Do you ever look at your social media metrics reports and see spikes at certain times and major dips at other times? This is what I call peak-and-valley social media. And, it’s not optimal. For example, your company might see a big spike in engagement around an event, a new product launch, a sale, or an online ad blitz. But, the rest of the time, your engagement level drops significantly.
I was in a meeting the other day with a brand that was touting their 1.3 million Facebook fans. At first, that sounds impressive. But, dig a little deeper and it’s a different story. For example, that page’s “talking about” number is a measly 2.5% of that total. Generally speaking, that means less than 3% of all the people who “liked” that page are actively participating with content being posted. If people aren’t interacting with a page’s content, they’re even less likely to see updates from that page in their feed. While “talking about this” is only one metric, it does provide some helpful insights.
The problem with this peak-and-valley approach to Facebook is particularly challenging when your brand tries to emerge from the valley. Rebuilding those engagement numbers – and number of people who are seeing each post – takes time. Those resources would be better spent on maintenance during the “off-season.” I challenge you to build a plan that maximizes the peaks, but also minimizes the valleys. Focus on creating sustained levels of engagement.
So, how do you sustain engagement? A variety of factors will impact a brand page’s performance, but there’s no getting around it: You need quality, consistent content. And, it can’t all be promotional, corporate-speak content.
Need some content inspiration? Here are four examples of brands that I think take a smart, creative approach to Facebook content:
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[…] Katie Lianez April 9, 2013 at 9:35 pm […]