It sounds a little too much like ‘Big Brother’ doesn’t it – what I can tell about your business by taking a quick glance at your facebook page? It is true though, your facebook page communicates all kinds of messages about you and your company to existing and potential customers and it is best if you know what they are.
The Importance of Numbers
Many people are more concerned about the number of likes. They see reaching 2,000 likes as an important goal to be achieved especially when one is starting out. However, the number that is now more important is the ‘number of people talking about it’. Having 9,000 likes and 2 people talking about your page suggests that the business is dead, you don’t interact with your customers or you bought all of the fans.
The number of ‘people talking about’ your page is derived from those interacting with your page – from their liking your updates, to sharing them, to commenting. A comment or share will carry more weight than a quick ‘like’.
Having a reasonable number of people talking about your page means that your updates will be seen by more of your fans and their comments or shares means that your page will be seen by their friends, thus leading to an increase in your fan numbers.
However, a good ratio (talking about your page: liking it) has even more benefits. It shows me, as a potential new fan, that you offer compelling content that encourages your fans to engage, that I will find interesting updates in my news feed by liking your page. It also shows me that you probably offer good customer service.
This post ‘How To Get More Fans on Facebook‘ shows how a popular update generated a significant number of new fans.
Your Customer Service
Amanda of Spiderworking wrote a post on Social Media and Customer Service following her attendance on the Web Summit in Dublin last week which goes through the reasons why businesses are using social media to deliver much of their customer service now.
A quick glance at a facebook page can tell a potential new customer a lot about that company’s customer service. If I visit a page and I see a number of comments that are left unanswered, this suggests the administrator of the page is only concerned with adding updates rather than engaging with and listening to their customers. It looks even worse if customers have left complaints.
You don’t have to respond to the complaint on the facebook page but a comment showing that you are going to email or message the complainant shows that it is being taken care of. Neither do you have to respond to every single person that comments under a busy update but I would suggest writing a comment that encapsulates any queries/comments made. By acknowledging only one commentator by including their name, means that you may be viewed as ignoring the rest so either write a general reply or if required, respond to each query.
Keep It Relevant
Your facebook page is also where you can showcase your knowledge and expertise as well as your products, therefore it is important that all updates are relevant to your area. While cat memes have become increasingly popular and funny or cute ones get lots of shares, if they are not relevant to your business, don’t use them (or very very sparingly). If you sell wallpaper, then occasional pictures of strikingly beautiful or unusual walls will sit well and if you can find a wallpaper that features cats, it will probably do very well in shares but a photo of a cute cat with a joke just isn’t going to work so well in the long run.
If I can going to like a page, I like to see that the administrator of that page knows what they are talking about and that the information they provide is going to be of use or of interest to me.
Showing Your Reliability
I tend to advise clients to update once a day. Updating twice a day is fine on occasion. However, don’t ignore it for a week and then write five updates as not only will it fill up people’s newsfeed and encourage them to ‘unlike’ you, it also suggests you aren’t consistent in your business. Regular updates suggests you are reliable and can be trusted.
Therefore, any potential customer can tell quite a lot about your business by visiting your facebook page – it is where you can garner more business or you can lose it. Follow our suggestions for building a good page and your facebook page and your business will grow.
Have you thought of any other ‘secrets’ your facebook page might reveal?