Facebook pages have the advantage of having their updates appear in their fans' news feed. But, not every fan sees every update. Facebook uses a 'post quality score,' basically how frequently your fan base engages with your page, to determine how many fans see a page's updates. Therefore it is definitely in your best interest to learn how to be more engaging to your audience.
For this article, I enlisted the help of Julia George, an Adelaide based Marketing & Communication Manager, Ben Teoh, Organiser of the Adelaide Flash Mob and Ann, Organiser and Promoter of Adelaide Zombie Walk, who are all successful users of Social Media. (My questions are in italics).
Whats the best way to get more fans/followers?
The more attractive you are the better - of course naturally bigger brands attract more fans, because more people know about them / buy from them. But there's nothing to say that if you're cool at what you do it won't become viral! -Julia
Post, post post! Put your event out there and ensure you make yourself known. It helps to have a great event as well. -Ann
There are a lot of great ideas on how to connect with more people, but I believe that the most important way is to simply offer quality content which generates quality discussions. This takes practice and variety. Use text, images and videos to convey your message, and always invite people to discuss the content. Once people feel engaged and connected, they are more likely to share your business’s page or twitter with their friends or followers. -Ben
Do you have any tips for getting more exposure to your posts?
The more you listen and chat with those following you the more they want to talk and share their opinion. -Ann
Learn to tag. It’s the easiest way to get your posts out there and engage more people. Both Facebook and Twitter give you the ability to tag all sorts of things in your posts. The ability to tag gives your updates a lot more character, coverage and exposure. -Ben
Is there such a thing as too much information, ie. too many facebook or twitter updates? What's a recommended frequency of updates?
Yes there is - really it should be based around your campaigns/strategic plans, make it a good fit to what you're doing & don't harass people with updates, messages etc - because it will work the other way for you. -Julia
How should businesses avoid turning their fans/followers off when they're trying to push their products/services?
Listen to the comments made, don't attack people, create a fun environment. We promote those who sponsor us but in return they give something for us to give to our followers, e.g we had movies passes as "prizes" so we promoted those movies and the sponsors. -Ann
Be genuine, and be conversational. Social media really needs to be more about listening to the consumer rather than telling them what they want. It’s a very different dynamic to traditional advertising. If you can learn to listen socially, you’ll be in a good place to start promoting your products to your followers. -Ben
Big thanks to Ben Teoh, Julia George and Ann for sharing their thoughts and experiences on Engaging people with Social Media.
sources: allfacebook.com, Interview with Ben Teoh (Dec 2010), Interview with Julia George (Dec 2010), Interview with Ann (Dec 2010).
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Cheers Nick, great to be put in the same boat as Julia and Ann!
No worries Ben, thanks for your contribution!