I was recently pulled into a group on Facebook; the primary intention is to get more “likes” for the pages of small business owners.We'll all “like” each other’s pages and then we'll have lots of fans!
Would you believe that I don't want your “likes”? It’s true. I don't need fans that are never going to pay any attention to what I have to say. What’s the point?
So go ahead and “like” a bunch of pages that you have no interest in and get back a lot of empty “likes” in return. The ratio between “likes” and “talking about this” for your page will deteriorate even further. Is that what you want?
A long time ago I read that the average “talking about this” was around 3% to 4%. That’s pitiful! Facebook doesn't make it easier since they only show your page to a very low percentage of fans.
Who do you really want to “like” your page? Think about it:
- People who have a genuine interest in your product or service
- People who will engage with your posts
- People that fit your demographic target
Of course you know all that already; it’s in your marketing plan! What? No marketing plan. Okay perhaps it is time to write one!
Oh and for the record I'll stick with the Facebook group. It was created by a friend. I'm hoping to turn things around in there a bit and have people share their social media issues, frustrations, and questions and have intelligent discussions instead. Sadly, it appears to have turned into a sales bulletin board "buy my cupcakes!" "I make handicrafts" etc. No people, this is not what it's all about about!
Dan Fogelberg sang about plans back in the 70’s (see below); how are your plans going? If you need any assistance with your strategic plans and marketing needs, stop by our website, or stop by on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. There's no obligation to "like", "follow", or "+1".
4 comments:
You call the average "talking about this" of 3 to 4 % "pitiful," but the response rate on direct mail, in its heyday, was 1 to 2 %. Social Media has *doubled* the response rate for marketers. I don't see anything pitiful about that.
I see the benefit of garnering likes... 4 percent of 1,000 is a lot more than 4 percent of 100. And because of the herd mentality people have, if they see a lot of people like your page, they are more apt to "like" it, too. And that person just could be the one who, after seeing your content, converts. Or maybe one of his friends will see *his* like... like your page, too, and turn into a sale or an engagement.
I see what you are saying: Quality over Quantity. But I don't see any reason we can't have both.
Having a herd of 1000 people who never respond to your post simply isn't quality, Dawn! However, I never said that the # of fans shouldn't grow...only that the quality is most important. Would rather have 200 fans with 100 of them actively responding than 1,000 fans with fewer than 100 responding.
I'd love "likes" and engagement from folks who really like my pages. That being said, some music contests are based on growth of likes, not engagement. So I'm working both...
totally agree with you, how refreshing! I'm often the lone voice on forum threads, people say I'm being unfriendly *sigh* but what is the point of just gathering empty numbers?
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