Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Building Your Core Facebook Fan Base


So you’ve just started a Facebook page for your business, or maybe you’ve been on Facebook for awhile, and you have a decent number of fans but very little engagement. What do you do? Well, firstly, know you aren’t alone. A new study by Napkin Labs (a Facebook app developer that works with brands and agencies) shows that on average only 6% of fans engage with brands. However, this doesn’t mean you should give up! Instead, read on to find out a few key tips for raising your brand’s Facebook engagement…

It’s important to mention, before delving into some tips, that the study by Napkin Labs (as well as several other studies conducted over the years) found that the more Facebook fans a page has, the lower the percentage of engaged fans. Therefore, instead of focusing on getting as many fans as possible, you want to attract and engage a core group of devoted fans (Napkin Labs aptly calls them “superfans”). If these core group of fans are effectively engaged – read on for our tips/tricks for this – your social reach will expand as their interaction with you is shared with their friends. Over time, this will build a Facebook fan base that is interested in your brand, but that wants to be actively engaged.

Our favorite analogy is that Facebook is not one of the places where being the “cool” kid with all of the friends/acquaintances necessarily gets your brand the valuable interaction - like generating sales or attracting new clients - that it needs.

Alright, on to the tips…

1.     Post brand relevant material, but not always just about your brand
a.     This doesn’t always have to be directly related to your product, remember, Facebook is not largely about push marketing. For example, a home builder could post recipes for cooking in your new kitchen.
b.     Be careful to keep posts relevant – if you are a cupcake store, don’t post about your favorite shoes (unless you can relate it back)!

2.     Use lots of pictures
a.     Pictures not only do well on Facebook’s algorithm, they also are more attractive to the eye than just text.
b.     Make sure that you have a short text blurb to go along with the picture

3.     If you want people to like or share your content, tell them
a.     The best way to get engagement is to ask for it; for example, “Would you LIKE to come home to this car in your driveway?” “Help us spread the word, share this post with all your friends!”

4.     Express your appreciation frequently
a.     Tell them how much you love them engaging and being your fans! Anything from “Happy Friday! We just wanted to take a moment to say how much we APPRECIATE you!” to featuring certain fans on your page (with their permission).
b.     Run a contest or promotion (following Facebook rules and US/State laws, of course) to increase engagement, garner some new likes, but mainly to reward your core group of fans.

5.     Encourage both employees and customers to follow you on Facebook
a.     These are people who are either already dedicated to your brand (employees and loyal customers) or are interested in getting to know your brand better (new customers). They are likely to be part of your core fan base.
b.     They can be encouraged either by directly telling them they should like your page on Facebook, or by placing a Facebook widget prominently on your website and/or putting up a sign in your store.

Still have questions or would like to here some more tips? Let us know in the comments section!

Also, let us know what you think of this post, and/or what you would like to see addressed in future posts.

If you would like to set up a consultation with Constant Raving so we can help you choose the best social media strategy for your business, please contact us at ConstantRaving@mvoc.com or by phone at 919.244.7503. We look forward to hearing from you!

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