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?