Facebook Official: Stats from the Best Practices Workshop

Last week, our Customer Success Team went down to see our friends at Facebook and attend a best practices workshop. With so much commerce being driven through Facebook’s social graph, we wanted to share some great statistics and tips straight from their team to help your local business grow.

When it comes to propelling your business with social media, Facebook can be a powerful friend. Referring traffic from social media properties to your business website can prove to be a valuable source of visitors and leads. Site referrals from social media are up 52% year-over-year, while search traffic is only up 1% for the same time. Your goal with social media is to attract fans, engage them, and amplify the word of mouth advertising.

Attracting and Engaging Fans

• Post regularly: Those who post on a daily basis reach 16% more people vs. those who post only weekly. That said, know your audience and put up content that’s relevant to them.
• Aim for interaction: When you post, ask for feedback, give exclusive offers on Facebook, or request a “Like” for relatable content.
• It’s all about the News Feed: The more activity your Page generates in the form of Likes, Comments, Wall Posts, and Shares, the better your chances are of landing on the News Feeds of your audience. Consider this:
  • The News Feed represents 27% of Facebook time usage and 4% of total internet time used
  • News Feed impression counts are 156x greater than the Business Page itself

Amplification

The News Feed is key to amplifying word of mouth. This section is where your business and its posts can go viral. It’s not just about your loyal fans, it’s about their friends, and their friends of friends. In fact, there is a 5x to 15x reach multiplier when your fans are spreading the word for you.

• Empower sharing: Create posts that are shareable. Votes, causes, entertaining or relevant articles, and polls about common interests are great starts. Funny pet photos work, too, if that’s what you and your fans love.
• Create stories: Facebook also allows you to run promoted stories or ads, which will place you on the News Feeds of your desired target demographic.

In the end, the nature of your content will vary widely based on the types of people who have chosen to be fans of your Facebook Business Page. Family and friends make a great start and from there, many successful local businesses make their brands personal – sharing interests or photos of fun life events can work well, if you’re comfortable putting that foot forward. Check out more tips on how to achieve Facebook Business Page success.

photo credit: pshab

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