How Facebook applies to Businesses… and Cats

Facebook is for sharing pictures of cats.  And making money.

It’s no mystery that the internet is an important (dare I say – MOST important) media for marketing.  If the internet were a house, Facebook would be the bedroom, as in that’s where the most time is being spent.  In fact, you probably see the end of a paragraph as an opportune time to check your most recent Facebook post for new likes. Go on, we can wait.

Welcome back. Check out this chart posted by the Wall Street Journal:

Today, most business don’t really question whether or not to have a Facebook presence, instead it’s often I have a Facebook page, now what?  How can I tell if it’s working? Am I doing it right?  How do I get more friends?  What’s a poke? Do I have to accept my Aunt’s friend request?  There is so much to be learned about Facebook and it keeps evolving, so don’t expect to become an online marketing guru after reading a couple of blog posts.

Quantifying marketing results (or in most cases, the lack thereof) seems to be a common reason businesses let their Facebook campaigns fizzle out or don’t even attempt them in the first place.  There are several ways to gauge success on Facebook, number of fans for starters, but the bottom line is to look at how Facebook is increasing profit.  Determining ROI with Facebook could be a little more complicated than just looking at your number of fans.

Facebook has integrated stats of their own, but if you want to dig a little deeper, there are applications out there that have made a science out of Facebook analytics. PolyGraph and DachisGroup have both released apps that give you a deeper insight into your Facebook page.  They boast the ability to identify your top fans and benchmark yourself against your competitors.   They provide graphs to help you determine where to focus your efforts and figure out how to rate the success of your Facebook page.

If you’re going to run a paid Facebook ad campaign, you’re going to want to get the most bang for your buck, so these applications and services (Webtrends is another) are worth looking into.  For the business that hasn’t convinced the bossman that Facebook isn’t just a thing teenagers are talking about, or for the business that doesn’t have a social media budget, here are some general things we’ve noticed on our own Facebook page.

What’s the best time to post?

For us, posts in the morning get shared less, while posts weeknights get shared the most.

Fans!

It’s been easy to spot our biggest fans (they consistently like our posts and share them), consider commenting or liking the item after they share it on their own wall, just to give them a little Hey, I saw what you did there and I like it.  Showing a little appreciation might encourage that fan to share more.

How much should you post?

Don’t post too much, or people will unsubscribe from your feed.  How much is too much?  Personally, I would suggest limiting yourself to one post a day for starters.

Should I share work-related posts on my own Wall?

That’s something to decide on a case-by-case basis.  If you do decide to share a work-related post on your own wall, try to keep the post staggered from the time it was originally posted.  That will help maintain maximum exposure on people’s Facebook feeds.

How to get more shares/likes.

The better the content, the more the shares (duh) If you are having little to no success using Facebook to market your business or product, consider the quality of your posts. Are they garbage?  Put yourself in the shoes of your customer… Would you still share it?

The optimal time of day might be different for your business, but after a few weeks of posts, it shouldn’t be a difficult thing to determine.  Most importantly, be mindful of your Facebook page.  Treat it like a brand new bonsai tree… keep it alive, don’t let it shrivel up and die.

Also, if accepting your Aunt’s friend request prevents some awkwardness come Christmas, I’d suggest doing it.  You can always hit unsubscribe once the first picture of her cat pops up in your feed.  She doesn’t know the internet has enough cats.  Just kidding.

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