Facebook competitions – a rather tempting way to build a massive following on your fan page very quickly. Tempting, because it’s just so incredibly easy – for you AND your consumers (hang on – let’s rather call them Facebook users, they probably don’t consume your brand).
If a Facebook competition is your answer to building your fan base, you’re on the right track to hook a crowd of sluts. Prize sluts. And creating a relationship very similar to a one night stand. Asking someone to like your page to win something means that you’re not looking for someone genuinely interested in your brand or having a long term relationship with it – you’re merely asking for anyone willing enough to click – once. And why, because you’ll reward them for clicking – the reward isn’t in the content. It’s like an easy pick up on a Friday night. Getting laid. And that’s that. Easy in, easy out. No coffee the next morning, no conversation, no dinner date. No interest in getting to know someone. No benefits, really – unless you count a tick in the little black book – uhm sorry, name? Number? Favourite drink, colour? No? I thought so.
So, why do plenty of Facebook page administrators choose to use competitions? Because so many businesses and clients use fan numbers to measure success. The critical fan mass has become the holy grail for businesses on Facebook. It’s a valuable KPI, yes – everyone wants a page that converts Facebook users to fans. Should it be your only KPI? No.
So what KPIs should you be looking at? What goals should you put in place to measure success? Of course your brand strategy would define your goals and whatever you choose as metrics should affect that bottom line. Here are a few to keep in mind:
1. Natural growth rate
Not the growth rate your page has experienced, because of a competition. Emphasis here is on viral growth (this is what happens after a competition or Facebook ad campaign). Growth can indicate the following to the page administrator:
Awareness and likability: page numbers growing virally can indicate how aware people are of your brand and whether they actually like it or not. We all want liked brands, in fact for many advertising peeps creating a well liked and well known brand is key.
Use functions that already exist within Facebook to gain access to users’ newsfeeds. Often you’ll click on a page link because you saw that a friend liked something on it, tagged a photo there or commented on something. When you manage a page this comes down to one thing: active fans who respond to your awesome content: the kind of content that entices users to like and comment on a post. Appreciate their enthusiasm verbally, ask questions – it’s a conversation after all.
What else makes your page grow virally?
- Sharing amongst friends: – peer-to-peer recommendations is also a good indicator of your page’s relevance
- Search optimisation – users do search in Facebook AND on Google. Make sure your page comes up in search results – this post on Inside Facebook makes it easy
2. Fan Retention
Apart from gaining fans you need to make sure you’re not losing them. Remember a user is one click away from ‘unfanning’ your page. This may indicate that they’re either not interested in what you’re saying or you’re being a loud mouth (which makes you look like a spammer btw). Make sure your content is relevant and not overbearing. Key ingredient: real value.
3. Interactions
The newly revamped Facebook Insights is a very welcome addition to the social marketer’s arsenal. You’ll see exactly how your content is performing, both overall and per individual post. Even if you’re not using post feedback scores as a key KPI – you should be using it to constantly refine your content. What do the posts performing well have in common? Is there a topic your crowd is more interested in? Well then, give it to them.
4. Active Users and media consumption
The new page insights is putting this is a simple and easy to understand package. Apart from a growing fan base, surely you want them to be active and actually view your content – otherwise what’s the point?
Some helpful resources:
Facebook Page Insights and What They Mean
Webtrends Facebook Analytics
How to add Google Analytics to Your Facebook Fan Page
Tags: competitions, facebook, facebook fan page, facebook insights, fans, interactions, KPIs, like, relationships, social media
