Blog Archives
Why Engagement Matters on Social Media
Engagement, not Fans, is the most important metric on social media today. Your social media engagement score is what gets your content in front of the most people. Many business owners struggle with this concept. They want to reach thousands (if not millions) of people with their content, so it seems only logical that they need thousands of fans/followers, right?
Wrong.
If you have taken a social media workshop with me, then you have probably heard this story, but it is worth reading again. I had a client who wanted to dominate her competition on social media. But her services were only available if you walked into her place of business. Online sales were not possible. When I started with her, she had 3,000+ fans on Facebook™ but no one was engaging (likes, comments, shares) or taking advantage of her Facebook-exclusive offers. Facebook was also not referring people to her website, which is a good metric to watch. She told me she wanted more fans. Upon reviewing her Facebook business page, it was immediately obvious what was wrong… 3,000 of her fans were in Sri Lanka. She was in California and only about 30 of her followers were within 25 miles of her front door. Her last social media marketing agency had been buying junk followers. For a business that can only provide services in person, this was detrimental. Why? Because Facebook uses your engagement score to organically distribute your content.
Facebook’s goal is to keep people on Facebook. That will only happen if they are engaging with content.
Here’s how it works:
First Scenario – I write a post to a business page on Facebook with 3,000 followers. Over the past 7 days, no one has liked, commented, or shared a post, so Facebook immediately sees this content as invaluable; people don’t like it. The engagement score from the last 7 days is virtually zero. The post might go to 10 people in an attempt to get a like, which no one does, so this cycle will continue.
Second Scenario – I write a post to a business page on Facebook with 300 followers. Over the past 7 days, I’ve had 150 engagements (likes, comments, and/or shares). The engagement score for this page is 50% which is much, much higher than the average; people love the content from this page. As a result of the high engagement score, Facebook will organically place this new post in front of more people which can be even more people than your number of followers. The post might go to 450 people right out of the gate – and that’s keeping in mind that not all of your 300 followers are even logging into Facebook that day. These non-followers who are seeing your content will easily convert into new followers.
This second scenario demonstrates why engagement matters on social media: if your content is making the users of the social media platform happy and gets them engaging with likes, comments, and shares, then they will continue to spend more time on the platform, which enables them to see more ads and generates revenue for the social media platform. So get out there and engage with your followers!
Ready to engage your audience on Facebook? Join my Social Media Engagement Club for Facebook!
Be sure to subscribe to receive more great social media marketing information!
How To Join Someone Else’s Group With Your Facebook Page
Something exciting has happened on Facebook for business owners – Pages can now join Groups as members!
Previously, Pages could be linked to a Group, but only a Page owned by the Group owner could be linked, so basically, I could make a group all about social media marketing and link my business Page for Chicadita to it. It would be shown in the ‘about’ section of the group.
But managing a Group on Facebook is a lot of work and many small business owners really just wanted to join the Group as a participant, not run the whole show. Now, you can! There are some limitations, though. The biggest limitation to joining a Facebook Group as a business Page is that the Group administrator(s) must allow Pages to join in the settings.
This will most likely be found in public Groups, so as a business owner wanting to join a Group, that’s what you’ll want to look for to avoid this hurdle as much as possible.
How to Join Someone Else’s Group As Your Facebook Page:
Step 1 – Find a group that is accepting Pages
Use the global search bar in Facebook to search for a group topic that would be a good place for your business page to join in on the discussion. If you don’t understand the global search bar, sign up for my Facebook for Beginners online workshop here.
When checking for the Group’s permissions for Pages, look to see if it is a Public Group on the upper-left side. Currently, because this feature is SO new, when I hover my mouse over the ‘Join Group’ button, I also get a pop-up that lets me know this group is open to Pages.
Step 2 – Join as your Page
Click on the ‘Join Group’ button and you’ll get a pop-up asking how you want to join the Group. From here, select your business Page and continue.
Step 3 – Wait for Approval
After you submit your join request, you may find that some Groups have questions for you to answer about why you want to join – be sure you answer them! If the group requires approval, you’ll have to wait and see if you are let in.
Currently, if you are already in a group, you can look to see if this ‘Join Group’ button is appearing. If it doesn’t appear, you probably cannot join the group as your Page. Other social media people have suggested leaving the group and trying again, but in my experience, I will see the ‘Join Group’ button if I am already in the Group personally and want to add a Page. This is a very new feature, so expect some hiccups and changes as Facebook refines the feature. Have fun!
Navigating Social Presence In Social Media (on LinkedIn Pulse)
Social media channels are in every niche and new ones seem to pop-up overnight, which is dizzying for even the most nimble of small business owners. Like many, you probably did not go into business because you enjoy running the operations side of things – you went into business for yourself to do what you love. I hear this from all business owners: from doctors who just want to treat people to crafters selling hand-knit socks on Etsy. But it’s important to earn a living while doing what you love, right? And so you may find yourself wearing the hat of your own marketing agent trying to navigate the rough seas of social media. Not to worry – I’m here to help you with a compass and map. Read the rest of this entry
An F.A.Q. on Twitter Best Practices in a Social Media Marketing Strategy
Every social media workshop I present at, I get the same few questions from new and wide-eyed students eager to unravel the mysteries of social media marketing. But what has always struck me as interesting is the order in which I hear the platform names inquired about. Twitter is often in the first two platforms mentioned despite the fact that at my Social Media for Small Business Owners workshops I rarely have a student who actually needs to implement Twitter in their marketing strategy.
The following F.A.Q. is going to address the questions I get asked most often. These may not necessarily be the best questions to ask about Twitter and implementing it in your social media marketing strategy, but that really isn’t the point of an F.A.Q., is it? Majority rules. Read the rest of this entry
