How to Activate Your Facebook Community

By Brian Murray

For quite some time the only visible number on Facebook for brand pages was “Likes”. This was the instrument that we used to measure the Facebook presence of every company, small or large. That all changed when Mark Zuckerberg rolled out the “People Talking About” metric. This metric placed a whole new emphasis on engagement and activity with your community. “People Talking About” is the unique number of people who have created a story about your page whether it be clicking “Like” on the page, clicking “Like” or commenting on piece of content, as well as a variety of other actions. This number is the most important number we can currently track on Facebook.

Why Is Engagement Important?
Much to the chagrin of millions of marketers not everything posted by a page on Facebook is seen by all of their fans. I’ve seen statistics that lead me to believe about 10% of fans see any given post. The “People Talking About” number is the best indication of whether or not your content is driving the most interaction. If you are not driving engagement, you are less likely to be seen in the newsfeed.

What Can You Do To Be Seen?

Ways that don’t cost money (but cost time instead)

• Create engaging content with open ended questions or multimedia
• Pictures appear to do much better than blocks of text
• Creating consistent content at least once a day
• Using calls to action including “Tell us about” or “Comment below” will also drive more engagement
• Don’t focus on selling, focus on driving awarness

Paid Exposure

Promoted Posts is the best thing to happen to small businesses on Facebook. We all know that certain updates are more “important” than others. Whether they be created to drive sales, promote a contest, or simply to drive lots of action around an event. This is when Promoted Posts come into play! Most small business communities don’t have huge communities like Neutrogena (client) or Logitech (client). For communities under 10,000 fans you can ensure that 80% – 100% for less than $30! When you use a promoted post to drive conversation and actions with your fans you get the added benefit of being visible to their friends. Whether you are simply trying to get people in the door or wishing them a happy holiday you can engage with your fans by using this tool. Show me a mailing to 2000 people that costs less than $30. There are options to use this ad to both your current fans and also the friends of your current fans. This is perfect for small businesses trying to grow their reach and get their message seen!

Have you ever tried a Promoted Post? What have you loved about it or what is holding you back?