What did I learn?
For those of you who just found out about my year long Facebook experiment or want to get the details about what happened with my social media journey into the land of Facebook – take a look at my last post about what I’ve learned over the year to grow your Facebook fan page.
Like the rest of you, I’m doing my best to post to my fan page and testing out new content and posting times. Some days, I’m happy to see the Likes and comments on my posts and other days, it’s like “Hello? Is there anyone out there?”
If there’s anything I’ve learned from my year-long experiment with Facebook is that consistency is just as important as frequency.
After watching and monitoring, checking and shifting things, I get it now. We can’t control that crazy Facebook algorithm and determine what fan sees what post.
The only thing we can do { without paying a bunch of money! } is post content that our fans will Like, share or even comment. And the more often they engage with our posts, the more often our content will show up in their Facebook home feed.
That’s really it folks – that’s the big Facebook secret.
It’s like this: have you ever noticed that even though you’re friends with over 100 people { or for some of you, this may be hundreds of people! }, you always seem to see the updates from the same people? When I log into Facebook, I almost always see a post from one of these five people – my friend who moved to Atlanta, my old college roommate, my accountability partner, one of the first friends I met when I moved here to Orlando and the mom of one of my son’s friends.
At one time or another, I engaged with these folks in Facebook. I liked a post or carried on a conversation in the comment section.
No matter how it happened, Facebook now thinks that we’re all BFF’s and that I want to see every update status that these people post up on their profile.
You know what I’m talking about, right? Think about your Facebook feed. Doesn’t it seem like you see the same people and their updates all the time but you keep missing out on posts like your niece getting her driver’s license?
The same thing is happening with our fan pages. The more your fans engage with your content, the more often they’ll see your posts in their home feed.
So what did I really learn over the year of my Facebook experiment? As small business owners, we need to stop thinking of those people who hit the Like button as fans.
We need think about them as friends and interact with them more like we would the people who we sent us friend requests.
Just the facts and stats
According to the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Social Media Examiner, Facebook is still the most important social site to business owners. Take a look at some of these stats that I found:
- 93% of business owners are using Facebook.
- Out of that impressive number, 62% plan on increasing and stepping up their efforts on Facebook.
- Ironically though, only 45% of those people actually feel like their Facebook marketing efforts are working.
- So it didn’t surprise me that 68% of people marketing their business still want to learn more about how Facebook and how it works.
Even with all it’s changes and shifts and algorithms, Facebook is still the top choice that small business owners to use in their marketing plans. They know their potential customers are on Facebook so they’re using this social site to connect with more people but they can’t figure out how to make it work.
I was totally in this place before I did my year long Facebook experiment!
I admit, I’m still learning about the different twists and turns in the world of Facebook but I have a better starting place now than where I was when I decided to shut down my old fan page and start a new one.
The Biggest Lesson
My biggest takeaway from spending a year deep into Facebook is this: Consistency goes a long way in growing your connections – and spending a little money doesn’t hurt either.
If there’s anything that this year long Facebook experience has taught me is that “Just post something and run” isn’t a Facebook strategy. You need to be constantly monitoring your messages, posting content that resonates with your fans and connecting with other folks in Facebook groups.
This social site is just like any other marketing program that we manage in our business – it works when you work it.
Insights into what’s working and what’s not
One of the best tools to monitor what’s working with your Facebook fan page is the Insights section. Basically, it’s Facebook’s free analytics feature that allows you to see which posts are being liked, shared and what posts your fans are actually seeing when they log into Facebook.
When you first click into the Insights tab at the top of your fan page, it might seem a bit overwhelming. There’s so much to see, read and scan like your Page Likes, Post Reach and Engagement { oh my! }.
It’s a lot to take in so let me show you which areas you should spend your time with every week to see what’s working with your fan page and what’s just not connecting with your fans.
The first thing you’ll see when you click the Insights tab is the Overview. This gives you a quick recap of what happened with your fan page this week compared to last week. But to get more specific post-level details about what’s really going, scroll down a bit on that page to the section called Your 5 Most Recent Posts and click on the See All Posts link.
See All Posts equals Crunchy Facebook Goodness
When you click that See All button, a magical thing happens. You’ll get a full picture of how your fans are engaging with Facebook.
The first two sections show you the top days your fans log into Facebook and what time of day they’re online.
I use this information to plan what days and times to schedule my Facebook posts. As my fans continue to increase, the days and times have changed so I’ve learned to make slight adjustments to ensure that I’m posting when most of my fans are online.
And then I take my time to review the All Posts Published section.
You’ll see how many people clicked on your post, Liked it and those who shared it with their connections. I use to think that because I wasn’t getting any comments that no one saw my posts BUT this breakdown shows me just how many people are really seeing what I’m posting to my fan page.
Not every post can be a winner – I totally get that. But it’s good to see what content my fans are interested in seeing and learning more about when they click over to my fan page.
Reviewing this section in my Insights has given me direction into what type of content is working and what’s not. I also know what time to schedule my posts. Combine content and times to schedule and I quickly pulled together a Facebook posting routine.
When I check my Insights every month, I’m reminded about what I shared at the beginning of this post – the more you connect the right content with your fans, the more your posts will show up in their home feed.
But just because they hit that Like button once or twice doesn’t mean that they’ll keep seeing your posts. It’s important to make sure that your content continues to resonate with them.
Your posts should mean something to them.
Is your post helping them do something to make their world flow easier? Is it giving them something useful they can use to grow their business? Or is it something as simple a pretty printable planner sheet to help them organize their weekly to-do list?
The more you get to know your fans and their needs, the more you’ll know how to post valuable content that they’ll want to click on and read. You’ll earn the right to show up in their Facebook feed.
What Didn’t Work
I can sum up what didn’t work for me in two words: Paid Ads.
I tried, I really did.
I watched the webinars, grabbed all the worksheets, read the step-by-step guides telling me what to do and I still got stuck. Somewhere between the Power Editor and the pixal thing I’m supposed to drop into my site, I got lost.
I just couldn’t get the Facebook paid ads set up right. I couldn’t get the image worked out to promote my stuff and quite honestly, the whole thing was a struggle.
I did have some moments of success with Promoted Posts { boost posts } and the Paid ‘Like my Page’ thing but I was no where near the 84% of people who regularly use Facebook Ads { 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report } and see success with them.
I’m not saying that I won’t use Facebook ads in the future but the time it takes to figure it out, set it up and monitor the program is just not something I want to spend my valuable time doing. The whole process was such a struggle that I’d feel more comfortable hiring someone to do this Facebook paid ad work for me.
What Did Work
My biggest success with Facebook came from Facebook Groups.
I’ve joined quite a few Facebook Groups. Some of them I found from hearing someone speak on a podcast and others, I discovered from a program or challenge that I joined.
I’m not active in all them. There’s just not enough time in my week to go into every group, read every post, comment or ask questions. So I had to figure out which groups made the most sense for me to add to my weekly to-do list.
Every time I join another Facebook Group, I spend time in that group to get a feel if this Facebook Group is a good fit for me. I read posts and ask myself, “Is this information important for me to know or learn?”
I watch the interaction with the group. Were people asking questions and helping each other? Or were they just dropping a promotional link and running to the next social hit?
And seriously, there’s nothing wrong with the promotional types of groups. I think it’s great that there are Facebook Groups out there that let us share our services and products with others. You just have to decide if that type of group is the place for you.
I have found that the Facebook Groups where I’m most active are the ones that have provided some kind of value for me. A couple are great blogger groups where I can connect with other bloggers and I can share my latest blog post with the group.
And then I have a couple more groups that feel more like an online mastermind community. In these groups, we share our problems or questions and others jump in with suggestions, links and ideas to help you work through your issues.
I’ve made some great connections in these groups. There’s something that happens when you share your struggles from an honest place. It brings a different kind of connection that you don’t get from just someone becoming a fan of your page.
And the more people I connect with, the more people click the Like button and become fans. Then these fans click over to my site and join my email list, giving me the chance to share my products and services with them.
Facebook Groups are what building relationships in social media is all about. This is how we can really see the “social” in social media.
PS What if you could find a way to grow your presence in your social sites? And what if it didn’t add hours to your already crazy day? What if it took just 30 minutes a few times a week?
Click here to learn more how to manage your social sites with the 30 Minute Social Sessions workbook.
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