Facebook page likes should not be a key metric of social media marketing success. Surprised? Most marketers are. Many mistakenly over value the number of page likes, and end up wasting too much time building this number when they should be focused on more effective ways of measuring marketing success.
The Problem with Facebook Page Likes
Facebook is continually decreasing organization’s organic reach, making it harder to reach a sizable audience without paying. As a result, the audience who actually sees your posts is a fraction of your total Facebook audience. Total Facebook page likes, then, provide little insight of the success of your marketing efforts.
Sure, you want as many followers as possible. But the mere total number of followers does little to reflect your relationship marketing success, which is the driving motivation behind social media marketing. Total page likes show you the number of people willing to connect with your organization, but does little to reflect your effectiveness at actually reaching and connecting with them. Growing your follower count, then, should not be a driving force behind your Facebook marketing efforts.
Granted, consistent posting on Facebook is still a necessary aspect of social media marketing. Organizations still gain marketing benefits from Facebook, but it is weakened by the limited organic reach. Posting from your business page to your followers is an important aspect of reaching your audience, but it should not be the only aspect.
The Better Tactic
Insert Facebook Groups. These see fantastic online reach since they aren’t saddled with the algorithm-driven reach reduction that business pages are. Groups are joined by individuals interested in that topic, so when you post in a group you’re posting to a great targeted audience.
You can join already established groups or create your own, and there are benefits to both.
Joining an already established group opens you up to getting your organization’s name seen by new contacts, such as leaders in your industry or potential new customers. You can showcase your value to these individuals by answering questions with your expertise or sharing valuable content from your website. Consistent quality posting can translate into new valuable connections.
When you join a group, take some time to familiarize yourself with the group’s tone first. See the general style of writing (formal? casual?), length of post (short and to the point? long and in-depth?), and topics to make sure your posts will match. Be sure to join a few groups and post consistently, rather than joining several but rarely posting. To see the benefits of groups, you’ll need to be active and consistent in them.
In addition to joining relevant groups, you can make your own. The benefit of making your own group is you can reach individuals wanting to connect with your organization more effectively than you can reach individuals from your business page. But you shouldn’t repeat posts from your page in your group since individuals in both will see their newsfeed cluttered with identical content. You can post the same content sparingly, but make sure it’s on different days and worded differently. You want to make sure there is value for individuals to be involved with both your page and your group.
Measurement of group involvement can be done through a variety of ways, including analyzing engagement on your posts or visits to your site from links posted in the group. Metrics that come from group activity paint a more holistic picture of your marketing success than just page likes, making it a more effective analytic of your social media marketing efforts.
Want to take advantage of Facebook marketing, but need some guidance? Alpine Small Business Solutions is here for you! We’d love to assist with this or any aspect of business building. Reach out with a phone call or email today!