If you’ve noticed that your business’s Facebook fan page is at an all time low for views and interactions, you are not alone. In fact, 94 to 98 percent of your page’s postings will never see the light of the newsfeed unless you pay to sponsor or promote them. Even before the recent change in Facebook’s relevance algorithms, only about 16 percent of brand posts were allowed in user feeds. Now it’s more like six percent (and for big brands it’s about two percent). I’m kidding, right? No, this isn’t some depressing joke; instead it’s the hard-hitting reality that if people are willing to pay for promotion, companies will gladly create more and more ways to profit from it.
Facebook has found a way to monetize business fan pages and they didn’t grow to be a multi-billion dollar company for passing up such opportunities. Just as social media continues to get smarter, so must we. Sure we can just beef up our advertising budget, or we can refocus the value we’re gaining by having a Facebook business fan page. And there is still value to be gained! Here are four reasons why you should continue to maintain your social media presence even when your likes and comments may urge you to do otherwise.
1. You’re still reaching people
Yeah that little number that appears at the bottom of every post may feel like it is silently mocking your social media efforts. But so long as that number is greater than zero, you’ve still reached more people than you would have by not posting any content at all.
More importantly, these people you do reach are ones who have found your content organically. You didn’t pay to have it forced upon someone who might become annoyed with being subjected to advertisements. No, these are people who have personally chosen to like your page, follow your content and stop scrolling through their newsfeed long enough to have Facebook register it as a view. And this data is invaluable. As dismally small as that “real” number of views may be, it’s what your raw, unpaid efforts earned and a good indication of where you realistically stand with your audience and within the market.
2. It creates a professional presence
For many of my clients, a social media strategy is to foremost create a professional presence. We’re not necessarily counting likes, comments or shares; we’re looking at the big picture. We want their information to be accurate, updated and to align with their overall communications strategy. We also want to have content posted with enough frequency and consistency that anyone who visits their social media profiles to “check them out” further will get the impression that they’re on top of their game. Finally, I recommend using social media profiles to position a person or a business as an expert in their field. Continue to provide free, valuable information that people will find useful and your real fans will “like” you for this!
3. You never know how people will find you
Another reason to keep a professional presence on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest and Instagram is because you never know how people will stumble upon your business and these social media platforms are a powerful form of SEO. My WordPress blog is sometimes still the first thing people are directed to before my website – and so long as they’re finding me, I’m okay with however that happens.
This is all the more reason to keep my social media updated with enough consistency that visitors know it’s alive and active. Even a fresh post just once a week is enough to let a potential customer know that this isn’t an abandoned account. Most importantly, active social media accounts (regardless of likes and comments) show people you pay attention to detail, follow through with responsibilities and are accessible – all positive qualities for every business to showcase.
4. It’s fresh content
You can never produce enough fresh, quality content. It can always be repurposed! Much of your social media can be fueled by a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly blog. Simply take snippets of this content to create multiple social media posts over the course of a weel. Not only does this make blog writing an even more valuable use of your time, it also helps to further promote your blog and website by linking back to them. Fueling the content on your social media shouldn’t be re-inventing the wheel. A good communications strategy is all about creating a consistent message; so repurpose and reuse your content in every facet of your business.
How have you refocused the value of your business’s Facebook fan page? Let’s get a discussion going!
