A lot of people think if they post something on Facebook it will be there forever. Guess What? Its not!
Yes your posts only last about 3 hours. Probably a bit sobering but the days of Facebook being some kind of Free viral tool to market your music are over. Yes once again the whole “edge rank” thing has stumped millions of marketers on Facebook. Edge Rank is basically an algorithm that ranks everything posted and what gets ranked high is “paid posts and ads.” Everything else in Facebooks eyes is secondary, which interestingly enough is setting them up for future disaster. Mark my word but sometime in the not so distant future there will be a Facebook backlash and perhaps even a Myspace comeback.
Do People even see my Posts?
A recent study by Napkin Labs exposed the shocking statistic that only 6% of your total fan base will ever actually engage with a brand or fan page:
On average, just 6% of fans engage with a brand’s Facebook Page via likes, comments, polls and other means, according to a study from Napkin Labs, a Facebook app developer that works with brands and agencies. Of those fans that did, the average engagement was the equivalent of less than one like over the course of the eight weeks the study was conducted.
Perhaps even more sobering is the thought of building 1 million or more likes to get real action on your fan page that can lead to an income that supports you. Not to worry here as you really don’t need 1 million unengaged fans, you need over 1,000 really rabid fans who will buy your stuff.
Ok so the ‘6%’ stat above is pretty brutal, but this one gets even more brutal…
There have been several recent studies done on the actual average engagement rate of a page (the ‘People Talking About This Page’ number) and it is shown that the average engagement rate of a fan page is only .96% (yes, that’s less than 1%).
To be clear this stat reflects the percentage of fans who will EVER willing to engage with a page over the lifetime of the relationship. In other words, for the average fan page, 94% of your fans never have nor will they ever engage.
Meanwhile, this stat reflects the true engagement of a fan page on Facebook’s rolling 7 day scale. In other words, within 7 days (on average), the # of ‘People Talking About This Page’ / the # of ‘Total Fans’ will equal around 1%.
Post Less Get More Results (1-2 times per day)
This may seem counter intuitive, but posting less creates better results.
Studies from several sources have shown that the there is a sweet-spot of 1 -2 posts per day on Facebook fan page will garner the strongest results. If you post more than this 1-2 times you will actually start to see diminished results.
Check the graph to the right from Jeff Bullas which shows the difference between 1-2 vs. 3+ posts. His research shows that by posting only 1 to 2 times per day, your page is likely to receive 32% more likes AND 73% more comments when compared to the engagement you’re likely to receive from posting 3+ times per day.
Don’t use third party apps like Hootsuite to post to FB
First, make sure you post every day, but don’t post through third party apps like Hootsuite as Facebook punishes you with a lower edge rank.
According to a study by Hubspot “publishing content from any 3rd party (yes, including Hootsuite) will average a whopping 67% lower engagement rate than content published directly to Facebook.”
So how do you Accelerate your Engagement and Fan Building?
You need moula, ducats, dollars to make the transition to big time player on Facebook. Make sure you are signed up on our email list to the right. This will allow you access to our course on Facebook marketing with money and how you can get those 1,000 raving fans who will buy anything.