by posting somewhere where they have some clout, that’s something I really want to incentivize.”

Facebook Grew the Business Fast

make money on facebook business boomingZambai’s Facebook promotion really spread the word about his business. In a very short time, he had a lot of Facebook followers on his Bullet Bouquets Facebook page.

“At ten or twelve weeks in,” he says, “I was already at 3,500 followers on Facebook, and I don’t think that happens very often. My Facebook following is one of the huge successes of the business, and it’s started already to become a way for me to get the word out. A lot of companies have half a million followers and their Facebook page is an amazing marketing tool because of that. I’m well on my way, and I feel like it’s because of these promotions and things that I did early on to get this sort of groundswell right off the bat.”

Also see: Is Paying for Facebook Ads Worth the Money?

A Facebook Following Can Be a Targeted Tool

make money on facebook business promotions bulletZambai is living proof that offering Facebook users some reward for spreading news of your business is a great way to get the word out about a business. An added benefit of using this method is that it’s more likely to hit the right kind of audience. For instance, since Zambai is selling Bullet Bouquets and since gun enthusiasts are his most likely target customer group, those are the people who are most likely to share his promotions with their friends. Since their friends are in turn likely to share their interest in firearms, those shares will have more value than a simple, non-targeted share or ad. In other words, using this method of rewarding Facebook users with a discount on his product, Zambai was able to reach a lot more people who would be interested in buying what he’s selling.

Zambai goes on to say that he would highly recommend using Facebook promotions that reward customers for sharing news about a product or a business, but he adds that the same approach can work on any social media platform.

“So that’s one thing that I would definitely recommend is social marketing promotions. You don’t have to use Facebook. You can use Instagram, you can use Twitter, you can use Reddit. People like that cleverness. They like the idea that you’re a little company and you’re trying creative things, because the internet allows you to do it. Maybe nobody’s ever done exactly that little promotion before but you’re going to try it and that gives you a little bit of respect.”

Also see: How This Man Built a Business with Reddit in 3 Days and Quit His Job