Increasing Facebook Interaction: Creating Community

Sorry it's been a few days, party people.  We are literally one week out from moving and settling on our house. To say that my anxiety is epic would be an understatement.  I feel like I could vomit from nerves at any given moment.

But bloggers do not cease blogging because of life chaos. OH NO!  We carry on!

Back to the important stuff: Facebook Pages!

In my previous posts in the series, we discussed the importance of posting consistently and frequently, as well as writing quality content, as part of your strategy to increase your interaction and reach on Facebook.

This week, we'll be discussing the Facebook Page as a COMMUNITY.

Topic #3: 

Creating Community

It is a natural human instinct to want to belong. Whatever our personality, we crave deep relationships and connections. As consumers, I believe we are drawn to the same aspects in a brand or company. People want to be KNOWN and HEARD.

Making it Personal

With this revelation about human nature, one of the best things you can do as a Facebook Page is to make it personal. This goes against everything we believe about marketing and business: "It's not personal it's business." 

Well, business just got personal.

Social media has bridged the gap between businesses and people. Before, we saw brands and businesses as big corporations. Now, with one tweet or Facebook comment, we are engaging the Man Behind the Curtain. We like knowing that real live people are behind the brands and businesses we love, whether they are local realtors or our favorite brand of pretzels. 

Ask, Share, Respond

In addition to being personal, community is built by creating an engaging two-way relationship. We need to stop looking at our Facebook Pages as a bulletin board for your propaganda and promotions. Instead, we must begin looking at our pages as a forum to engage. A platform to ask, share and respond. As page managers, we are not just throwing information out to fans/customers. We are creating an open and ongoing dialogue.

ASK: Our content is the first way we create community. Remember the 80/20 rule? Our content should be 20% self-focused and 80% other-focused. This is a great opportunity to connect with your audience. The Universal Discussion questions I talked about in my last post begins to open the door to get to know your fans better. Why? Because you aren't just throwing them your latest blog posts or current deals. You are digging under the surface to find out interests, opinions, facts about the people who have chosen to like your page. 

SHARE: Yes, your Facebook Page is partly a platform to share your promotional stuff. But if you are that dinner guest who only talks about him/herself, people will quickly be turned off. We really want to keep it at 20%. So, as you get to know your fans by ASKING, you'll have a better idea of what kind of other content to SHARE. I believe sharing relevant content and information that appeals to your audience is just as important as sharing your content and information. The relevant information makes you a resource as well as interesting. 

Being A Resource, Being Interesting

If you are a local business, consider sharing local events or promoting other local businesses. This makes you a local resource. If you run a parenting blog/page, share relevant news articles (car seat safety, product recalls) or funny parenting quotes/pictures. This makes you a parenting resource. Being a resource in some capacity make you worth people coming back to. If the topic of the resource is important to them, your content is now valuable and shareable.

Another example: As you get to know your fans, you may find that a bunch of them watch the same TV show as you do. So maybe on the night that TV show is on, you throw up a post right before it airs to ask who is watching or how they feel about the upcoming episode. This makes you interesting, and worth connecting with outside of your business or brand.  Or maybe you stumble upon the fact that a portion of your audience loves post-apocalyptic fiction. TALK ABOUT IT. Engage with your fans outside of your business/brand perimeters.

Don't be afraid to get personal!  Some of the best post traffic I see on the pages I manage are personal posts. Part of being personal is also having a sense of humor. Loosen your tie a little bit. If you work in an office, show a picture of some fun office antics (even if it's off-topic!). Share a picture of your family. Share some "Fun Facts" or "Trivia Questions" about yourself or your staff. Personal/humorous posts make brands and businesses real, run by real people.  

RESPOND: One of the greatest failures of Facebook Pages is a lack of response. So you put out great content on a regular basis. Good!  People like said content and actually comment. Great!  But if it falls on deaf ears, what entices them to continue engaging? People love to be asked, yes. They LOVE giving their opinions or weighing-in on a topic. But people love to be heard as well. Validate their responses. This gives them a chance to respond back to you. Now you have a conversation. Conversations build relationships, which are the cornerstone of creating community.

Chat Days

One tool I've used to create and build the community on the Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Mom Facebook Page are Chat Days. This is a one-two-three punch of posting frequently with good content that is personally interesting/engaging.  I've been asked a lot about how to conduct these Chat Days, and I thought this Creating Community post would be the best place to lay it all out.

I stumbled across the idea of Chat Days by accident a few years ago. As I was getting more personal with my fans, we got into a conversation about movies. So I spent the day asking questions every few hours on the topic of movies. I was surprised to find how many people wanted to weigh in.

Thus, Chat Days were born.

How to construct a Chat Day: 

1) Pick a topic (relevant or not relevant to your page - it's up to you the direction you want to take it). I've done Chat Days that are relevant to my blog (i.e: parenting/moms) as well as totally off-topic (movies, books, favorite brands, etc).

2) Tease the Chat Day. I like to mention the Chat Day the night before (usually after 8pm) - maybe hint at the topic to whet their appetites. Then I mention it again by announcing the topic 10-20 minutes before 9am. This reminds people of the Chat Day and alerts people that the Chat Day will begin shortly.

3) Create questions. Keep reading for a sample Chat Day schedule.

4) Schedule questions. I like to post every hour from 9am-7pm. I usually skip 6pm (I post some other kind of content during this hour), which gives me 10 questions for the entire day. I post every hour on the hour. I have found hourly keeps people interested, and they quickly learn to come back every hour for the next question.

5) Respond to questions. I like to answer each question in the comments, and if I have time, reply to some of the reposes individually. Some Chat Days get a LOT of responses, so I don't go through each one to reply. But if I have time, I do!

Sample Chat Day Content and Schedule:

Night Before

8pm: "It's time to CHAT IT UP! Stop back tomorrow, where we'll be chatting ALL DAY LONG on a fun topic (if you save the ticket stubs to every movie you've ever seen, you'll be in luck!"

Day Of

8:50 am - "Alright silver screen fans!  We'll be talking today about MOVIES!  Get ready with your favorites, your quotes and your recommendations! The fun starts in 10 minutes, so stop back by at 9am. A new question every hour, ALL THE DAY!"

9am -  Movie CHAT DAY  

           Q1: What was the first movie you saw in a movie theater?

10am - Movie CHAT DAY 

            Q2: What is your favorite COMEDY?

11am - Movie CHAT DAY 

            Q3: What movie do you quote on a regular basis?

12pm - Movie CHAT DAY 

            Q4: If you had to choose: DRAMA or ROMANCE?

1pm  - Movie CHAT DAY 

            Q5: Who is your favorite on-screen couple?

2pm -  Movie CHAT DAY

            Q6: Who are Top 3 Favorite actresses?

3pm  - Movie CHAT DAY 

            Q7: What is your favorite DRAMA?

4pm - Movie CHAT DAY

            Q8: Who are your Top 3 Favorite actors?

5pm - Movie CHAT DAY 

           Q9: When you go to the movies, what is your go-to snack?

7pm - Movie CHAT DAY 

           Q10: What is your favorite movie of all time?

As with everything you are experimenting with as you create your Facebook Page strategy, give Chat Days time.  Have the expectation that you will get little response the first few times you host a Chat Day. It is a new thing for your audience to get used to. They have to learn how to interact with your page in this way. I recommend planning 4-5 Chat Days and hosting one once a week. People will learn to expect them and get excited. 

You may find some topics go over better than others. I've had chat days where each response gets an overwhelming amount of traffic, likes, responses. Other days it's like crickets and no one is interested. I learn from those days what kind of content goes over best with my fans and cater future chat days to their preferences.

Are you ready?

Are you ready to get personal? It may be a little uncomfortable at first, and it will definitely take experimentation as to what level of personal your fans best respond to. Use questions, pictures, trivia/fun facts and Chat Days as a way to turn your Facebook Page into a resourceful, interesting and engaging community.

You may just find you enjoy it!

~~~~~

We're closing in on the last post, which means we'll be starting our #FB30Day 30 Day Challenge in the very near future. Are you working on your strategy? I'd love to hear how your strategy is coming along.

What tools are you looking to create a community?

How do you want to get more personal on your Facebook Page(s)?

Leave a comment and join the conversation! And never hesitate to message me/email me if you want to go more in-depth or have more questions!

~~~~~

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

Increasing Facebook Interaction: Content

Let's just get right to it, shall we?


In my last post, we discussed the importance of posting consistently and frequently. I encouraged you to embrace posting MORE as well as MORE REGULARLY. We covered Facebook Insights, and what to look for in terms of finding optimal posting times both daily and weekly. And then I told you to have patience: we are in this for the long haul. Part of making a strategy is implementing it over the course of 30-90 days, allowing room to study results and adjust to your audience.

It's a wild ride, people.

Topic #2: 

Content Is King

Every page is unique and different with unique and different audiences. So what works for one page may not work for another. Website/Blog fan pages may function differently than the business page for a realtor or clothing store. Algorithms change all the time. 

Adjusting Strategy and Expectations

So as we talk about strategy, we have to hold this "wisdom" loosely. This is not a "health and wealth gospel" where if you do A and B it will automatically equal C. It will involve a lot of studying of your audience and Insights, experimenting with timing and content, as well as possibly having to adjust your goals and expectations of the page (more on this later).


So now that we've talked about how much to post, it's time to talk what to post. As the old adage goes: Content is King. And it's true.  You could post lots of content in lots of places, but if it's not worth reading? It's pointless.The Facebook algorithm, however fleeting it is, always seems to favor interesting and organic posting and content (even though it is second to sponsored/paid posts). So as we have our own things we want to promote on our platforms (deals, blog posts, etc), what should we be posting?

Social Media as a Dinner Party

Let's pretend that you are at a dinner party. There are lots of people to interact with. In your experience, who is the most interesting and engaging person to talk to? First, let's agree on who is not fun to talk to. It's not…

…the person who can't talk about anything but him/herself.

…the person who doesn't seem to be listening to what you are saying.

…the person who talks to you once at the beginning of the party for 2 minutes then avoids you for the rest of the night.
  
Right? 

Those are the people I loathe talking to at events. Rather, the people we are most drawn to interacting with are dynamic. These are the people who work to engage with you. They are personable, they listen and respond. They talk about a wide variety of things and know when to change the subject if the conversation gets dry (or try new ways to connect to keep the conversation going).

Your goal for your Facebook Page is to be the most interesting guest at the dinner party.

Savvy?

Content Categories

Content for Facebook falls into four different categories:



Text

Text content is just that: text. No visuals, no links. It could be a simple question or statement: "Where are you going to dinner tonight?"




Pictures/Videos

This is visual content, with or without text. Example of this would be to share a picture of a coffee mug with text captioning, "Have you had your cuppa today?"



Links

This is the same as a text post, with a URL link somewhere in the text. You can also add a picture if you'd prefer not to use the thumbnail preview.



Sharing

When you scrolling your newsfeed and find something you like, whether it be an article, a quiz, a picture or even another page, you have the option to "Share" it. As a Page Manager, you can share it to a page you manage. While it may seem like this is the same as Picture or Link content, it is my understanding that it is weighted differently in the algorithm. Facebook like it when you are not solely self-promotional, but willing to share organically things you come across as well.

If you are posting several times per day, aim to have a mix of each content category each day. Four posts per day means that you can do one of each!

Creating a Conversation

So the next step is to take the Ideal Dinner Party Guest Qualities (being personable, dynamic, responsive, flexible) and put them into practice within the different content categories. You want to create a conversation. 

A good dinner party guest would ask questions about the person she is talking to. This is a great way to utilize the Text Content category.  I strongly encourage asking questions or making statements both inside AND outside of your "niche."  If you are a food blogger, there is a plethora of great discussion topics: what is your favorite cooking show on Food Network? Where is your favorite place to dine out? What is are your 3 must-have kitchen utensils.

But you want to build your audience. And maybe not everyone is a foodie. So how do you reach them? By creating universal discussions. Most people may not be interested in how to make flan, but almost everyone drinks coffee. So by putting out the question (in the morning as people are enjoying their java): "How do you take your coffee?", you are creating a dialogue that a lot of people can participate in. 


If already-established fans answer, it will pop up in their newsfeed that the responded to a comment on your page. Their friends, foodies or not, will see it. And if the content (ahem) is compelling enough, they may stop by to join the conversation. The great thing about human nature is that we love to talk about ourselves.  So discussion questions that are personal or ask for opinions/ideas/feedback are compelling to fans. 

Have a "call to action" in your posts from time to time. "If you twirl your spaghetti instead of cutting it LIKE this post!" or "Do you prefer to wake up EARLY or LATE?" Give them a reason to respond.

Consider this as you create your daily content. Put yourself in your audience's shoes: What would compel you to comment on, like or share a post?

Conversations Are Not One-Sided

Despite the fact that I know you are awesome sauce, I have a hard truth to share with you: it's not only about you.  Sure, as a business or blogger, part of the reason you have a Facebook page is to promote your business or blog. I get that. But remember, you have several precious opportunities each day to connect with your audience. 

Remember the party guest who only liked talking about himself? If the only content you share are your newest blog posts or your upcoming events, people will begin to tune you out.  I'm not saying you should never share that stuff. That's totally great content!  But if it's your only content, it will work against you.

I like the rule of 80/20. No, I'm not talking about ground beef. I mean, 80% of your content should be other-focused (i.e.; non-self promotional), leaving 20% to be self-focused (i.e.: self-promotional). 

For those looking to market and promote, this may feel constrictive. But hear me out: If you are building an audience who enjoys interacting with your non-promotional content because it is personal, engaging and interesting, they'll be more likely to see and interact with your self-promotional content as well.

Be Responsive. Be Personal.

As you begin to get interaction from your content, make sure you RESPOND. Don't be the guy at the dinner party who is talking to you, but looking everywhere else and randomly nodding and Mm-hmming at all the wrong times in the conversation.

If you get a comment, comment back! Thank your fans, celebrate hitting 500 likes, etc. If you get negative feedback, process that instead of ignoring it. But let your fans know you are listening. If you see something they enjoy, tweak your content to include that more. If you notice you have early morning or late night audiences, work in content at those times to reach them.

~~~~~~

This post is getting way too long, so I'm going to wrap it up! A little time and thoughtfulness can go a long way in the content you are putting up on your timeline. I hope you are encouraged to try new things, vary the kind of content you share, and more intently reaching your audience where they are. 

In the next post, we'll take content to the next level as we discuss how to make your Facebook Page a community. This one might be uncomfortable, because it will require you to get personal!

I'd love to hear how your strategy is coming along!

What kind of Dinner Party Guest is YOUR Facebook Page?

What kind of content do you need to work on incorporating more?

Leave a comment and join the conversation! And never hesitate to message me/email me if you want to go more in-depth or have more questions!

Read the next post in the series ---> 

Creating Community.

Increasing Facebook Interaction: Posting Consistently and Frequently

Who is ready to talk FACEBOOK PAGE INTERAAAAAACTION?

::crickets::

Yesterday, I introduced the intro post to this series on Increasing Facebook Interaction. There are a lot of community managers, social media consultants, brand marketers and bloggers who have become more and more frustrated by Facebook Pages. The algorithm is always changing, statistics are seemingly on the decline, and now they want money for priority in news feeds.

It's like life as we know it is falling apart.

I've found some things that have worked for me on several of the pages I manage, including the CSHM FB Page. I might keel over from laughing at any notion that I am an expert on the subject (it's actually a sacrilegious idea in several countries). But in this series I am up for sharing what has worked for me and what I would coach any other Facebook Page manager to try before totally calling it quits.

So let's get to it already. Alright alright alright?

I digress.

Topic #1: 

Posting Consistently and Frequently

I'm going to start us at the beginning, where I would if anyone were to come to me and lament their Facebook Page decline. I'm going to ask you four questions, and I'd like to you to answer honestly. This is a good thing to write down: in notebook, on a doc in google drive, etc. Let this be part of forming a media strategy for your Facebook Page.

Ready?

1) How many times per week do you post?

2) How many times per day do you post?

3) At what times during the day do you post/how do you space out your posts?

4) What kind of content do you post?

(FYI: We'll cover #4 in the next post)

Most page managers, in my experience, would answer the first two questions with "several times a week" or "once or twice a day."  When I ask why, they usually respond that they don't want to be spammy or annoy people by popping up in their newsfeeds.

Can I tell you a little secret?

You aren't popping up in people's newsfeeds.

Even before the increase in boosted posts and changes in algorithms, there was still an element of relevancy in how Facebook chose what to put in people's newsfeeds. The more a person interacted with a page, the more weight it would give the algorithm to have it placed in their newsfeed (and even then, it sometimes still didn't pop up).

So, if you are only posting a few times a week, you are losing ground fast in terms of being seen. 

Missing your audience

Let's pretend that Facebook did post a majority of your content in your fan's newsfeeds, and you posted, say, once a day at 10am. While many people check in on Facebook a few times a day, there are only a small percentage that would be on at 10am (or slightly before/after) to catch that post.  Think about how much of your audience only checks Facebook before and after work (8am and 6pm). Or only during lunch break or naptimes (11am, 12pm or 2pm). Or can only focus on Facebook after the kids are in bed (8pm).

You are missing all of those people, people!

Think of how you use Facebook. You don't scroll back to the beginning of the day to see what you missed (and, even that is only what Facebook chooses you to see). No, you may scroll back a little, but you'll check what's immediately happening. So you want to catch people as they are on.

Post Frequently

Even though it goes against everything we media-types know as being "spammy" it actually works in our favor to post several times a day, all week long. Don't worry: even if your fans saw, say, 4 posts from you each day, it is interspersed with the gagillion other posts in their newsfeed. 

I encourage managers to post several times per day (my magic number is 4, but that's just what I do on the business pages I run. I usually post more often than that on CSHM), spaced throughout the day. No one wants 3 posts back-to-back in their newsfeed from you. Then you are spammy. Rather, pick a morning time, an afternoon time, a later afternoon/early evening time and a night time. I often recommend something along the lines of 9am, 12pm, 3pm and 7pm. This way, you are hitting different members of your audience as well as spaced out enough that you aren't considered spammy to your fans.

The days and times that work best for you and your page(s) may be different than others. First, head to your trusty Insights…

Once there, click on "Posts"

Then take note of two things: DAYS and TIMES. 

You'll see in my current insights, that each day is equally responsive. I don't have one day that is better to post than another. Some pages may find that one or two days perform better. If you have days that perform better, DEFINITELY use those days.

Next, you'll see there is a graph showing when I get the most visits/responses from my posts. Mine always takes the shape of a whale (the fin on the left shows people heading to bed around midnight and sleeping until the whale's body begins as people wake up and start checking Facebook around 6am).

For this particular page, it's most beneficial for me to post between the hours of 6am and midnight, with peaks (as highlighted by the dots above) around 9am, 3pm and 9pm. I'm learning more that I have some "night owl" action (i.e.: an audience after 8pm) and I am starting to use it more with posts and questions at 8 or 9 o'clock.

LEARN from your insights. And work with them! If you have a crazy spike because you have an audience who sees/interacts with your posts at 6am then WORK THAT, GIRLFRIEND.

Post Consistently

While posting frequently is about the day-to-day, posting consistently is about the long haul: week-to-week, month-to-month.

This is where the patience comes in, friends. 

You have to give it time. If you post regularly for 3 days straight then fall off the face of the earth for a week or two, you can't expect to see results. I tell people you need to give it a month of consistency. Partly, for your fans/audience to get used to expecting to hear from you, expecting to respond to you. Partly because Facebook needs time to learn how people are responding to your page and adjust how it places content in newsfeeds accordingly. Partly, for you to make posting a habit. 

As you make your Facebook Page Strategy, I encourage you to commit to implementing frequency and consistency for 30 days. Warning: You may or may not see results during this time. What you are doing, though, is creating a habit for both you and your fans, as well as laying the ground work for experimentation and tweaking. After the ground work 30 days, take another 30-90 to try different things to see what works for your audience (this will come in the next post about content).

~~~~~

Are you ready to start posting more? Are you ready to commit to doing that for at least 30 days? 

We'll get more into what you'll be posting in my next post. In the meantime, spend time studying your insights and determining what days and times work best for you. Consider what kind of time investment you'd like to make in terms of how often you'll be posting per day (don't forget the lovely scheduling feature!  I'd perish without it!). Start writing the TIMING framework of your strategy. 

Don't be afraid to post regularly, people!

Until next time, I'd love to hear your tentative strategic plans:

How often do you want to commit to posting each day?

According to your insights, what days and times do posts perform best?

Leave a comment and let's talk strategy! And feel free to leave any questions (or email me/tweet me/message me on FB). I'm totes happy to talk you through your particular situation.

Read the next posts in the series --->

Content

Creating Community

Creating and Customizing Photo Albums on Your Facebook Fanpage

Facebook changes so much, often leaving people completely clueless as to how to navigate. If you are page owner/administrator, there is a learning curve every few months when Facebook adds this here or tweaks this there. I've shared about How to Use the New Timeline on Facebook Fanpages, my thoughts on Facebook Promoted Posts as well as how to Increase Interaction On Facebook Fanpages. 

Today's lesson is a simple task, but one that can spruce things up on your page: creating and customizing photo albums on your Facebook fan page. Having albums increases chances of engagement with your fans/readers, and having something like a custom photo album cover makes all your albums look pretty and organized.

Now, you might be shaking your head all, "Steph. It's a simple photo album. How difficult can it be?" 

Well, you may be right. It might be just that easy. In which case, totally stop reading this post. I promise we'll still be friends. But this task, which can really add some flare to your page, might confuse some. And something as simple as creating a custom cover can be a bit baffling because Facebook doesn't exactly make Drag n' Drop friendly. Tsk, tsk, Facebook!

So here it is in a few simple steps, using my Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Mom page:

How To Create a New Album

1) Go to your the Facebook Page you own or are on Administrator for:

2) Click on the "Photos" tab under your cover photo.

3) Click on the button in the upper righthand corner that says "Add Photos." The new photos will automatically start a new album.

4) Upload photos from your computer.  You will be given the option to add descriptions or tag one as the album cover photo (see next section). When youare finished loading pictures, click the option at the bottom to "Post."

How To Create a Custom Album Cover

1) Create a photo album as shared above.

2) I suggest creating a custom album cover, on a site like Picmonkey or Photobucket. Add a title to the image, as seen in the example for my "My Backyard" photo album below (this was a challenge my readers took part in this past Spring where they shared photos of what they loved about their backyards):

3) As seen in the picture above, when you hover over the picture, a little downward arrow tab will show up in the upper righthand corner. It will say "Select an Option." 

4) When you click the tab, a dropbox will form, and one of the options is to "Make Album Cover."

5) Selecting this will make this photo always show as the first picture of the album, as well as represent the album under the "Albums" tab on your page. Here is a view of the My Backyard album on my Album's page for reference:

How to Move Photos From One Album to Another

1) Go to your Photos and click the "Albums" tab on the far right. This will show you all of the albums your page has created (including cover photos, wall photos and videos, which Facebook automatically creates albums for you)

2) Click the album that has the pictures you want to move.

3) Choose the Edit option on the upper righthand corner. This will put your album in edit mode, allowing you to change descriptions as well as photo options.

4) Hover over the photo you want to move. A downward arrow tab will show up in the upper righthand corner. It will say "Select an Option." Click to see your options.

5) The first option will be "Move To Other Album." Click this, and  a drop-down box of all of your other albums will pop up. 

6) Scroll down to the album you want to move the photo too. Then click the blue button that says, "Move Photo."

7) That's it!


These are just a few tips on creating fun and engaging photo albums on your Facebook page.  I hope it helps.

I'd love to hear your feedback as well as other tips and tricks that I have not mentioned - I'm always looking to learn more! Please leave a comment :)