Demystifying
Facebook Fan Pages
Fan Count, Engagement, and a Report on
the State of CFX Facebook Fan Pages
By Mark Nichol T. Turija
Why the
Need,
Anyway?
Challenge #1:
How to attract quality fans.
Challenge #2:
How to make fans talk.
Every business these days has a Facebook Fan Page. With a Fan Page, what challenges lie ahead? According to Amy Potterfield, author of Facebook Marketing All-in-One for Dummies,
But why the need for many
fans? Isn’t just having an
FB Fan Page enough?
Fan count matters because
• A business’ fan count acts as
social proof.
• A business’ fan count can attract
new fans.
• A solid fan base can actually
increase your traffic.
The Need
for Fans
The popular inbound
marketing website, HubSpot,
recently did a study of 4,000
small businesses.
It was found out that
• Small businesses that had over 500 fans saw 3.5 times more traffic than those Pages with less than 500 fans.
• Fan Pages with over 1,000 Fans had 22 times more traffic than those with less than 1,000 Fans.
Thus, as a small business, it’s worth your time and energy to focus on growing a quality fan base.
Hubspot
Study
How are our Facebook
Fan Pages doing in terms
of Fan Count? (Data as of 26 June, 2012)
How are
We
Faring?
1,920
Likes
586
Likes
1,029
Likes
1,072
Likes
142
Likes
All CFX Fan Pages were started in September 2011.
Now, let’s take a look at
how our competitors are
faring in their Fan Pages (Data as of 26 June, 2012)
Looking
at the
Enemy
Est.: Sep. 2, 2009
4,644 fans Est.: July 28, 2008
14,784 fans Est.: April 1, 2011
5,459 fans
Getting
Quality
Fans
• The paid way – Facebook engagement ads are a surefire way of growing a quality fan base quickly.
– Promote your posts.
Getting fans is the first challenge
businesses must face when
setting up a FB Fan Page. Not
just any fans, but quality fans.
FB
Ads Take note that you are not running ads that are linking to external pages, say a sales page outside of FB,
Facebook engagement ads are
ads that promote and increase
the exposure of your
Facebook Page.
but you’re
keeping your
target audience
inside FB, while
driving them to
your Fan Page.
Post
Promotion
You can also
promote
particular posts
so they would
appear in the
Home Pages of
all your
contacts (F&F).
Getting
Quality
Fans
The free way: Use your other
mediums of reaching to
customers and attract them to
your FB page.
Getting
Quality
Fans
The free way: Use your other
mediums of reaching to
customers and attract them to
your FB page.
Engaging
the
Fans • Facebook uses an
algorithm to score engagement activities.
• Without getting too deep into it, they monitor if people are engaging or are engaged with your posts.
Now that the fan base is built up,
no one may still be talking. How
do I get people to actually engage
with me on my Facebook Page?
Engaging
the
Fans
Tip #1: Ask the
right questions. • You’ve probably heard that you can get fans talking on your
Facebook Page if you ask them questions.
• That may not be always true.
• Yes, questions are a great way to get fans talking, however there is
a right way and a wrong way to ask questions on Facebook.
Example: On Mother’s Day, an NGO posted a question on their
Facebook Page, which reads:
“What’s your favorite story about your mom?”
Engaging
the
Fans Two people posted a comment to share their story.
If the post were, say, “What’s one word that best describes your
mom,” fans would have been more likely to post a comment.
Since our attention span is extremely short on Facebook, it’s
important to think of the response to your question before you
post it. If it takes a lot of time and thought to answer your
questions, your fans are less likely to engage.
The easier you make your questions, the better your fan
engagement.
People talk with the
right questions.
Engaging
the
Fans
Tip #2: Make sure
to mix things up.
Of course, you should talk about your industry and your
business, but it’s also important to throw some fun in there
too.
Most people on Facebook are not necessarily there to talk
business, so make sure to not only focus on the business.
For CFX posting, since we post five times a week, it would
be great to do a non-tech-related post once or twice a
week, preferably on a Monday or a Friday, or both days.
Engaging
the
Fans
Tip #3: Establish a
Personal Connection.
Use first names.
Using your fans names can go a long
way in growing real relationships.
This small gesture makes people feel
heard and adds a personal touch.
Engaging
the
Fans
Tip #4: Make sure your
fans know you’re paying
attention.
Imagine this: You call up a friend and
when she answers the phone, you
say, ‘Hey! How are you doing?’ And
right when she begins to answer, you
hang up on her.
That would be weird, right?
Engaging
the
Fans
Don’t leave fans
out in the cold.
Hang-ups happen all the time.
Monitor your posts to respond to fan comments
in real-time as much as possible.
When you add value beyond your posts,
meaning adding richness in the conversations
your posts elicit, you are well on your way of
turning your fans into loyal customers.
FB
Tools
To be fair to FB, it has some
tools that allow FB Page
admins to know how their
pages are faring.
Inside
Insights Overview
Inside
Insights Page Posts
Engaging
the
Fans
Tip #5: Engagement in regular intervals.
Make sure that you engage your fans and
posts in your Fan Page in regular intervals
(once a day, recommended)
Failure to do so will only mess FB’s
algorithm, which will cause your page to
be ignored anytime you post/limit the
number of fans who see your posts.
Time is
of the
Essence
What to Do
and Not in FB
Engagement
Consider
This…
What Gets
People
Engaged?
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