Why is it important for fans to like our posts?

If your using facebook to promote your local business to the community it’s important to consider what your posting and the engagement it receives. Is your efforts in giving you back the rewards you hope is what this turns into.

As small business owners we have a lot to say about our companies and we want people to listen – Facebook can become a sounding board for our own insights. Typically we see everyone post menus, pictures of food before serving, the office cat in the window, but basically we tend to post most anything we can to just post something and share a service or product. Always look to see is what your posting in line with a strategy for your brand or business.

Now here comes the mind bomb... did you know that we only reach less than 20% of our total fans with each post. Imagine all the work put into collecting 100 fans to only reach about 15-20 with each post. Time to jump ship is what your saying - but what really should be considred is how important it becomes to engage your audience at a level they interact with you. This will expand the 100 fans to grow and that smaller audience can certainly become a larger audience – no small task.

So how do I keep my fans “Liking” what I post?

Know your audience – don’t assume because you’re a coffee house they want to hear about the roast of the day each day – find out what makes your customers tick. Maybe they like coffee but they don’t want to read about it every day. If it’s music, sports, even the weather – what engages them and this is what you need to mix into your posting strategy.

What time do you post? -  “I’m up at 5am so this is when I have time to post” – WRONG. That is when you are up and reading content – but is that when your fans are able to check their mobile devices or sit in-front of their computer.

Firing off 4 posts in a row first thing in the morning to say we posted enough for the day is now how the system works. Try posting different times of the day and jot down what time did you get the most likes, the most comments. Then plan to keep within a reasonable timeline of this discovery.

The value of using a fan page to promote a brand is still important it becomes maximizing your time and efforts that is the key to a balanced social media life. Facebook offers some excellent tools in the INSIGHTS section of the fan page and with a little effort you can pull the story out of the data points given.

Now knowing this – be sure to share, like, and post on brands you like on facebook (try startign with the JP3SOLUTIONS fan page)and encourage your fans at every step to share with you on your fan page. The more they share your brand and talk about it the larger your fan base can grow and the more educated the consumer can become.