When I first started out in Social Media marketing, Facebook was easy to get along with. All you had to do was get people to notice and like your page, they saw every post that you made and as they were hungry for anything mildly interesting, they would engage with you. Their friends would notice this engagement, would also like your page and so it would grow, easy peasy.... Today, Facebook is a busy metropolis, in fact it is so crowded that they have had to reduce what fans see in their newsfeed.
With these changes, engagement and interaction from fans has noticeably decreased. While I was struggling with all sorts of tactics to regain the engagement of old, it suddenly dawned on me, it's not all about reach and engagement! It's what is happening behind the scenes that really matters.
At Askew Vision, we manage all kinds of Facebook pages from Authors to Government Agencies, this gave me a unique opportunity to really look at what was happening within the various target audiences. As I studied further, I found that people were opening photos and clicking through links but were doing so in silence. Why was this, I wondered? Then came my second Eureka moment, maybe they don't want everyone to know what they are doing, they were still interested but were avoiding public interaction! I looked at the pages which we manage like a Breast Cancer network and a Spiritual Healer, both of which have a lot of interest but very little public engagement. This pattern was continued through with pages like Mortgage Brokers, where people most likely wanted to keep their interest private.
So if people aren't saying anything, how can you tell that your Facebook marketing is effective?
Facebook Insights:
Take particular note of the top figure in Post Engagement, this shows how many people were interested enough to click on the content.
Look at the number of Visits, if the numbers are reasonable, this will mean that people are actually coming to your page and looking, even if they take no action.
Click through and browse the People section. Are the demographics (age, sex, location) a good fit for your product or service? If not, perhaps you need to change your tactics a little.
Google Analytics:
This excellent free application gives you a wealth of information on what is happening within your website. Take a close look at the Social category taking note of where the traffic is coming from. Make sure that you are getting visits via Facebook.
Blog Analytics:
If you have a blog, also look through and check where your traffic is coming from and where it is getting shared.
Facebook is constantly changing and if you want to be there, you will have to go with the flow and adjust your marketing to suit. Most of all remember that Facebook is a happy social space, so have fun and enjoy being there.
You may also enjoy: How to create a Facebook "Call to Action " button
