By: Angela Caban, MHRM
The days of using Facebook as a free marketing tool are over. However, keep in mind, Facebook is still powerful and, when used correctly, will grow your business and build a loyal following. The saying, “Sometimes your circle decreases in size, but increases in value” is very true. This can also be applied to the world of social media.
While there are still many out there who do believe in putting in the time to increase audience size, don’t fixate on the number of your social following—bigger numbers don’t always equal success. Think about it this way: if the brand does not spend time engaging with their followers, what value does the high volume of those followers hold?
More time should be put into increasing the quality of your content to attract already loyal fans, therefore increasing your metrics and having a better organic reach. Potential followers will see the interaction between the brand and fans, equaling a higher quality page. Ever visit a page with a high following, but scroll down their page and see nothing? No comments, likes, or shares—just a brand posting content over and over, talking to no one. No engagement.
Don’t Spend Your Time Wrong
If you have been spending most of your time focusing on growing your fan base, stop! This damages the quality of your content and followers. This equals more money that you now must spend to reach the followers you have on your page already. Seems kind of pointless, doesn’t it? Especially after spending all that time obtaining followers, that’s a whole lot of time wasted.
Focus on your engagement and pay close attention to your followers—are they actively engaging back? If they are not ask yourself, “Why are these followers here? What does my brand have to offer them?” The more engagement Facebook sees, the higher ranking you will have.
Why?
Facebook uses the demographics of your current following. If you do not have a high-quality fan base, Facebook will promote to the same kind of low-quality fans. It becomes a cycle of throwing money down a rabbit hole.
Create Quality Content
Good content will attract fans and will increase your organic reach when used properly. Look at Facebook as a way to engage, provide value, and help current and potential clients—no matter where your numbers are. Isn’t it more meaningful to have conversations with followers? This will only happen if your content is relevant to your audience.
So don’t be discouraged. Don’t close your social media pages or do anything drastic. Instead, why not take the time to focus on your already-existing followers? Using social media the right way will help you to focus on quality over quantity.
