Toasters, Cooties, Gas Prices, and You.

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Subtitle: The Little Toaster That Could Heat Up Shares and Amplify.


As the number of fans on my Facebook Groovy Reflections page grows, I continue to be amazed by some of the stats there. My east coast admins were messaging with excitement about a particular post back in June and the number of shares it had since the original posting. 


I had to take a look.

What the HECK? Was this little toaster the cause of the sudden leaps and bounds in new fans over the past few days? How in the word can something be shared over 1,700 times?  Hey, I’m not complaining, but I question whether or not this number is correct.


Taking a quick review of posts over the past few days, I DID notice high share numbers that were more realistic, but very high for the page, like this one which at 124 may have been a record for the page in mid-June (if you don't count the toaster post):

And believe it or not, Cooties have been very good to us! I happened to spot the game at a flea market recently and took a quick pic with my phone:

135 shares! So what’s up, Facebook?


Ah...the power of amplification via sharing is spreading the news. 


Dedicated fans share the posts with friends, they like what they see, and they check out your page. What’s the basis of all that? Content. Content.  CONTENT. You need to understand who your audience is and what they expect from you. Do you need to survey them to find out?


No. 


But there is research involved. Observe them. Pay attention to which posts they enjoy. Note of caution: There are a lot of factors involved as far as how successful a post is. Here are just a few things to think about:

• Content. Number one. The post has got to be good. Engaging. Entertaining. Clever. Even mind blowing!
• Time of day. Before work. After work. In the evening. 
• Weather. If the weather’s bad, people are indoors and possibly on the internet. Sundays in Winter are great for engaging with fans!
• Boredom. Don’t know what to do with your time? Oh, I’ll just pop into Facebook for a few minutes. Two hours later, you’re still there and making the rounds of your favorite pages again and again.
• Whether or not Facebook shares your post on fan's newsfeeds.

You get the idea.


Meanwhile the pages “talking about this” numbers have plummeted from a high of 745,000 to just under 100,000. Still a healthy number. Where’s the next toaster? The Viewmaster post yesterday may be the start of a climb up again: 

Can I tell you what makes a post viral? No. Again, I'll just stress the importance of getting to know your audience. Pay attention to them. And be patient. And my observations of putting the word share directly on a photo are inconclusive at this point.


In celebration of posts gone viral and toast, here's a classic tune where the bread was tanned and hopefully not burned. I'll take mine with jelly please.


Oh, and ...say hello! There's the website, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ ...I'll say Hi back.