Facebook company pages have been around for a while now – long enough for us marketers to start to pinpoint what works and what doesn’t. What we’ve learned is what we’ve expected to see; the successes on Facebook have been those who do what just makes sense. In fact, the rules for Facebook success are more of what not to do than tips on what to do. By disciplining your page admins on these tips, you’ll be able to build not only likes, but also active fans.
1. Provide value to your audience. Think of what you as a visitor look forward to seeing when you log on. The posts you put on your page need to be enjoyable, even if you step outside of industry expertise every now and then. Our most popular post on the Imagine page was a meme on The Princess Bride – who would’ve known?
2. Build a conversation. Some pages – namely ones from news sites – achieve a lengthy list of comments by posting scandalous news. Unfortunately, it works. You don’t need to take that route; the idea here is to introduce an interesting topic, or to ask a question about things your audience cares about. It could be community-, industry-, or even 80’s cartoon-related. The goal here is to increase dialogue with your fans; building involvement, shares, and ultimately, more fans.
3. Stay interesting. When you post, ask yourself if it’s something that you’d like to see? If not, can it. On that note, it’s important that you post news and start conversations that focus on their interests, not yours. Sadly, it may be much less about how great your company is, and more about what’s going on in the world outside of it (politics, weather, etc.).
4. Post regularly. Daily status updates are an ideal minimum. Don’t get carried away, though – no one goes on Facebook to get a feed full of one company’s content. And very few people read lengthy text updates; so don’t be afraid to keep it short.
5. Lay off the jargon. While a select few may get what you’re talking about, the idea is to make the page welcoming to a broader audience. The fewer acronyms, the better.
6. Use your Insights. Test out types of content (news vs. commentary vs. pop culture, etc.) and review the time of day you post. Facebook makes this information readily available, and you can further your research with Google Analytics when sharing pages or blog articles from your own site. While most companies experience a greater amount of engagement in the evening, yours may not be the case. Try different times and days of the week to find your sweet spot.
Finally, understand that your audience is in complete control of the success of your page. By nurturing a strong, active following, you’ll be able to turn your Facebook company page into a strong marketing machine.
