We live in a time and place where our relevance and popularity can be measured by our number of Facebook fans or social media followers.
As a business owner it looks and feels better to have 500 Facebook fans instead of 50. With that said, have you ever wondered how many of your fans are actually paying attention to your posts? Is Facebook worth your time, and are your posts hitting the mark?
The following was discovered in recent benchmark reports from a Facebook analytic tool PageLever:
• 1 out of 50 post views earn a negative response.
• Negative responses most likely result in all your page stories being blocked, which is 60 times more likely than clicking “unlike” on your page.
• Post are more often reported as spam instead of the page being “unliked”.
For every 50 posts you are unsubscribed by 2% of your fans. This doesn’t mean that your number of Facebook fans is shrinking necessarily, but that the number of those fans hiding from you without your knowledge is growing.
If you were to make one post a day every day for one full year, 15% of your fans would be hiding from you by year’s end. Why is this happening? And what can you do to keep your fans engaged?
Don’t feel discouraged! Just a few tweaks in your approach moving forward will make a world of difference. It’s time to take the blinders off and focus on maximizing fan engagement instead of fan count. Are we giving our fans relevant brand content, setting frequency expectations and offering them the things they care about? Here are a few tips to keep your fans loyal and engaged.
1. Quality over quantity: Your current Facebook fans are just that…your current fans. Some of them are hiding from you and some are not. Focus your efforts on your fans who are actually paying attention or engaging you, post the kinds of content that they are responding to over time. This will grow the quantity of your qualified fans.
2. Frequency doesn’t always sell: Your Facebook fan page is not a traditional form of advertising like radio, TV or print. Set consistent frequency expectations for your fans. This can be done by posting once a day at the same time of day. Think about the time you most often visit your page, or look at the times when your most engaged followers are visiting…post then.
3. Talk the talk: When you make a post be sure that it reads the way you would talk to someone. For example, if you own a flower shop you are by no stretch of the imagination a professional copy writer, so you don’t need to sound like one…..post the way YOU talk. Your fans like you for a reason.
4. Own your brand: Your fans do not want to hear your political views. They are not a fan of your page to be entertained, unless your brand is entertaining. Be sure to keep all of your posts in line with your brand. Keep your fans up to date with product trends, new products or services, your promotions, events etc.
5. Ask for feedback: As a good rule of thumb you should post at least one poll on your page per quarter. This poll should ask your fans what they want to see more of from you. Measuring your products or services this way is very beneficial as well.
Finally, be sure to have fun. While marketing is a serious subject when it comes to the success of your business, we are still talking about Facebook. Don’t take yourself too seriously, stick to the fundamental tips above and treat your fans to a great page that they will want to engage over the long run.
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