Stop Posting for Nothing: How to Get Sales from Facebook

Your Facebook Posts Are Being Ignored (And It’s Not Your Fault)

I’m going to be blunt: if you are a business owner in Brisbane spending hours every week coming up with "engaging" posts for your Facebook page, you are likely wasting your time.

Ten years ago, if you had 1,000 people following your business page and you posted a photo of a completed job, 500 or 600 of them would see it. Today? You’re lucky if 20 people see it. Facebook has turned down the volume on business pages so low that you’re basically shouting into a shoe box.

I’ve sat down with sparkies in Coorparoo and cafe owners in Paddington who are frustrated because they’ve been told they "need to be on social media," yet they haven't seen a single phone call or booking from it in months.

The "free ride" of organic reach is dead. But that doesn't mean social media is useless. It just means the way you’ve been told to use it is wrong.

Here is the reality of what actually makes money for a small business in today's market.

Why Your Posts Don’t Show Up Anymore

Facebook and Instagram are businesses. They want two things: to keep people on their app for as long as possible, and to make money from ads.

When you post a boring update about your holiday trading hours or a generic "Happy Monday" graphic, Facebook knows your followers aren't going to care. So, they don't show it to them. Even when you post something good, they’d rather you pay a few dollars to "boost" it so they can hit their profit targets.

Most business owners fall into the trap of "posting for the sake of posting." They think if they stay active, customers will magically appear. They won't. If you want to see results, you need to stop chasing likes and start focusing on turning Facebook into sales.

Case Study: The Landscaper Who Stopped Wasting Time

Let’s look at a real example. We worked with a landscaping business on the Northside. For a year, the owner’s wife spent three hours every Sunday night scheduling posts for the week. They shared tips on lawn care, photos of plants, and the occasional "quote of the day."

The Result: Average likes per post: 3 (usually the owner, his wife, and his mum). Enquiries from Facebook: Zero. Cost: 150+ hours of unpaid labour per year.

Instead of five mediocre posts a week, we had them post one high-quality video every fortnight showing a "before and after" of a backyard transformation in Ascot. Then, we put a small budget—just $10 a day—behind that video to show it only to homeowners within a 10km radius of their current job site.

The New Result: The phone started ringing within 48 hours. They booked three site consultations in the first week. They stopped wasting Sunday nights on useless posts.

What Actually Works in 2024?

If you want to grow your business, you need to ignore 90% of the "social media advice" you read online. Here are the three things that actually move the needle for a local Brisbane business.

1. Video is the Only Way to Get "Free" Views

But don't just film anything. Show yourself solving a problem. If you’re a plumber, show a blocked drain being cleared. If you’re a lawyer, answer one common question about wills. When you use video for sales, you build trust before you even pick up the phone. People buy from people they feel they already know.

2. Pay to Play (The Smart Way)

You can tell Facebook: "Show this specific offer to every person over the age of 30 who lives in Chermside." That is incredibly powerful. However, most people mess this up by clicking the "Boost Post" button and letting Facebook keep the change. You need to be smarter about it. You can actually fix your ads without increasing your budget just by being more specific about who sees them.

3. Use "Social Proof" as Your Salesman

When people see that their neighbours in Carindale or Bulimba are using you and are happy, their guard drops. This is the most underrated way to get more enquiries.

How Much Will This Cost?

Let's talk brass tacks.

The "Free" Path: This costs you time. You need to spend at least 2-3 hours a week filming and editing simple videos on your phone. If your time is worth $100/hr to your business, this is costing you $300 a week. The "Paid" Path: For most local service businesses, a budget of $15 - $30 a day is plenty to dominate your local suburb. That’s roughly $450 - $900 a month.

If one new customer is worth $2,000 to you, and a $500 ad spend brings in two customers, you've made a massive profit. That’s how you need to look at it. It’s not a cost; it’s an investment in a customer-finding machine.

How Long Until You See Results?

Unlike SEO (which can take months), social media is fast.

Ads: You can see phone calls and messages within 24 to 48 hours of an ad going live. Video: If a video "hits," you’ll see a spike in enquiries within a week. Organic Posting: If you keep doing what you’re doing (posting photos without a plan), you will likely never* see a result.

What Should You Do First?

1. Stop the bleed: Stop spending time on posts that get no likes and no comments. If it hasn't worked for the last six months, it won't work for the next six. 2. Film one thing: Tomorrow, take your phone out and film 30 seconds of a job you're proud of. Explain what you did and why it helps the customer. 3. Test a small ad: Take $100 and spend it over 5 days to show that video to people in your local area. Put your phone number in the caption.

The Bottom Line

Most of what you hear about "social media marketing" is rubbish designed for big brands like Coca-Cola or Nike. You aren't them. You are a local business that needs the phone to ring so you can pay your staff and grow your profit.

Stop worrying about "reach" and start worrying about leads. If a post doesn't have a clear path to making you money, don't post it.

At Local Marketing Group, we help Brisbane businesses cut through the noise and actually get a return on their marketing spend. We don't care about vanity metrics; we care about your bank balance.

Ready to stop wasting time and start getting more customers? Contact Local Marketing Group today.