If you’ve done any marketing on Facebook recently, then you’ve probably seen both successful fan pages & not-so-successful fan pages. You’ve seen pages that are crushing it & pages that are full-on ghost towns.
So there must be some sort of “secret” to successful Facebook pages, right?
That’s what I set out to discover when I asked a few friends of mine — who happen to be Facebook experts — a simple question.
I asked them:
What’s the #1 Secret of Successful Facebook Pages?
Brian Carter
The people running the page should understand Facebook is a new & different type of marketing & adjust their strategy accordingly.
This is much easier when your company is small or a one-person-show.
Bigger brands face internal obstacles like coordinating the people doing posting & ads (for both insights gained from ads as tests & for ad folks to be able to create good long-running post promotions) and maybe even getting a budget for Facebook ads.
Not to mention the scenario where a company’s normal brand positioning doesn’t fit with what works best on Facebook.
Some companies haven’t fully integrated search marketing — though they should have been doing this at least 5 years ago. So as they try to integrate social marketing they run into the same issues that haven’t been resolved in search marketing — things like inflexible budgets chosen a year ahead of time, or learning how their customers respond on a monthly rather than annual basis.
It often seems like new Internet-based companies have an advantage over traditional rivals here.
But it’s not just the tools, or the youth of the people involved. It’s also that the new companies aren’t stuck in old paradigms & strategies that were created for other advertising & marketing mediums.
Brian Moran
The #1 Secret is custom tabs.
There’s no call-to-action on a fan page until you add one. You should do this using a custom tab. Use custom tabs to collect leads, or sell products & services.
You should be driving all fans and non-fans to a custom tab where you can actually monetize all the effort you’re putting into your fan page.
Without that, you’re flat out wasting your time.
Ravi Shukle
My number #1 secret is to be human & transparent with your fans.
How can you humanise your brand? Here are the top 3 ways:
- Sign of comments with your name – Your fans like to feel like they’re talking to a real person, not a logo. Signing off with your name lets you build a personal relationship with your audience.
- Tone of voice – When talking to your fans, avoid using corporate jargon. Use a more personal tone they can relate to. For example, use the fan’s first name in conversations.
- Create conversation — When commenting & replying to fans, instead of just Liking comments or offering a 1-word reply, start a conversation & ask them “why” they like the post. Or when replying to a query, ask if there’s anything else they need help with. This increases both interaction & trust.
How can your brand be transparent? Here are 3 great ways:
- Share your plans – Keep your fans in the loop & give them behind the scenes access. This builds trust & engagement as fans feel like they’re part of the process.
- Invite fans to help make decisions – Don’t be afraid to get feedback from your fans. They’re your target market so you should value their opinions like gold. Ask multiple choice questions or give them a choice via an image e.g. Logo A or B?
- Take your fans on the journey with you – Take advantage of Facebook’s milestones feature & share your company’s history with your fans. Taking your fans on this journey with you helps build affinity with your brand.
Do these 6 things on your fan page & start enjoying a deeper & more engaging relationship with your fans.
Mike Stenger
As much as understanding Edgerank is important, it all comes down to great content.
You can know all the ins & outs of making sure your posts reach more of your audience — but if the content is lacking in any way, it won’t matter.
Mike Gingerich
I feel the #1 Secret of Successful Facebook Pages is engaging content.
This means posts & apps on the page that spur fan interaction & sharing. There no way to succeed on Facebook that skips focusing on content.
Since Facebook users are less prone to return to a page after becoming a fan, content in the News Feed that captures attention & invites comments, Likes & Shares is critical.
While apps & promotions on tabs are key ways to add further engagement to a page, the means of alerting users to a promotion on Facebook is largely via posts.
Since Facebook moved to Timeline in 2012, the News Feed has become integral to the user experience on Facebook. Brands that are succeeding are finding inviting & innovative ways to interact with their community in the News Feed, which in turn, extends their page’s reach.
Content in the News Feed can & should vary — and the best interactive Pages know this. From images to videos to update posts that drive traffic to promotion apps, thinking strategically about content is essential for success on Facebook for any brand.
Conclusion
Great responses here from 5 guys who know what they’re talking about when it comes to Facebook — and social media, in general.
Hopefully you can take away some nuggets from this little experiment and apply them to your page.
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Source – [PostPlanner]
